First timer here. I've recent interaction with some kind of piracy here.
The interaction is described as follows;
- The "Pirate" was waiting(?) beside the jump gate at one time. I've passed it several times (Might be?). Normal interaction as fellow sky farer (exchange greetings).
- Suddenly it asked me to halt, I stopped just before I hit dock on the jump gate to see where this thing goes (RP, right?). It demanded that I drop my cargo (2/5). Just two sentences; halt (not even a Capital) and to drop 2/5 of my cargo.
- I'm thinking, "Huh, he's a pirate?"; "But wait!?, his Tag was IMG, a mining guild and my cargo wasn't raw material.". I then looked at the reputation list (F8?) to see whose allies, competitors and enemies of IMG. For the note; It's my first time in Discovery Freelancer (I don't know what's new); It's been a long time since I played Freelancer (I'm not agile at all in looking for the information); I don't know how to drop 2/5 of my cargo; and I do the thinking in silence (Not responding, imagine it like Patrick Star).
- I was working for Samura to deliver half finished materials (That was my cargo). Samura was not their competitor nor enemy. IMG listed as a lawful independent faction. So I thought that it was weird RP. After silently not responding to the demand, It says "It's a pity that you don't comply.", and it shot me.
- I docked the jump gate, and it follows me until I've met my demise. A drifting life pod in the void of space.
The positive was it was a good pirate-like RP if it was an NPC. Halt; Choose; Emotion; Shoot; A very NPC-like behaviour.
The weird was interaction point 3 and 4. The "Pirate" was not even registered as an enemy for me, personally and factionally.
The conclusion is as followed;
- I encouraged a good RP piracy, but not NPC-like. Background check RP character please.
- I'm a newcomer (not a returning player). Please consider the needs of newcomer to be settled. It is a struggle for the peasant when the "chaebol" being a pirate.
- Lots of discussions before seems cornering the Trader side. Please consider viewing from the other perspective. A what if.
- I'm not angry or annoyed, just in a daze. If new player encounters similar event like mine and repeatedly, they will likely annoyed and not playing anymore. It's not PVP like battlefield, it's Multiplayer Online RP game that most player forgot; The first ones to join will have the most advantage.
You most likely ran into a pirate with a spoofed IFF. Generic factions (like Freelancers, Pirates, Smugglers, Researchers) can run whatever IFF they want by grinding reputation. You could have also ran into an Alien-Infected or a Military Intelligence agent, who can spoof their IFF. This change isn't exactly recent, but also isn't exactly laid out for you to see. The thing that determines what a player actually is and what rules they have to follow is their ID, which is mounted in the internal equipment next to their nanobots, shield batteries, scanner, and engine. Generally, we tend to treat the ID as invisible, or else the rules would make infiltration and espionage completely unplayable. However, I don't think there's ever been a direct "yeah, ID's are invisible" statement.
Chances are that was not a real IMG, just a pirate flying IMG flag to trick people.
I happened to be flying past at that moment. An "Archon" from the official IMG faction was firing at a non-resisting transport...
Code:
[18.10.2025 17:22:12] ARGADIS-[TRANSPORT] died to IMG|Blocksberg(100%)
