Greetings, Arthur here and imma gonna give you some tips on pirating in Liberty and pirating as such, be it in group or solo.
*Step 1: Chose your ship wisely.
Your choice of ship would depend on your faction, your fighting style and how many friends you have. In liberty, the perfect ship of piracy is the Barghest liberty rogue heavy bomber.
4/2
1xM
2xT/CD
1xCD
1xCM
Freighter class 6 shield.
See, if you are a pirating kind, you should get a SN and a MR, rather than a Nova torp. Don't bother with turrets tho. TCD is vital of course.
Now then, piracy works well with one person, as you can split the profits with only you and your alter ego, but it makes things uneasy if you have more than two traders jumping out of the lane. Even those turrets hurt you know.
The ideal number is four people, two bombers a transport and a fighter. When you sit at a trade lane, be sure to remember, that many traders are smart and can fly 15k above or below you. Stationing a fighter 20k below and above your position can give them one nasty surprise. Keep the transport in the fields or far away from the lane, swoop in and get the loot, if the trader expired.
Bother only with commodities, like Superconductors (Rochester) Mox (Buffalo) Hfuel (Alcatraz) and a few others, like VIPs.
* Step 2: Demanding money or cargo.
First of all, i want you to bind a new weaponsgroup, the TCD to 6 or such. This will alow you to not use /setmsg and still shoot the trader if hes fleeing while you are typing. Always Rp with the trader before asking for money, don't greet them with a nova to the face, as i hear that reduces the chance that the guy will pay you. My usual RP is the following:
Me: Greetin's, boy, how 'bout ya pay me for keeping the Xenos off yer back?
trader: Err, i don't see any Xenos here.
Me: My point exactly.
Step 3: Tradelane bug.
As you know, the lane downtime has increased by 10 sec, but its only the time you may not F3 on that lane. Meaning the traders who go through do not get disrupted, as they get 10sec to slip by. So shoot the lane only when needed. Be sure to tell the trader to back off the lane just incase.
Step 4: Reasonable demands.
Remember to tax accordingly to the level, you won't be demanding 2mil off a lvl 40 transport after all. Remember, dropping cargo or B/bs can still be useful.