Well, I was going to suggest you hit up the Liberty Rogues (LR-) and do some flying with us, but it seems that you've already made a selection. I'd suggest making a second character. A trader or escort or something. Even just following around traders to get an idea as to what routes are most profitable/favored.
There are other options as well. Maybe try to get a hold of other corsair pirates. Check the wiki and see what player factions there are that you can check out. You don't have to join up, but I'm sure that they can give you some pointers and ideas.
As 'ryeguy146' has already noted, Corsairs = Borderworlds.
That means the area where you can reasonably operate = Omicron systems, Omega systems.
Those are the systems where I have actually seen npc Corsairs operating.
This does not mean you can't operate in other systems though, I've seen player Corsairs in NY. :rolleyes:
IF you happen across a Trader carrying 'basic' items (food, water etc) and said Trader says they are going to Crete, RP normally says that you let them go.
That's not to say that you *have* to let them go without asking for a token 'donation', but be nice about it, they are taking essential basic living requirements to your home (Planet Crete) and won't actually be making much of a profit (gah, that's the Trader in me talking) unless things have changed recently.
You can be pretty sure that the Trader will be leaving with a load of Artifacts (unless they are truly doing an RP Trading run), so feel free to hit them up for a larger donation on their way out. ;)
As far as how much you ask for goes, that is entirely up to you. Results will vary. :lol:
New York and Liberty is outside of the corsair zone of influence, don't go there.
Be nice. I reckon a good guide is to demand no more than 1/3 of the value of their cargo (or 1/3 of their cargo). If they refuse your polite offer or are otherwise nasty then it seems reasonable to me to take the lot from the wreck of their ship.
For fun, demand they bring you something before letting them pass. I often carry a small number of luxury goods and wine to bribe certain pirates (like some corsairs) to let me pass.
Stay cool. You will be sworn at. Players will lie to you.
- "I admin. You banned."
- "I speak no english."
- "// you can't pirate me"
Always stay in character when this happens - even if your pirate character is a money making shell.
And never say "2 m or die" or variations on this theme.
Proud member of "the most paranoid group of people in the community"
Stay out of Liberty, Kusari and Taus (and Gallia of course), do what Cannon said and You should be fine. And don't worry, I know I learned the most from my mistakes.
Anyway, keep it cool and don't get too irritated. That's the best advice I can give You.
So, Where should we begin first? Let me see... Alright, here it goes:
Finding a Suitable Name:
Corsair Names as characters are often Spanish names, and some times Italian. As they were originated from Hispania Sleeper Ship. (Read More)
Two of the easiest ways to find a 'Corsair name' are;
Go Ingame and hail a few NPCs, check their names, and combine first name and last name of 2 NPCs that you liked most and use it as your char name.
Also, As you said You've bought a Gunboat, I believe a good move would be naming the Ship after Ancient Roman Gods. (Which you can Ask Wiki about!)
Where to Pirate?
Corsairs Don't go to Kusari and Liberty, Because they don't have any business in Liberty (Except escorting their Artifact Smugglers, in which case they must stay out of sight - So they still can't Pirate) and They have friends in Kusari (Hogosha and Farmers) and are also not on really 'Hostile' terms with the Government, so they don't cause trouble there. So, the main Corsairs ZoI includes;
Omicrons: Omicron Gamma, Omicron Theta, Omicron Kappa, Omicron Eta
Rheinland Space: New Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Dresden
Bretonia Space: New London, Dublin, Cambridge, Leeds, Newcastle
But, Rheinland is a dangerous place for Corsairs as they have no allies there, so, Both the Lawful and unlawful forces will attack them, making Piracy in Rheinland pretty hard. Also, as there are plenty of alternative route between different systems in Omegas, I've personally found Pirating in those systems kinda hard as well, Because if a Trader knows where you are, he can take 4 different other routes to get where he wants.
So, Best place for Corsairs to Pirate is Bretonia and Sigmas, and in those systems, Junker Bases are your friend!
Also, to get closer to Corsair RP, you should read Laws of the Corsair Empire as well.
Disobeying these Laws is Not breaking Server Rules, but might have some RP Consequences for your Character.
How to Pirate?
First of all, as I've always said, Going on your Pirate Char to make money, is not a really nice move. Flying a Pirate Char gives you so many RP opportunities that 'slaughter'ing them all because you want a credit or two more, is just a low form.
Also, there is this thing called 'RP Demands', means, you shouldn't only ask for Credits or Cargo. You can ask them to Sing, Dance, take their pants off, or anything like this! But all and all, as a 'Pirate' you'll run across many Silent Traders, Those who open fire on you without a word, or those who start shouting in System chat and asking for help, and in worse cases, those who start to Rule-lawyer you, telling you something that you're doing (And is perfectly fine) is against the rules, and you must pay them 5 million so they won't report you!
In any of these cases, As Cannon said, Stay cool and keep in character, When a Trader starts to act like this, Make a demand, and then blast them after enough time for them to answer.
Also, Don't stick to the same spot all the time, Move around between the lanes and Only Shoot a lane when you see a Trader coming. (Because Lanes are bugged and if you keep them down, a trader might go through at the last 3 seconds of lane being down and you can't do anything to stop him!)
If you are attacked;
If Lawful forces catch you while you're pirating, and they are a group of Fighters/Bombers/Gunboats, worry about Bombers first, as they can do the most damage to you, After that Gunboats and then Fighters. So, if - for example - A BAF Templar, 2 Challengers and a Gunboat come to hunt you, you should worry about Challengers first, then after you're done with them, the Gunboat, and in the end the Fighter. (Although if the Fighters come in numbers and have the right equipment, they can do more damage than the gunboat, but thats for another case!)
uhh... And if you're attacked by anything bigger than a Gunboat, You'd better Run!
This was all I could think of that might be useful, But most things that you learn during piracy are Personal experiences, and might not work for others! After all, each person has his own Piracy methods!
tip no.2 do not try it in Rheinland (you have no alies here, everybody hate you, local lawfuls and unlawfuls will work togeather just to kill you as fast as posible)
tip no.3 kill TL in the middle of road and if it is possible in the middle of the asteroid field
tip no.4 make screenshots... make one when you say your demand and eventualy second if trader refuse (starting up cruise engine is refuse too). Disco is famouse for its lawyers and screenhunters.
Extorting traders for money? That's fairly easy. Basically you just pick a lane or a jump hole and camp it. Preferably omega 41 because a lot of traders pass there on their way to omega 49.
You can pirate them for your regular 2 million fee I guess and enjoy the oh so boring life of space extortionist. Sadly, that role sucks a lot because traders these days simply /givecash elsewhere and they haven't got 2 million on board. Neither they should. If a pirate shoots you for not having money, he's pretty much being a douche.
Now, for the interesting twist.
Buy a pirating transport or a pirating freighter.
Correo rocks. The guns on that ship are amazing and you can even handle a mediocre fighter or a bomber with it easily. Hell, a newb gunboat could be drowned provided your weapon layout is win.
500 cargo hold isn't much, but every miner will gladly part with 500 gold ore or cobalt ore that you can pirate and then sell. Since gold goes for 16k and cobalt goes for 10, you can earn good enough profit from that.
If you want something bigger, I suggest a transport like Pirate Transport, or even a Akegata transport bought from your friends - Hogosha.
You need a wingmate if you'll fly that, so he can CD the traders while you suck their cargo in with your massive cargo hold.
You and your friend can even fight out bombers / fighters and gunboats easily with your 12 guns and his fighter / bomber guns.
1 - ditch the gunboat, get a pirate transport. the ship packs enough heat to take on a gunboat (if you are really good, and if your opponent is really bad )
2 - name : make something that sounds Spanish, as aerelm said. remember that your ship doesn't necessarily need to be named the same name your character is; especially if you have a bigger ship (read other than fighter/bomber, but generally appliable to any ship.) find a Spanish vocabulary and find something you like.
examples of things you might use (though i strongly doubt it) are:
Pedo (Spanish for fart - true story)
Orina (Urine, yeah)
eventually you will stumble upon something you like.
as for naming the character him/herself, personally i read credits of some movies from Spain/Japan/France/Germany and look for names there.
3 - zone of influence - well you will find that corsairs zone of influence is fairly wide, BUT - it depemnds on what you do.
Liberty - the house is off limits to you for pirating purposes, if you would like to smuggle artifacts to manhattan or buffalo, however, feel free to go there.
Rheinland - you CAN go to Rheinland, but it's hard to survive in there. Everything is hostile to you, with possible junker base exceptions. in general, i would not recommend it.
Kusari - Kusasi is kinda special in this, since we have fairly intimate relations with the Hogosha and some others from there. To be brief, they don't like us being there, even if we are generally friendly towards each other.
Bretonia - Cambridge, Leeds, Dublin, New London, Edinburgh. That pretty much sums it up.
Gallia - NO. Period.
basically, everywhere else is okay. remember to use common sense when picking where to operate.
4 - pirating itself - even if its more fun to do in groups, a lone ship can succeed as well. first of all, predefined messages are your friend if you type slowly.
typing setmsg 0 Greetings, t#. This is a highway robbery. Cut your engines and step away from the trade lane.
will predefine a message #0 for you. So that when you target a ship, and type /l0, the result will be the following:
Greetings, <insert target name here>. This is a highway robbery. Cut your engines and step away from the trade lane. in local chat.
What happens next depends on the player you just pulled over. They can run, they can obey ... Improvise.
When pirating at trade lanes, you don't want to keep the lane disrupted constantly. Just shoot it when you see a ship on your scanners moving through the lane.
Always remember to issue demands BEFORE(!) taking shield down to 50%.
5 - 0.0:
- don't pirate for money. pirate for fun. (to clarify, players spend lot of their time making credits here, and its hard enough as it is. consider size of the ship you just stopped and its level before issuing a demand. i actually pirate for money, but i pirate npcs for that. i pirate people for smaller amounts.)
- as a pirate you will have to get ready take a lot of bashing (in-game AND here). traders hate us, lawfuls hate us, other pirates hate us, terrorists hate us. get ready, be patient.
- have fun.
ps: might have been ninja'd several times while writing this. soru for repeating points
' Wrote:If a pirate shoots you for not having money, he's pretty much being a douche.
1- Problem is that lot of new trader say they don't have money even if they are 5000k trans.
2- People with ships of this type should have money. I always keep atleast 3 millions on my trader.