Junkers and Piracy:

[Rudo]

This is not about Junkers being pirated. That's straightforward enough.

This is about Junkers conducting acts of piracy. I've been receiving comments lately about some people doing it wrong, and instead of first taking an in-RP approach to a problem that stems from slightly OOC behavior, I'm going to post a small guide first.

This is about those Junkers that knock out tradelanes in capital systems to try and hijack a full load of ore, only to fly two lane hops and sell it at a lawful destination while playing dumb about the blue message that the whole server saw. They're straining peoples' RP by doing that. Common sense is in order.

My faction, the Congress, the .:j:. - we pirate fairly frequently. People just never hear about it because we do it right.

RP Background:

Junkers are a grey-area faction. They do business with companies, lawful authorities and criminal elements alike. Acts of piracy are canon for the faction, which combined with the ability to land on lawful bases and not be aggressed on sight by lawful authorities makes it seem like the ideal powerpirating faction to the untrained player. They see Junker NPCs pirate everything in sight, but willfully ignore that those Junkers that do the pirating are very quickly scrubbed out of existence afterward if they do it at a lawful base. Junkers as pirates act with subtlety and good judgement. They always have an alibi and an escape route, and use their minds over their guns.

The Goofus Junker's Piracy:

- When smuggling, they have a full load of contraband that they through trade lanes run right up to the planet's mooring point in plain sight of military and police players.
- When robbing ore haulers, they hold a gun to the head of the hauler while demanding the whole load in a capital system, over system chat.
- They chase after house corporation transports across capital planet orbits, shooting and demanding while base defenses and patrols remain neutral.
- When confronted by lawful authorities for the above activities, they dock at the nearest friendly or neutral port of call while taunting them.
- Most importantly, they do nothing to balance out the bad acts. No running "salvaged" cargo to planets or shipyards, no playing along with interrogation RP, nothing. Just flat-out piracy.

The Gallant Junker's Piracy:

- When smuggling, they remain as out of sight as posslble, taking jumpholes and using a Junker or other base's dropoff point.
- When robbing miners and ore haulers, they do it outside house borders and make it a point to be merely inconvenient as opposed to devastating when they catch said hauler. Best to avoid bad press. Don't be greedy. Even better yet, tip off a pirate, let him do the dirty work and then split the profits with him.
- They are civil toward house corporations in house space along tradelanes, keeping the sanctity of in-house Junker bases in mind. Junkers are a barely tolerated presence as is, the worse and more blatant the piracy, the less tolerated they become. Outside house space? Maybe. If the corporation is carrying embarassing cargo? A bit better. If it's a freelancer trader, independent or indy smuggler? It's a turkey shoot. As long as it's out of sight.
- They don't get caught by lawful authorities. If questioned, they have an alibi, a fall guy and are prepared to jump through full legal hoops along with this. A fine is small potatoes if it preserves your reputation.
- The good Junker resolves to be extremely visible about his moving salvaged goods to lawful bases, being helpful and courteous to lawful officials and doing his best to keep any images of bad behavior out of their minds. He balances his bad acts with good useful ones.

It'd be great if more Junkers learned the art of subtlety and moderation that makes them fun to play. They're not a faction that can do everything a pirate can do while preserving special privileges. The Junkers that continue to give my faction a headache and full-faction repercussions will soon find that in-game actions earn in-game reactions.

The saying that Junkers "take care of their own?" That can be interpreted in more ways than one.

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[Exsiled_one]

Basically yeah. People just suck at this Rudo, thats the problem

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<span style="color:#33CC00">I AM GIVING AWAY MONEY TO CREATIVE MINDS*</span>

[Bazza]

My favourite method of piracy as a Junker is to hook up with Rogues, Outcasts or other undesirables and shadow them just outside radar range. When cargo is "produced" by the pirates, I do a drive-by tractor job and hoon outta there. Some money falls out of the sky for the pirates, and I get cargo. Everyone wins.

I have been caught smuggling once before. I surrendered the offensive cargo without complaint and was allowed to go free.

Unfortunately, there seems to be an emerging trend of people using the Junker ID as a get out of piracy free card, exactly as you described above.

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[mang109]

Thankyou sir for this brilliant post

The rising levels of Junker Lolpiracy had begun to annoy me, and this may hopefully curtail the " Im a junker, im immune to all laws, 3milrdie" and the , " I'm a junker, in a pirate transport, on a trade lane, but you cant attak me officer cos im not a pirate" .

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Former leader of AFA (Farmers Alliance)
Former leader of [ALG] faction
Former GMG Trade Director

Retired due to career focus. Returned due to career de-focus.

[Stoat]

I love pirating with my Junker(s), but it's (almost) always done under the radar. I've paid a fine to the RM once because I went to Munich at the wrong time. I've also stopped that character from going to Rheinland for an extended period of time, so that hopefully I'll not be a marked man when I next appear. Served me right for not allowing a cooling off period!

Junker RP is really rich and varied, so, like Rudo, I'm no fan of those those that want to use the Junker ID for just piracy. There's SO much more on offer from it.

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My Stories

[Thexare]

I'm the captain of the Collimare, and I approve this message.

I don't pirate, but I do smuggle and there's good tips in here for that. When I'm carrying Superconductors from my "100% Legal Contact, I Swear" to Bretonia, I'm on the lanes the whole way, and I'll stop to chat with any Bretonian lawfuls I pass. If I'm carrying Artifacts, Black Market Munitions, or Counterfeit Software? I'll ask other Junkers if a path's clear, I'll lie about (or be honest about) criminals in another system that lawfuls should really go chase...

We're Junkers. We're not nice, but we're not supposed to be stupid either.

[Tovig]

Thankyou sir for this brilliant post

The rising levels of Junker Lolpiracy had begun to annoy me, and this may hopefully curtail the " Im a junker, im immune to all laws, 3milrdie" and the , " I'm a junker, in a pirate transport, on a trade lane, but you cant attak me officer cos im not a pirate" .

Totally agree.

[Boss]

I tend to pirate NPCs outside House space, shoot out the pods, grab the loot, and run. I don't lose rep either.

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Just go play the game and have fun dammit.

all in all the conclusion is that disco doesn't need antagonist factions, it doesn't need phantoms, it doesn't need nomads, it doesn't need coalition and it doesn't need many other things, no AIs, the game is hijacked by morons to confuse the game with their dickwaving generic competition games mixed up with troll-of-the-day.

[Benjamin]

My faction, the Congress, the .:j:. - we pirate fairly frequently. People just never hear about it because we do it right.

Or so wrong that the people we try to pirate don't even realise they were being pirated? (you know who you are*.)











*darkard

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Join Cryer Pharmaceuticals

[Friday]

Kudos to the Congress for showing how it is done.

As a long-term resident of Sigma-13, I have yet to intercept a Congress vessel smuggling. I know they do it - but their patience and discretion means they have the good sense not to parade their contraband under the nose of the GMG.

Kudos also for their willingness to 'take care of business', be it asking pirates who use Yanagi as a shield to leave - or standing idle as a rogue Junker is delivered swift justice.

I often make it a point to tell rogue Junkers in RP that they should follow the Congress as an example of how to behave.

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