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Newcomer / Intro When a mission says kill pirates, how do you know it is a pirate?
- Thread starter Smoon
- Start date
They will scan you then say something over the comms like "he he he, now your cargo belongs to me".
Pop a couple of ton of gold or something in your hold to attract them.
Pop a couple of ton of gold or something in your hold to attract them.
You can find pirates at the nav point or USS ...in my mission I found em at nav point ...they fly up and scan you then leave a snide message ....I wouldn't carry cargo ....yes it attracts pirates but before you know it 2 or 3 will be scanning and attacking all at once....check your mission as you kill em to see if they count towards it ....not all do for some reason.....
And once you have some pirate kills, don't visit any USS until you have completed the mission. Otherwise you will encounter the mission's alternate branch, which due to a bug, resets your kill count to zero.
Try this guide to spotting kill mission targets: http://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/2pl6gn/how_to_spot_traderspiratesbounty_hunters
Oooh, I've heard about this. Good idea.
Oooh, I've heard about this. Good idea.
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I tend to do these missions by carrying a little bit of animal meat, for some reason pirates crave jerkey.... I have no idea why, but they do. The plus is, should you not find a pirate... at least you won't get hungry! 
In my experience, NPC Pirates must be affiliated with a criminal organisation. In a stationless system, this can be kinda tricky, but in other systems, check you right panel, first page, second tab and read the descriptions of the local factions. One of them has disdain for the law or something. This is the pirate faction. Other wanteds may grant you bounty, but probably no advancement in your mission.
Rutg3r0: that sounds very plausible, I'll have to check it out later.
Here's my plan that I follow.
Step 1:
Make a note of which local faction is providing the mission. For this example we'll call them "Faction A".
It's important as you do not want to be killing any pilots associated with this Faction even if they are wanted. Doing so reduces your reputation with them.
Step 2:
Find the NAV point \ Resource Extraction Site \ USS and drop in and find a NPC.
Step 3:
Scan the NPC.
To be a pirate the pilot has to be - "Wanted" and "Not associated with Faction A".
I normally find that whoever, I meet first (especially at a USS) would give me an alternate mission even if they were friendly and from the same faction! Maybe this bug has been fixed but just be aware who you are targeting.
Step 4:
Kill the pirate.
Check your mission tab to see if your count of targets required has changed.
Step 5:
As soon as you have the correct number of pirate kills, return to claim your reward.
The simplest way to tell is to wait till they scan you, usually you get a message something like 'what are you carrying?' from the pirate ship. This means they are looking to see if you are a suitable target.
To be on the safe side and/or if they are 'clean' wait till they shoot you. The first shots are usually no more than a light graze of the shields (you're not in a sidewinder or eagle with no upgrades?). This is then your licence to kick his a***.
If you attack before he scans you, he does not count as a pirate!
As someone else has mentioned if you get interdicted by a ship, that does not count as a pirate either , but probably will be worth killing for the bounty on him anyway
(Also if there are local authority ships about, try not to hit them, it makes the job so much harder!
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I go looking for the 'alternative' USS first, then start hunting
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