Drop 200% of your cargo!

[.Gypsy.]

That doesnt sound too bad. If you were pirated twice, you should have looked into hiring escorts and scouts.

But how do you even do that if you don't know anybody? I only know of a few pilots that Ive talked to. And why would someone stop what they are doing to escort you?

Also what does something like that cost that would make it worth their time and for you the trader to still make money? Especially if your a Freelancer (limited to 3500 cargo) I'm just curious.

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[Lythrilux]

If you fly around, you're bound to findsomething capable of escorting you.
Yes, it may put a hold in your pocket, but isn't that better than losing all your cargo?

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[.Gypsy.]

How much would it cost? Like say 25% of the cargo's worth? I don't have the slightest clue as to what hiring a escort costs.. Also what if you still get killed? Is there some sort of guideline thread somewhere to get an idea how that works?

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[Hidamari]

I pirate alone in a scimitar. did so before the weapons changed, still do so.

I really do not understand what it wrong with the skill level in this community, its absolutely rediculous.

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[Highland Laddie]

How much would it cost? Like say 25% of the cargo's worth? I don't have the slightest clue as to what hiring a escort costs.. Also what if you still get killed? Is there some sort of guideline thread somewhere to get an idea how that works?

In an open-market system, you're pretty much free to spend whatever anyone is willing to do the job for. There's no minimum-wage for Escorts out there. But you want to understand that you're probably gonna get what you pay for in terms of quality.

Don't hire some low-rank fella in a LF and expect him to protect you from pirates in gunboats and destroyers.

Also, sometimes you can ask Police ships if they will give you an escort for free if you are in a major system like NY, New London, etc. Sure, they may refuse...but it never hurts to ask.

What I normally charge to escort...is about 1M for each system they want me to take them through. Some guys may charge per trade-lane. Some guys might just name a flat rate for a whole trip. Some guys may ask for bonuses for every pirate they kill who tries to get you.

[Highland Laddie]

I really do not understand what it wrong with the skill level in this community, its absolutely rediculous.

Not everybody has a good connection. Not everybody actually practices PvP. Not everybody knows how to fly multiple craft well, but may be good at only 1 ship and trying to experiment with others. Quit being mad at people for being noob, or at least for not all being pro.

[McNeo]

Nobody's mad that you're not pro, they're mad that you wont accept the consequences of not being pro.

It's nobody's fault but your own if you don't practice PvP in multiple classes of ships. Maybe you don't have time, maybe you don't find it exciting, but if you expect to be put on a level playing field with those that have invested their time and energy in honing their skills, you should not be surprised if you receive an incredibly hostile response.

As for the issue of piracy, I tended not to pirate for ridiculous sums of money when I flew a pirate regularly. I'd rather get paid a little bit of cash than demand a lot and receive a blue message. I'd like to see the cost of cargo go up as well as the profits from that cargo. Lets face it, powertraders who do their thing on the off hours will do it whatever the profits are. If the cargo costs more, it will provide more incentive to pay, but if the profits are higher, there will also be more credits available to pay. Sure, this wont solve the problems of a majority of traders refusing to pay out of principle, but at least the cargo will be worth something viable without too much of a trip for a pirate.

I mean, if we expect traders to hire escorts, shouldn't we expect pirates to hire cargo capacity from somewhere when a trader refuses to pay up?

[SnakThree]

Problem with increasing profit/risk is that those who trade off-hours get the benefit of not-increased risk and has to trade less. Meaning pirates will see less of traders in on-hours too.

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[ProwlerPC]

The ease, or lack of, for people on both sides of the coin to just simply switch to a new timezone applies equally in your argument.

For the topic. An unreasonable demand can be different things and differ depending on the circumstances, the target and probably a few rare reasons that crop up from time to time. But quite essentially an unreasonable demand is one that is designed to be too ridiculous or too impossible (or both) for the target complete and thus results in the true goal of the encounter - PvP death.

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[Tankman]

Right after the rollback (In which I lost everything) I had a pirate demand 50m from me while I was flying my civ shuttle.

Good times.

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The rare sub-species of human that gives out info that nobody actually cares about...

How do I spaceship?