Tutorial: NPC Pirating Explained

[sindroms]

Sup. Spazz here with another tutorial for you. As usual, a bit of pretext to what is about to be said.

NPC piracy for me personally has been a very good source of income for the past three years. While over that time we had plenty of alternatives to simple trading, the amount of money I could earn by doing this was more than enough to satisfy my own personal choice for ships (mostly gunboats, sometimes cruisers) and I found it to be fun in its own way.

The reason for this tutorial is the overall growing popularity of this sort of moneymaking among new players and vets alike. Sadly, a large portion of those players are not familiar with the overall consequences such a moneymaking entitles and frequently make mistakes, which in turn get them into trouble and cause unsatisfying ingame experiences for both parties involved. This tutorial is to explain the NPC piracy itself in a more practical manner.




Introduction

NPCs in Discovery Freelancer have served many a role over the years of its development. From elite and utterly dangerous guards of certain systems like Omicron Iota, to the filler and fluff you need in order to make the ingame world to seem more populated and active than it actually is. But one of the more interesting aspects of these patrols are the ability for a player to use them for income.

This is more commonly referred to as NPC Piracy or NPC Mining.

The purpose of this tutorial is to give a newcomer to this moneymaking process a clear and detailed explenation of the activities involved and how to not make the mistakes that would usually lead to a lot of trouble. Make no mistake, it is not as simple as it looks at first.

The act of NPC piracy in by itself is utterly simple. You simply find a transport NPC, scan it for cargo and, after evaluating the potential profit versus the danger of opening fire on the NPC, destroy the ship in question- tractor in the goods.

And still, things are not all that simple. Otherwise this sort of moneymaking would not require a tutorial, though as you will see further down the line, it is more the interaction between players that makes things complicated, rather than the act of shooting the NPCs itself.

Due to the nature of the ingame interactions, the tutorial will now be split in two sections. Pirating on an unlawful character and pirating on a neutral/quasi lawful character.

It should be noted that the tutorial is made from my own experience in mind and should be taken more as an example, rather than a rule. Take it all with a pinch of salt.

NPC PIRACY WITH AN UNLAWFUL CHARACTER

One of the most common mistakes commited by new players are them not knowing that no matter what ID you use, since most transports available for NPC piracy belong to house coorporations, the act of attacking these NPCs is still viewed upon as an unlawful action.

While NPCs are not a subject of server rules such as the player having to RP before engaging a ship in combat, the action of their destruction can and most likely will have in-roleplay consequences if it is noticed by a player on a lawful character.

These consequences can range from something as simple as a demand to drop the stolen goods, to things such as a fine or even the destruction of your ship.

So it only makes sense for a player to use an unlawful character for such a task? It sure does, but as you will see in a moment, it is not as profitable or fun in comparison. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves.





SOLO NPC PIRACY ON AN UNLAWFUL CHARACTER

Now, as odd as it might sound, NPC piracy on an unlawful ID does not really hold too much water, at least when it comes to solo piracy- but quite frankly it really depends on the circumstances. For me, if I fly around in an unlawful transport, it is because I am hunting ore traders. The cargo that most people run around that is not ore tends to make very little in terms of profit on unlawful bases.

This is a reason why I simply tend to ask money from non-ore traders, when it comes to my cargo pirate characters. As far as NPCs go, the cargo they haul is not always sold for a good price on the nearby unlawful bases. The exceptions for the most part are IRP goods such as Hfuel.

The only reason why you'd want to solo pirate NPCs on a strictly unlawful ID is if you are having a dry streak on traders. In other words, if you know the traders you are hitting by name, you can easily wait for them and selectively hit a few NPC transports and haul the cargo to the closest NPC base as you do.

By average, you would get more money from that than if you pirated non-ore traders while waiting on your main target. But again, it depends on the spot. If the base is in the same system, all power to you. You should not waste too much time on it. The only suggestion in that case is that you make a small list of the goods that are worth hauling back to said base. Makes things easier.

By all means, you can make a strictly unlawful character which focuses on NPC piracy. Gallia seems to be a good spot for that. In the example on the left, you see why I tend to keep a pirate transport in Tau37. The IMG NPCs tend to haul around a lot of rather interesting items and are rather profitable while you wait for those ore miners to gather in Tau 23.

In conclusion, if you are flying a pirate transport alone for the sake of piracy, chances are that NPC piracy will be a secondary objective and only viable if you not only know what to take, but also if you can allow yourself to leave your piracy spot every now and then. The choice depends on the situation, so know your area of operation if you want to do something along those lines.

GROUP NPC PIRACY ON AN UNLAWFUL CHARACTER

Group NPC piracy, just like solo piracy, does not usually focus on the NPC piracy itself, instead the piracy of actual players. At the same time, the more people are in your pirate group, the less total profit you each make. At that point a pirate transport to hang around and tractor up NPC loot is starting to look like a valid choice.

This can be done in multitude of ways. It could be one of your own guys, sitting on a transport (preferably a Junker or Freelancer- thus allowing him to sell the loot on a lawful base for the most profit) or you can hire someone along the way, as long as he splits the earnings.

One of my own personal favorites is to hire random freelancers flying around in medium transports. I simply tell them that I will not pirate them, but they should come back with an empty hold. That "There are at least 40 million worth of loot floating around me" and that he is more than welcome to keep half.

The gist behind it is that you are usually flying a bomber or gunboat- ships which cannot take advantage of the dropped loot from killed NPCs. Catching a random player and suckering him into the fun can be very profitable for both of you.

As long as you don't get caught working together.

NPC PIRACY WITH A NEUTRAL CHARACTER

So we have just reviewed how NPC piracy is done on IDs, which are essentially meant for that sort of roleplay. IDs, which treat NPC piracy as a secondary source of income and mainly focus on something else. But now, it is time to delve deep into the fun that is NPC piracy with a neutral or quasi-lawful character.

This is where the we start talking about the RP known as an Opportunist. A seemingly lawful character, who just acts on a whim at the face of profit. A character, for whom the chance of getting more money outweighs the dangers it will involve. That is an opportunist.

Compared to using unlawful characters, NPC piracy using a neutral ID which is able to dock on both unlawful and lawful bases makes it a LOT more profitable. Especially if you plan on NPC pirating solo.

If you are about to use a neutral ID for this activity, it is highly advisable you use a medium transport with a cruise disruptor. This will allow you to immobilize any potential target. The Serenity, Behemoth, Big Dragon, BWT and such are valid choices of Freelancer IDed opportunists, depending on where they will want to play.

Again, it should be noted that shooting civilian ships even though they are NPCs will have in-RP consequences if lawful players catch you doing so. Avoiding being labeled as a criminal is part of the fun tho...

WHEN AND WHERE TO PIRATE NPCS

One of the main pros for using a non-pirate ID is that you can easily move around house space and scan for NPCs without being shot at everything. At that point, all you need to worry about are pirates. Even though this is the case, I and a lot of other players like to pick a certain ''spot'' which we often use in order to wait for NPCs. The more you move around, the bigger the chance that your actions can be noted by another player and get you reported to the local law authorities.

It should also be noted that the server load influences the amount of NPCs being spawned. The spawn rate rapidly decreases as more and more players join. By default, the spawnrates are decreased once the population hits around ~80 players.

Gates are a very common place to pirate NPCs. These zones have a very large Transport to Snubcraft spawn ratio and offer a steady stream of new transports as the old ones simply jump through or take the lanes. The con to such a spot is that when you become hostile to the NPCs, the gate pulse cannons will tear your face off. Also, if you are hostile to the NPCs and a lawful player arrives and the NPCs are using the gate, you will become a sitting duck.

Lanes are another commonly used spot, since most of the NPC traffic are indeed transports and freighters. This is considered more dangerous than camping a gate, however, as if you get caught by a lawful player at a gate, you can simply act as if you are simply passing through. If they catch you in the middle of the lane, it will certainly quirk a few eyebrows.

Stations are the peak of opportunism. Hubs like this spawn a huge amount of NPCs, but also pose a huge danger to the player wishing to kill them. Not only base weapons are very strong, there are usually very powerful NPCs flying around, especially cruiser and battleship patrols in capital systems. It will be up to you to decide whether or not the cargo is worth the risk of getting blown up.

In general, the knowledge which transports are worth shooting with the risk involved is one of the reasons that make NPC piracy fun. You are able to move around without any problems, waiting for your chance to get some cargo. Will you be quick enough and lucky enough, that's the question.

MANAGING YOUR REPUTATION

Obviously, shooting NPCs causes changes to your overall reputation. This will probably be one of the biggest drawbacks to NPC pirating on a neutral character. Unlawful IDed ships are automatically rephacked hostile to all lawful forces, so it really does not matter what NPCs you shoot. However, if you are doing this on a Junker, Freelancer or other quasi-lawful ships, you must make sure to minimize the damage by shooting the transports only.

Bribes are your best friend. Also, you might want to stay more friendly with the lawful side of the spectrum, since you will mostly be docking with their bases anyway. However, it should be noted that being full hostile to unlawful factions is problematic, because if you do get caught and are shot by lawful players, an unlawful or neutral base is your only chance to escape.

Never underestimate the power of peeved off NPCs. Since you are most likely using a transport, having a hostile ship suddenly fly past you in front of Manhattan and turning everything red will get you killed faster than a Ossie in Iota.

A few players realize this and a rookie mistake is to swap out the ID for a Lawful ID. DO NOT DO IT. NEVER USE A LAWFUL MILITARY, POLICE OR CORPORATE ID TO COMMIT NPC PIRACY!!!!

COMMONLY COMMITTED MISTAKES

NPC piracy is profitable. It is fun. It is utterly fun to fly around knowing full well you did not pay a credit for the cargo you are carrying, but most people do it so obviously, later they get into trouble with law enforcements.

Here's a small list of things that will help you NOT to give yourself away.

*Don't keep visiting the same sellpoint over and over. This seems to be one of the biggest giveaways I have noticed on my lawful characters. Players coming in with valuable cargo, undocking empty and flying away again. Only to return within 5 minutes with cargo they had no way to get within the house we are in in that short of a timespan. Chose your sellpoint wisely, because it is easy to notice frequent visits.

*Keep your reputation in check. Flying around with the NPCs shooting you because you were too late to take a few bribes to fix your rep will cause questions.

*Be careful of cloaked ships. Be careful of anyone in the system but yourself. With enough evidence against you, you will be turned hostile to the house you are flying around in via having someone snitch you off to the official factions.

*Be careful with pirates and lawfuls alike. Lawful forces will shoot you for shooting civilian patrols. Pirates will snitch what you are doing to lawfuls, because screw you. When doing NPC piracy, EVERYONE is your enemy.

*Never ever use a lawful ID to pirate NPCs.

*NPCs are not covered by the server rules in terms of PVP (obviously). However, shooting them is an IRP action and will have consequences if someone notices you.

*If you are killed by an NPC, standard PVP rules apply.

*If you are pirating NPCs and dock, you are not a trader and are not exempt from the 2 hour death rule unlike traders.

*If you are working together with unlawfuls, best you avoid being in the same group with them. People tend to see that.

*Be careful to get rid of ''trash'' cargo NPCs drop along with the goods. Having 20 units of crew and 60 Hfuel is a dead giveaway of your actions.

*Your income is controlled by your luck.

*If caught, never dock on lawful bases.

CONCLUSION

NPC piracy has been a thing for a while now. Needless to say, it is a nice way to earn money, but even so it does not bring in as much profit as mining. A cheap way to upkeep fighters and snubcraft in general or a way to get the extra few million credits to burn in Connecticut.

I hope this tutorial has explained the basics and you might see NPC piracy as more than just shooting NPC transports here and there. If done right it can be a fun group activity, a fun roleplay and, most importantly, profitable and hectic as hell.


Just to recap. The point of NPC piracy is:

Pros:
Ability to earn quick money without flying great distances.
A chance to enjoy something highly ''grey'' in terms of lawful and unlawful actions.
The chance to shoot all those damn transports getting stuck in tradelanes and gates.
Much dosh.

Cons:
Highly luck orientated.
Limited ship size.
Not as profitable as mining/jump trading.
Easy to screw up and got shot by lawfuls.
Easy to screw up and get shot by unlawfuls.
Requires a very empty server.

Hope this was worth the effort put into it. Feedback and such appreciated.

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