Discovery Gaming Community

Piracy 101

Should you be a pirate?

Well, should you? what do you want from the game? Pvp? Become a navy-pilot. Money? Become a trader. Fighter duels? Become anyone with a grudge on someone else - police, navy, pirate, etc. Are you prepared to sit and wait, with little or nothing to do, while waiting for targets? No? Do you flee or fight when the cops show up? If you say "fight" you are in the wrong line of work. If your greatest ambition is to harass more or less defenceless traders - you aren't even on the right server.

When I speak of piracy here - I'm talking about the art of robbing traders and escaping, not shooting the police and navy, or destroying traders. That's war, or terrorism, but it's not piracy. If you want war, there's about 40 IDs to chose from that would be better than "pirate".

There are "shoot the navy"-pirates too, and we need those, I guess. Even pirate factions need their own navy for protection in their systems. However, any old pirate can jump in to defend if it's necessary, so the need for these is very limited. The server is absolutely littered with these types already, and at the same time, most houses can barely get a navy together. Honestly - a large portion of the pirates around would be better off and more use fighting the kusari-bretonian war, and such.

At times there's more pirates than lawfuls on the server, giving you plenty of power and leverage. However - taking advantage of it is usually pretty bad RP. Liberty Rogues having space superiority over planet Manhattan? Please... The very notion is rediculous. Pirates are supposed to run, to escape; it's what they do! I know we could win a lot of battles with the cops and navy - but it's only technical. Thinking in an RP-fashion, we all know that the cops and navy outnumber the pirates 50 to 1! We are NOT suppose to stand and fight, escpecially in civilised territory! Actually seeking out the police or navy for the purpose of a fight is even worse. Pirates should NOT be involved in this kind of action. Of course, pirates will engage with extreme prejudice if you enter their territory, but they really shouldn't when they are in civilian space!

So please, don't chose a pirate because you want legal pvp against just about everyone, including the unarmed traders. There's far too many pirates around already, not acting like pirates.

That said - let's get down to business: Robbery!



Rules, rules, rules...

First, learn the rules. I mean, really. Involving yourself in a pvp intensive profession like this, you have to know them. I know it's not fun, but you will get in a heap of trouble if you break them. I will only cover a few basic things that people tend to forget and get sanctioned for:

1) No foul language.
2) You are NOT allowed to attack until after you have initiated role play. That means you cannot fire until after you have announced intentions, demands, etc.
3) You are NOT allowed to attack until after you scanned for an ID.
4) You are NOT allowed to attack players under level 30. (They are poor anyway.)
5) You are NOT allowed to destroy a trader, unless they refuse to pay. (But you can hurt them.)
6) Paragraph 6.6! I'll cover this below.

Quote:6.6 PvP combat is allowed only on roleplay basis. The pilot who is attacking must scan for an ID prior to the attack. Relying on general reputation status (red/neutral/green) without scanning for the ID is not allowed. Non-RP attacks are considered PvP abuse and are sanctioned accordingly.

This is a "fuzzy" rule. There's no specific dos and just a few don'ts here and it requires use of common sense, to determine what is "on a roleplay basis". Needless to say, it's also one of the most commonly violated and abused. The first effect of this rule we already covered: You can't attack until after you have initiated RP, and gotten a reason to attack. There are however more effects than the specific ones mentioned.

For example - you leave a pirate ship by a tradelane, and log on another character. You then check the chat system to track a trader, and just as he enters the system, you relog, effectively teleporting yourself into his path, and rob him. Clever, isn't it? Sure, and clearly a possible violation. The trader probably scanned the system like you did before entering - and if you circumvent this mechanic and teleport on top of him... This is not ok. You must always think about what you are doing, and wether it is ok or not. When in doubt - don't do it.

The rules are here to ensure fair play, and fun for everyone. They are not here for you to find loopholes and grey-zones where you can get away with abuse. If you constantly try to see "what you can get away with" - you have a serious problem.



Catching the Sheep

This isn't always as easy as it sounds. Your goal is to put the trader in a situation that makes escape as close to impossible as you can manage - and make your demand seem like the better option.

There's many tactics to chose from, and I will leave to you to discover them for yourself, and just mention the obvious one: the Lane Hack. Really, it's all you actually need...

Just shoot out a gate in the middle of a lane, and wait for something juicy to drop out of it. Why is this a good tactic? Many reasons. For a start, there's no gates or docks nearby to escape to. It also dumps the trader close to you, meaning you will be able to get close before he can enter cruise speed. With the speed of the lane, the trader will not see your ship in time to change direction either. It all makes for a very good ambush.

The advanced hack, is basically the same thing, but waiting to shoot the lane out until you see a ship on your scanner at 14k range. This way you can be more selective - you can kick a known trader out of the lane, and let a known cop slip past... Sometimes it backfires, and the lane doesn't collapse in time to stop the ship, but with practice this can be very effective to selectively drop the right target.

Once a ship drops out, scan to see what type it is, what ID it has and if the cargo is valuable. If everything checks out: Payday!



Sheering a sheep

Ok, so you have a target nearby. It's scanned, juicy, and you want cash. Now what?

There's been some negative talk about pirates using the /msg commands to blurt out standard messages: they are boring, unimaginative, etc. Yes, they are, so spice them up as much as you can, and be creative. Change them every now and then. I do however recommend that you use them. It's hard to make sure a trader stays where you want, while typing! Too many times did I try to type manually, only to lift my eyes and see the trader 6k away and accelerating.

As a pirate, I often feel that I can't risk typing, until after the trader is still and has said something back to me, indicating that they are not going to flee while I'm typing. Usually, this means I need two messages: One that basically comes down to "stop, or else" and one that says "I want N credits". The first obviously is to initiate RP, make him a legal target, and a request to stop. The second is my way of showing that it's not going to cost him enough to risk running away. Once I got the messages out, the trader usually stops, roleplays for a bit and pays up. In the rare case that they run - RP is initiated and you can fire cruise disruptors.

As a pirate, you initiate a lot of RP sessions. Each attempted high-jacking is you starting roleplay. Be ready for it. Make sure you have answers and reasons. It's embarrassing and boring if you don't. Last time a trader asked me why I needed money, I started talking about how my ship's reactor shielding was cracked, and I was slowly going sterile from radiation poisoning, and how much the time in space-dock would cost me. He paid me, and I like to think with a smile on his face. I'll have a new reason next time I catch him.

Think about your character as well. Are you nice? Mean? Get a personality. Yes, we all know pirates are supposed to be borderline psychotic, greedy and shout death threats all the time, and it's been done to death! Try something different. Polite perhaps? Apologetic? Forced into it by circumstances? Idealistic? Political? Get creative! I've been called "the politest pirate that ever robbed me" - and I take pride in that!

As a trader, it's with profound sadness you face a pirate, whose sole communication is:
-stop or die
-2 mil
*fire cruise disruptor*



(cont in part 2)

Demands & Profits

This is a rather hotly debated part, that's usually divided into two camps:

1 Pirates are idiots. They demand too much money; I'm better off dead.
2 Traders are idiots. It's bad rp to say "kill me" just because they don't want to pay.

Traders want to make money, as much as possible, as quickly as possible. If pirates make it impossible to do so - you are not having fun. This is a game - we are supposed to have fun! The very largest traders have 5000 tons cargo, which can end up in 4-8 million in profits, depending on the route they use. If the pirate demands a sum that equals your entire profit or more, it may be cheaper to just die and buy more cargo, than to pay. At this point, the majority of traders will either let you kill them, or try to run, which usually means you kill them. This is all a numbers game - and a very OOC reason to do things. On a roleplaying server, such behaviour is often attacked, but like I said: It's a game; we are here to have fun. How can that NOT be a part of the equation?

Pirates want to make money, as much as possible, as quickly as possible. Sounds familiar? This means the majority of pirates we encounter try to rip the trader off for as much as he possibly can - completely ignoring how it'll impact the trader's gameplay. When using the "standard demands" on this server, I find that a lot of people refuse to pay, and try a number of ways to avoid it, from running, to various variants of "shoot me already". As a pirate, it's fun to chase a target. It's also fun to get money. It's NOT fun to see traders commit suicide and leave you with nothing. Being a roleplaying server, the usual argument is this: Surviving suicide, and relying on the ensurance to replace your ship just doesn't hold as a roleplay reason. There's no way an insurance company would replace a 180 million credit ship, because you refused to pay 2 million. I agree. It makes no RP sense at all - but you know what? If you want to make this much money - you are in the wrong business to begin with. You should be trading. You can't seriously expect the traders to work non-stop for 3 hours, just so you can take it all away with 5 one-minute highjackings. Piracy is not a good way to become rich fast. Get used to it.

The simple truth is that we are all responsible, traders AND pirates - but the pirate is the one who makes the demands. As a trader, saying "shoot me" is a lousy way to RP, and you have to do better. As a pirate, you determine whether the trader will have a profit or not and in the end: will the trader have fun or not? Ultimately, it's usually the pirate's fault when the trader suicides - even if he has more support for his RP than the trader does.

My trader runs a route that comes out at just under 4 million per run. No pirate has EVER demanded less than 2 million, even though the purchase price is below that. Needless to say, I spend a lot of time avoiding pirates, and running away from pirates. It gets worse. I've been ransomed for 2 million with an empty cargo hold. More than once. I've been ransomed for 2 million in a 500-cargo ship! I've been ransomed for 2 million, while flying fighter with navy ID! That had to be the worst "pirate" behaviour ever. No pirate would do that... They would run at the very sight of me, into the nearest nebula, and find a softer target.

I'm pretty sure many pirates overtax on purpose, becuase they like to chase traders that try to escape. While I appreciate their desire to have fun and do what they like - they have to realise that they are ruining the fun for the trader. This is not a good way to conduct piracy if we want this to be fun for everyone. If this is your game - create a cop, and chase smugglers! Smugglers want this; they like to be chased. It's their hobby! Hey, I know - I bring cardamine into New York on my smuggler! I wish they chased me more!

Think about that. Smugglers want to run. Traders want to make money. Cop or robber? Are you chosing the right side?

My personal rule: let the trader keep at least half his profit. Usually, I let them keep a lot more, well over 75%. How much do you need anyway to pay for missiles and counter measures? If you are saving for a battleship, start a trader - not a pirate. As a pirate, you also don't need expensive capital ships, so what do you need piles of money for? It seems to be standard to charge a transport 2 million on this server. I usually demand 500k. I make a lot more money than I need this way.



The Fuzz

Cops, navy, bounty hunters, escorts... they are all out to get you! Trying to ransom them is pointless (and a very bad excuse to initiate pvp). Learning to escape them is very important for a pirate. Thankfully, we got a lot of tools at our disposal.

Before I start on the tricks of escape, and like to point this out again: If your first reflex is to attack, not flee - you have chosen the wrong ID. You should be looking at other IDs, such as bounty hunters, house navy and police, and filling up their ranks. Right.

Step one to avoid the police is to make sure they don't get close. Run, and run fast - before they can catch you. Head off into the nearest nebula, asteroid field or lane. Hide. Vanish. Leave the system.

If you do end up in a dangerous situation despite this, your very first tool are the trade lanes. On your way into a tradelane, dump a mine just before you enter it. You'll zip off at a million miles per hour, and the mine will blow the gate behind you. Anyone in persuit in the lane just lost 7000 meters on you. On your way out of the lane - blow the last gate; anyone in persuit, will fall out another 3000 meters short.

Remember that capital ships, and gunboats have a pretty low thruster speed. It's against the rules to use cruise engines to catch a faster-thrusting ship. If you fly a fighter, and a gunboat gives chase - thrust out of range and get yourself into a lane.

Cruise disruptors are good not only for stopping traders; they stop cops too. One lovely trick if you have a cop chasing you at relative short range in cruise speed, is to cut your engines, swing your nose about and fire disruptors at the persuer, while you drift backwards at 350 meters/second. He'll drop out of cruise, can't reactivate for a while - and you gain distance. If you are drifting towards a lane or jump hole - keep drifting and escape throught he lane. Otherwise, turn your nose around again and activate your cruise engines. You won't gain a lot of distance this way, but you will get some, as you can start charging your engines right away, while he remains disrupted.

Needless to say - don't go anywhere without carrying a full load of counter-measures and cruise disruptors. You can make do with 10-20 mines easy, so no need to fill up completely on those.

Just as the pirates shouldn't be hanging around Manhattan, cops shouldn't be hanging around pirate bases. Assuming your persuer is a half-decent role player - it's usually enough to escape into a nebula or close to a pirate base while outside his scan range, to make him announce "target lost".



Thank you, come again

If you want to make money in the long run, you need to catch a lot of traders and sooner or later, you will have to re-capture players you've 'jacked before. If they bother to change route when you appear, or even log off - you make less money, or even none. So how do you go about making them come back for more?

You have to be fun and interesting for a start, every time. A good reputation goes a long way. The more resonable your demands are, the less likely the trader is to bother avoiding you. If he'll lose more money on wasting time with wormholes, than he will by getting highjacked - then why run? This is a very good reason to NOT fall into the "2 million trap".

Do you seriously think you can push a trader for every penny you dare, while acting a rude bully, and not offering any new or interesting roleplay - that the trader will just let you catch him again? No. They will move to different routes, change their current routes, hire escorts, run... They will do anything to make sure you get nothing. Trust me on this - I have a trader too. There are a few pirates that will simply make me log off when I see them along my route. I'm not here to be angry, abused and frustrated.

Be resonable, creative, different and exciting. It's not always easy, and not all traders are interested in active RP at the moment you catch them. Just make sure you are!



mac

Apparently it refuses to accept long posts, even though it's well below the max, according to the "check post length" button. I split it in 2 parts, and here it all is.

mac

There's one thing wrong in this. Pirates are allowed to do as much damage they want on a trader before making their request. (but not to kill)

' Wrote:There's one thing wrong in this. Pirates are allowed to do as much damage they want on a trader before making their request. (but not to kill)

That's precisely what I wrote actually.:)You can't kill them, but you can do as much damage as you please.

Quote:5) You are NOT allowed to destroy a trader, unless they refuse to pay. (But you can hurt them.)

Mac

You have a pirate, but you don't seem to understand the dynamic.

Because if you did, you would understand that the most efficient way to make money is not to tax insignificant amounts to a great number of people, but instead, to make as much money as possible off "one" catch.

Piracy is not trading, but it is also a way of making a great deal of cash.

There is no guaranteed flow of cash. With trading, you know that you will make money when going from point A to point B.

You don't know that when pirating. As a result, you need to ask for the maximum amount when it is possible, and when possible, that would be all their cargo. When it comes to credit taxing, there are guidelines. For instance, I like to ask for 500 credits per possible unit cargo. So, ships with 5000 units of cargo space get taxed 2.5 million, another with 1800 gets taxed 900,000.

' Wrote:You have a pirate, but you don't seem to understand the dynamic.

Because if you did, you would understand that the most efficient way to make money is not to tax insignificant amounts to a great number of people, but instead, to make as much money as possible off "one" catch.

Piracy is not trading, but it is also a way of making a great deal of cash.

There is no guaranteed flow of cash. With trading, you know that you will make money when going from point A to point B.

You don't know that when pirating. As a result, you need to ask for the maximum amount when it is possible, and when possible, that would be all their cargo. When it comes to credit taxing, there are guidelines. For instance, I like to ask for 500 credits per possible unit cargo. So, ships with 5000 units of cargo space get taxed 2.5 million, another with 1800 gets taxed 900,000.

Like I wrote, my general rule is to let the trader keep at least half his profits - and if you did the math you would see that this would come to about 2-3 million for a full 5000 cargo trader, equalling about 500 cr/ton. That's exactly what you are saying. That's your number: 500 cr/ton. About half the profit. So... what part of the dynamics did I misunderstand?

I assume you must be complaining about the fact that I usually tax a lot lower than my own general rule, and advicing budding pirates to follow my example. Can I make more money / hour by taxing much higher? Quite possibly. However, I also have a trader, so I know how much fun it is to see all your profits go out the window. Sounds to me you think of this from your point of view alone, and ignore the trader - and more importantly, the player behind the trader. You say I don't understand the dynamic. I say I understand perfectly - and choose to deviate from it, in order to make the game more enjoyable for people around me.

Compassion and kindness towards other players is not a sign of stupidity.

mac

No, you misunderstand. For one, I have never called you stupid. Secondly, if it is truly your intention to pirate not for profit, but RP alone, then kudos. But if you are pirating for profit and not just RP, then I believe that your philosophy is not going to exactly make you very wealthy.

While your kindness to other players is admirable, what I do not like is that you appear to be preaching this as a philosophy that everyone should follow. Perhaps, this is not your intent, but the tone of your writing certain conveys this feeling to your readers.

For instance:

Quote:If you are saving for a battleship, start a trader - not a pirate.

I obviously understand what you mean, but quite frankly, I can very possibly make the same amount of money through piracy alone. Why should I get a trader, and not a pirate?

Why can't I make large amounts of money as a pirate?

Or here:

Quote:I've been ransomed for 2 million with an empty cargo hold. More than once. I've been ransomed for 2 million in a 500-cargo ship! I've been ransomed for 2 million, while flying fighter with navy ID! That had to be the worst "pirate" behaviour ever. No pirate would do that... They would run at the very sight of me, into the nearest nebula, and find a softer target.

The "worst" pirate behavior ever? I've demanded codename weapons off military ships before, and I've taxed vulnerable Police and Navy/Armed Forces transports before. Why shouldn't the pirate do that? This isn't the twenty-first century, this is Sirius, and hell, space is really, really dangerous place.

Read the rumors and observe NPC behavior. Many rumors indicate that many pirates possess above-average skills compared to lawfuls, and NPCs are constantly pirating each other's fighters.

And finally:

Quote:For example - you leave a pirate ship by a tradelane, and log on another character. You then check the chat system to track a trader, and just as he enters the system, you relog, effectively teleporting yourself into his path, and rob him. Clever, isn't it? Sure, and a clear violation.

While what you have stated is very correct, and very bad form, since when did you become an admin?

Frankly, relogging into the system is not a rule violation. F1ing out of the system during a player interaction, however, is. Say if you happen to jump into Kepler at the Colorado gate, and your pirate friend relogs at the shikoku gate at the other end of the system, I would like to know:

1) How you would prove that he/she did this.
2) Why this would be wrong the minute he/she CDs you, and begins an extensive RP with you, and is not a "2mil or dai" pirate.

The problem that people have piracy is this: They feel like the pirates are stealing their money, the money that they worked very hard for. Meanwhile, they don't need to consider how much they're ripping off the NPCs when they sell Luxury Food at exorbitant prices, because they're NPCs. Trust me, if there were actually players who sold their materials to other players, there would be posts titled: Don't Rip People Off, Be Nice.

Piracy is very different from trading, however. Unfortunately, the money made from piracy is money made at the expense of others. The thing is, however, this money, believe it or not, is also very easily recovered by ripping NPCs off. Player pirates on the server act as a cash sink.

Amen! Best guide to piracy ever. It captures the very essence of what pirates SHOULD be. Heck I've never charged more than a million. I don't need to. Why would I? Usually I charge like 500K. Does it make me stupid to want happy, rich traders? No. If the trader is rich, he has more to give you. If you don't take much, he's less likely to go out of his way to avoid you.

And about the whole pirates vs police thing. That's perfect. If only most police understood that. I've been chased 25K into the badlands before losing them cause they hit a rock.

' Wrote:No, you misunderstand. For one, I have never called you stupid. Secondly, if it is truly your intention to pirate not for profit, but RP alone, then kudos. But if you are pirating for profit and not just RP, then I believe that your philosophy is not going to exactly make you very wealthy.

I make a profit, and not a bad one either. Nothing close to what a 5000 cargo trader does, but... so what?

Quote:I obviously understand what you mean, but quite frankly, I can very possibly make the same amount of money through piracy alone. Why should I get a trader, and not a pirate?

Honestly - if you are makin as much money on piracy as you would on trading - I think you are leaving a trail of very unhappy players behind you. I feel piracy is a lot more fun that trading; trading feels like a job. That's another good reason to let them keep a big chunk of their profits. Do I, with my fun job, really deserve to talk half the profit from everyone else, that are willing to do the boring grind? Clearly you think so.

Quote:The "worst" pirate behavior ever? I've demanded codename weapons off military ships before, and I've taxed vulnerable Police and Navy/Armed Forces transports before. Why shouldn't the pirate do that? This isn't the twenty-first century, this is Sirius, and hell, space is really, really dangerous place.

Demanding code weapons, fine, even I can see some kind of twisted logic in that. Police transports? Fine. I can see a logic in that. I'm talking about taxing bombers, fighters and gunboats with no cargo - solely to initiate RP, to legalise the attack. In Omicron Beta, or Vespucci - great going pirates! In a trade lane in New York? Hell no. Outside Fort Bush? Hell no.

Quote:1) How you would prove that he/she did this.
2) Why this would be wrong the minute he/she CDs you, and begins an extensive RP with you, and is not a "2mil or dai" pirate.

It'll be extremely difficult to prove. The reason it's wrong, is that another character is doing surveillance for the offline character in the system. Feeding your own offline char information on a traders progress, with the intention of teleporting into a trader's path - how do you possibly justify this as good rp? If you want to catch a trader - catch him! Don't hide on other characters to make traders think you have logged or left the system. No matter of RP initiated makes teleporting ok.

I'm not an admin, and maybe the admins don't consider it cheating - but they should. That's my opinion. I think it's a tragic shame you consider this a legitimate tactic.

Quote:The problem that people have piracy is this: They feel like the pirates are stealing their money, the money that they worked very hard for. Meanwhile, they don't need to consider how much they're ripping off the NPCs when they sell Luxury Food at exorbitant prices, because they're NPCs. Trust me, if there were actually players who sold their materials to other players, there would be posts titled: Don't Rip People Off, Be Nice.

You just equated Mr Morris, sitting in his bedroom in Dresden, Germany - with an NPC in a game! Are you for real? I'm talking about being kind to other players, and this is your argument?

Quote:Piracy is very different from trading, however. Unfortunately, the money made from piracy is money made at the expense of others. The thing is, however, this money, believe it or not, is also very easily recovered by ripping NPCs off. Player pirates on the server act as a cash sink.

Yeah, it is very different. Aside from hard-working traders - pirates are the only people that expect a massive profit. Police, Navy, Bounty hunters, escorts... no one else makes much money, and need to finance their habit through other characters. The pirate at the same time is the one character type that can really destroy a civilians day.

Here's my counter question: What makes the pirate so much different from the police, the navy, and the others? What gives him a god given right to make a massive profit when so many others do not? What gives the pirate a free pass to ignore other player's feelings?

mac