' Wrote:~Wikipedia

Battle transports were a big step up in convoy protection, but with capital ship piracy going on, there's a harsh reality to face. Even a few bombers can not down a cruiser before it can pop a transport or two. Convoys require teamwork and planning by several players, and can currently be put down by just one cruiser, depeding on skill, transport weapons, etc.

My idea is to use ships we already have, but turn them into a "wolf in sheep's clothing." Take a battle transport like the Bison and give it gunboat turrets and a heavy gunboat core, perhaps a little extra armor. Then remove almost all the cargo space, drop it down to 500 or so for armor, maybe with a bit extra for docking modules.

This creates a ship that while powerful for dealing with surprise solo warships, still leaves the convoy extremely vulnerable to a couple of bombers, requiring that a fighter escort be present as well for comprehensive protection. It also leaves the Q-ship completely useless for trading, essentially making it a support ship. It could make for some interesting pirate traps too, its not against the corporate IDs to lure pirates into shooting first.

Thoughts?

' Wrote:So say you get this Q-boat going... and cruisers, that seemingly overflows within the pirate playerbase to such an extent that it causes massive problems for traders, are stopped.

Then what? pirates will go to the next logical step; battleships + a ship with CD. And the whole cycle will have to repeat.

' Wrote:Transports should stay transports not combat machines.

Its already pretty annoying a transport can take down a gunboat...

Trading should be risky, not a win-win guarantee...

' Wrote:So say you get this Q-boat going... and cruisers, that seemingly overflows within the pirate playerbase to such an extent that it causes massive problems for traders, are stopped.

Then what? pirates will go to the next logical step; battleships + a ship with CD. And the whole cycle will have to repeat.

In the end, what you need to do, to eliminate the likelihood of piracy is;
A - Get a small ship with 5k cargo, cruiser turrets, freighter agility and BS armor. Wont happen
B - Get a good convoy going, multiple battletransports w/escorts. People are too lazy
C - Be smart and avoid the piracy locations. Avoiding pirates? thats metagaming. But when you're hunting them w/playerlist it suddenly aint!!!
D - Zonerzonerzoner. Thats just so 4.85, its all about IMG now
F - Fly as Junker, sure kusari is off limits, but the pirates wont bug you. CBA to fly something without 5k cargo to avoid piracy. Profit pr haul > Profit saved from long term piracy.

Ok, i presented you 5 suggestions, however, i also gave you the 5 answers to these.

Now sir, please sit down and reflect upon what you are doing wrong.

For your information, i have a junker Salvager, with Cau 8. I have yet to be pirated for a single dime. A couple of hessians tried when i was hauling artifacts, but quickly gave up the whole ordeal.

If you want to survive, you need to THINK. If my memory serves me right, there is this unspoken rule of trading that "watching TV while trading is bound to fail".... Now i dont care HOW you do it, but if you want to avoid pirates you have to PAY ATTENTION!! Simply sitting infront of the screen wont help you if you cant be bothered to watch it.

Also.
A meager Train has almost twice the survivability of a Adv Train, simply because it is way more agile and way smaller. Infact the size difference will allow you to complete your runs faster with many minutes to spare, due to shorter cruise charge time, less problem aligning with lanes and gates.
Infact, people only look at the cargo size, because they blindly believe that bigger ship equals bigger profit. However this way of thinking is wrong in so many ways. As the fact that you DO get pirate proves that you ultimately arent able to keep your profit, just make more. and then you go on, loosing million upon million where a smaller vessel may have had the chance to escape to safety. Saving you the loss of credits.

Oh, last but not least, please let me remind you sad sad traders that, you only loose PIXELS. Not your own organs or your own house. The only thing you loose is your patience, some time and over time, alot of friends too.