What's the most pirate-y ship in Elite?

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Deleted member 110222

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What do you think it is?

Needless to say I vote the Cobra Mk III.

But to be fair, it's a serious pirate boat.
 
I would suggest the Python.

It is capable of kicking and has the internals for a large cargo rack, limpets and hatch breakers
 
I would suggest the Python.

It is capable of kicking and has the internals for a large cargo rack, limpets and hatch breakers

I agree but that's for the rich and successful pirates! Some believe that pirating should be accomplished in lower class ships as the payout is often considered to be low and slow thus a real pirate cannot afford a Python. For me if God didn't want us to pirate in a Python He wouldn't have let Frontier release the pirate paintjobs! :)
 
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In my experience, piracy doesn't pay well. It's for bored rich guys, really. Good fun, that's for sure.

Python does have a high enough MLF to prevent even a Type 9 from immediately jumping to supercruise, as well as enough firepower to strip shields off, and possibly disable drives before the target escapes. Plenty of cargo space for all dat booty. Could be a bit faster, but that's nothing a little engineering can't fix.

A Courier will comfortably fit all the necessary modules, catch any trade ship and outrun all police, and most CMDRs, but if you come at anything that can defend itself, you might be in trouble. I targeted a fella in an ASP X that was having none of it lol.

The Vulture isn't bad, as long as it's got a modded powerplant, and you don't mind only about 16 tons of cargo. It's been working pretty well for some light pirate work as of late.

My favorite ever is the Sidewinder. Interdict a Cutter, or anything else that could completely smash you in a blink, then charm some cargo out of your victim. It's actually worked out better than any other methods I've tried.
 
In my experience, piracy doesn't pay well. It's for bored rich guys, really. Good fun, that's for sure.

Whoa nelly, hold yer horses!

Most of my credits have come from (npc) piracy, and in short order to boot.

For a low end pirate ship, hop in a Viper Mk.IV, it's got the internals for cargo, hatch breakers, and collectors, plus some speed and some tanky-ness. A cobra Mk.IV is a tad better for the job if you can get used to her sluggishness. The "Slow-bra" will net you about 32 tons of loot (at 51,000cr/ton or 1.6 million) per full haul. If you're good, you can get that in 15-20 minutes.

Not the "best" money maker, but definitely the most enjoyable in my books.

An Asp X, is basically like a bigger (64t of cargo) faster version of the cobra Mk.IV, batten down the hatches and hold onto yer boot straps! Profit ho!

From there, you "could" get into a python, I guess. But now you're just getting rediculous! Best to steal some poor saps orca, that's what I'd do. It's fast. Like awesomely fast, for a pirate ship. The one I've got holds 96 tons of goodies, plus all the fixins and tools you'll need. Engineer it and it's amazing! You'll be bathing in credits once you've got the skills mastered.

Just remember, choose your targets wisely. Keel back and up is where the money is at, so long as they've got mining lasers on board. Just be wary of mining pythons and T9s. They can be pirate-bane unless you're a really good fighter. (Seriously, you're in a ship setup for smash and grab against soft targets, if yer gonna fight, be prepared to limp home. )
 
Whoa nelly, hold yer horses!

Most of my credits have come from (npc) piracy, and in short order to boot.

For a low end pirate ship, hop in a Viper Mk.IV, it's got the internals for cargo, hatch breakers, and collectors, plus some speed and some tanky-ness. A cobra Mk.IV is a tad better for the job if you can get used to her sluggishness. The "Slow-bra" will net you about 32 tons of loot (at 51,000cr/ton or 1.6 million) per full haul. If you're good, you can get that in 15-20 minutes.

Not the "best" money maker, but definitely the most enjoyable in my books.

An Asp X, is basically like a bigger (64t of cargo) faster version of the cobra Mk.IV, batten down the hatches and hold onto yer boot straps! Profit ho!

From there, you "could" get into a python, I guess. But now you're just getting rediculous! Best to steal some poor saps orca, that's what I'd do. It's fast. Like awesomely fast, for a pirate ship. The one I've got holds 96 tons of goodies, plus all the fixins and tools you'll need. Engineer it and it's amazing! You'll be bathing in credits once you've got the skills mastered.

Just remember, choose your targets wisely. Keel back and up is where the money is at, so long as they've got mining lasers on board. Just be wary of mining pythons and T9s. They can be pirate-bane unless you're a really good fighter. (Seriously, you're in a ship setup for smash and grab against soft targets, if yer gonna fight, be prepared to limp home. )

Sounds like an old school Eve pirate right there!

I miss being a pirate so will be looking at this a bit more in the next few days. I have my KB and a Viper IV ready to go. I'm leaning to the Viper IV, I really like this ship. A lot more than I thought I could seeing as I loved the Cobra IV.

Now to let my dark side have some fun!

PS how would you build up a KB for piracy?
 
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Sounds like an old school Eve pirate right there!

I miss being a pirate so will be looking at this a bit more in the next few days. I have my KB and a Viper IV ready to go. I'm leaning to the Viper IV, I really like this ship. A lot more than I thought I could seeing as I loved the Cobra IV.

Now to let my dark side have some fun!

PS how would you build up a KB for piracy?

If you want to keep the fighter bay, the keel back isn't great for piracy. That being said, for any ship to be a pirate ship you'll need hatch breakers, collectors, cargo space, and a wake scanner. Forget the manifest scanner, if you're in the right spot (high pop, boom, agriculture) you won't have to scan because... Well just because... Oh! Don't forget cannons! You ain't a real pirate unless you've got cannons!

Just be carful of ships with point defence, your lil limpet buddies don't like em too much.
 


Change the multis to cannons and put a 1B hatch-breaker on instead (gives 2 active limpets vs 1), also the 3B collector has much better range than A class. Personally though, 32t is doable in a smaller ship. Chances are the fighter will just outright destroy your target as the npc crew isn't great at targeting sub-systems. Your highest priority target is the power plant, with point defence coming in second.
 
Change the multis to cannons and put a 1B hatch-breaker on instead (gives 2 active limpets vs 1), also the 3B collector has much better range than A class. Personally though, 32t is doable in a smaller ship. Chances are the fighter will just outright destroy your target as the npc crew isn't great at targeting sub-systems. Your highest priority target is the power plant, with point defence coming in second.

Yeah I was wondering about taking the fighter. I have my viper IV that I've played around with a bit as well.

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/viper_mk_iv?code=A2pataFal8dasaf41l1l11110c0h030340m56bC46r.Iw18UA%3D%3D.Aw18UA%3D%3D.&bn=Pirate

But piracy (NPC) is Elite is a whole new ball game for me so a learning curve (probably vertical!) will happen again :)
 
I like the Python - because it has good firepower, good internals, fairly decent speed, has enough defensive strength to escape/withstand a bounty-hunter wing and can mass lock a T9.

The Cobra is probably the most 'piratey' ship in the game at the moment though... still holding out for the Krait, Gecko & Mamba, they are proper pirate ships....
 
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Most piratey? Cobra MkIII for me :D

Most effective? Python or a Clipper. Python is tough & offers effective weapon choices for large prey, Clipper has the speed & cargo capacity for faster targets.

Any ship can do it of course, but you need to at least match the speed of your intended target and preferably enough to outrun anyone trying to claim your bounty, have enough room to hold some cargo, limpets & control modules for hatchbreakers & collectors so really you need a fast multi-role ship, and the Cobra MkIII ticks all those boxes ;)
 
Yeah I was wondering about taking the fighter. I have my viper IV that I've played around with a bit as well.

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/viper_mk_iv?code=A2pataFal8dasaf41l1l11110c0h030340m56bC46r.Iw18UA%3D%3D.Aw18UA%3D%3D.&bn=Pirate

But piracy (NPC) is Elite is a whole new ball game for me so a learning curve (probably vertical!) will happen again :)

It should be serviceable, but I think you'll find that only one collector limpet will slow you down a lot unless you carry a full hold and only send them out in targeted mode (they're much faster that way).

There's certainly a specific rhythm for NPC piracy. Lurk around high pop agriculture systems in boom, find mining ships, interdict, (optional) manifest scan, let them hi-wake, scan wake, follow, engage and plunder.
 
Cobra3 shieldless hull tank or Imperial Clipper built for speed are, IMO, the top pirate ships. Python seems slow and sluggish to me but a lot of people love it. Get some of Grom's missiles in the Cobra and you won't have to worry about the low MLF.
 
Any Multipurpose ship that can fit decent cargo and hatch breakers. Python and Clipper are probably the strongest contenders.
 
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