As a pirate, I've come to Tau 31 and just stared at all the traders zipping back and forth every 30 seconds. I sit there in my chair, leaning forward with my face and hands on the glass. Sometimes I find myself scratching my head or picking my teeth. I sit there pondering, "how the heck am I gonna successfully pirate these 12 transports zipping back and forth?"
I check my long range scanners in search for one of my allies. If none are available, all I can do is either watch and wait for one to get sloppy or depart for greener pastures. If, however, I find 1 or 2 friends nearby, I'll request their aide. Only way to shake down traders in Tau 31 is when there's 2 or 3 of us present.
Its amazing how quickly the trading goes to a standstill once there's 3 pirates waiting for prey.
As to the rule regarding dock camping: My guess is, nobody imagined this situation. Anyway, we wait till we see the blue shield bar on their ships (indicating they have control of their ship). We have to open fire immediately and simultaneously just to get their shields down and put a dent in their hulls before they can quick dock on the battleship. And we have to make our demands on these traders while they are still on the planet. Oh yes, and attacking them going back from the battleship to the planet is pointless because their holds are empty (one way profit). So what happens is 3 pirates have less than 30 seconds to scan the trader, make demands and engage them before they dock. Then we gotta wait for them to go back to the planet, load up again and make the same trip, where we engage (since we've already scanned and demanded). Sometimes they mess up on the quick dock and we get their hull down to 50%. But then they emerge from the battleship with repairs to their hull and a full complement of bats/bots.
Very annoying for us pirates, but I hear 4.84 b 1 has addressed this. Maybe we'll start seeing traders actually trading again instead of making this quick 1.5 mil every 30 seconds.
EDIT: @ Equinox: Yeah - unfortunately, that's what happens when you get a bunch of pirates, mercs and others watching traders mindlessly going back and forth every 30 seconds.
