To this newcomer, it seems that the only way to get enough cash in the game to do anything ELSE is to trade.
Trading in this game, especially under a Freelancer ID, is PAINFULLY SLOW and REALLY REALLY BORING. Emphasized because it's relevant later.
For starters, a small introduction. I've had two pirate interactions so far playing this mod:
First one I was mining in Pennsylvania using the cheapest available freighter (as the beginner guide suggests) and someone came up and demanded I drop all my cargo. I'd just spent a lot of real, irreplaceable time collecting that cargo in my tiny little freighter, and they wanted it ALL? It was properly RP'd, sure, something about the field being claimed by their faction so they were interdicting it to others. They destroyed me. At this point I left the game and didn't come back for a very, very long time. Was not a positive first experience. At all.
Second one was yesterday. I came back (obviously) because Freelancer is STILL the best space game out there (which is really sad when I think about it). This time I was trundling towards a jump gate when pirate fires on me just before I reach the gate. The only thing they said AFTER they'd fired and just as the gate cycled was "stop", My previous interaction with pirates led me to try to run - no chance, of course, because the types of transport ships that a newbie freelancer can afford will ALWAYS LOSE to anyone. At least they were "reasonable" with their demands this time, but the interaction was less than enjoyable. For everyone involved, probably.
The upshot of this is that if you're going to pirate, remember that the from the point of view of the trader, especially the newbie trader, they have spent a lot of irreplaceable time doing something that is PAINFULLY SLOW and REALLY REALLY BORING. You're stealing from someone who doesn't have a lot to begin with. That ship you see? That's their only one. They don't have another ship with oodles of cash because everything they own is invested in what's in the hold of that ship. Remember that next time you decide to destroy the ship and take everything they own in the game. They're NEW, that's why they're flying a crappy Bumblebee under a Freelancer ID (this time around).
So if you're at all interested in making things enjoyable for others, not just for yourself, do try to keep that mind. Newbies will tend to panic because, well, some of us have been burned hard before. Probably once I get to know the various pirates the RP will be more satisfactory on both sides. Until then, patience with the newbies please. And if they're flying a bumblebee under a freelancer ID, they're probably a newbie. Unless of course your goal is to drive newcomers away, in which case pirate #1 almost succeeded. Pirate #2 sort of redeemed the experience in the end, which is why I'm still here.
Unfortunately for this newbie, a combination of high ping and low motor skills means that any kind of PvP is probably out of the question. So once I (eventually) get enough cash to do "something else", I'm actually kind of wondering what that might be since it seems the focus of everything is PvP of some kind. But that's another topic.
