My advice: join a faction. Nothing beats pirating in group and even if you prefer solo piracy, there is so many things you need to learn. Learning by yourself can be hard, and will likely get you killed (in game terms, of course xD)/sanctioned/frustrated.
Joining a group is the way to go. For real piracy, go for cargo piracy in freighters, as Vlko suggests. 2 or 3 will be able to take on any transport, you'll have a way better chance against fighters and bombers (just ask Bowex) and you get a cruise speed of 400 so no escape for those nasty transports that manage to give you the slip the first time around.
[font=Comic Sans Ms]Or when the MM~ show up. They bought me drinks and gambled before their leader showed! Do you have friends on the server? Pirate with them. If you don't have friends, join the LR-, Lane Hackers ( You don't need any money to join and get good with the Lane Hackers. The faction actually has you start with no cash, which is a neat way to go).... The Hogosha, Mollys and RHA do pirate and all, but their background and method of pirating can be a little more challenging for a first timer.
If you insist on pirating solo, I'd seriously give Kusari a shot. You most likely won't get ganged up on like in Liberty, there are traders there and the Golden C. have some decent ships and guns.
p.s.
Always have your CD active when solo pirating, so you can type and CD them with the mouse at the same time. Nothing sucks more than writing out long speeches, to discover the trader has run away while you tried to verbally play with them
Get a Freelancer IFF and a Pirate ID (easily obtainable by using this guide: http://discoverygc.com/forums/index.php?...pic=79182) and then a non-faction bomber, like the agile Cutlass that packs a big punch while still being fast enough to get away when things get hot. Be polite and ask other pirates for advice - most official faction players are nice enough to take you under their wings if you are polite and you respect their territory. From then on you can learn about the different factions and see what suits you, and perhaps make a dedicated Outcast/Corsair/Molly/Rogue etc. character from there.
Also don't be afraid to use your guns on traders. For some reason blasting a few holes in traders speed up the process - people who knew no English 5 seconds ago suddenly type perfect English when facing destruction. And remember traders will use every single dirty trick in the book, like saying they don't know English while they call up their friends, screaming in system chat and so on. Just keep it fair, but make sure the trader understands that you are willing to kill him if he doesn't comply with your demand (as long as it is within reason - I usually go for 1-5 million credits depending on transport size and how annoying the opposing character is. You will find that you get a higher payout pr. hour if you make low demands - and remember piracy won't make you rich).
Also get a rough idea of where your getaway points are. It can be a friendly base, a nearby jumphole and so on, and watch your scanners so you stay on top of the situation - things can get messy real fast, especially when working solo. And make sure to make friends with the official factions if you use their bases.
EDIT: Is your character called Viper by any chance?
Click on my signature, we help new players to get the basics and have 35 shared ships if you are not wealthy to have many personal ones.
(10-09-2013, 10:51 AM)Knjaz Wrote: Official faction players that are often accused of elitism, never deploy them and have those weird, immersion killing "fair fight/dueling" suicidal hobbies. (yes, i've seen enough of those lolduels, where house military with overwhelming force on the field willingly loses a pilot in a duel. ffs.)
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