Question regarding piracy

[Tenacity]

Ok, I'm a big noob when it comes to pirating, despite having several pirate characters in the past. "Bloodsail" (my rogue GB) only asked for rum when pirating and usually ran at the first sign of resistance. Katsumoto (my blood dragon) mostly patrolled chugoku stopping anyone that came through that space without hesitation.

Both characters no longer exist, but I have a new pirate I'm working with... Visas. I fly a falcata, and the pretense of my character is that she is the leader of a religious cult bent on 'purifying' anyone who doesnt see the nomads as gods. Now, of course I must demand cargo or money (usually the latter, as a 'donation') before I can blow someone up.

Earlier tonight, we stopped a transport in new berlin. I fired an inferno to drop his shields and show him we meant business, while my partners used train CD's to keep him from running, and killed the nearby trade lane.

Now, we were repeatedly told by this trader that "You cant shoot at me until you ask for cargo!". Was he right?

It seems to me that warning shots, dropping someone's shields (we didnt even damage his hull, i just kept the inferno shots going to render his shields inoperable) in this case, are perfectly fine before making a demand. We had no intentions of destroying his ship before asking for cargo/money, and did not do more than a minute amount of damage to his hull (passively while keeping his shields down, his hull bar wasnt even scratched).

So who was in the right/wrong here? Are pirates allowed to drain someone's shields before making demands?

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[BaconSoda]

As far as I know, you can do as much damage as you want before making a demand, but you cannot kill him. In theory, you could reduce him to 1% Hull then ask for 1,799,999,999 credits, and then blow him up, but that would just be bad taste.

As to what a demand actually is, is rather a subject of debate. If you ask me, the request to halt is a demand in itself, and if not fulfilled you have full rights to destroy a trader, before actually asking for money. But that is just my opinion, and I'm probably going to get sanctioned for it at some point.

EDIT: My apologies on the demand part, it does say in the rules that a monetary demand is required, so that point is almost null and void.

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[8:32:45 PM] Dusty Lens: Oh no, let me get that. Hello? Oh it's my grandma. She says to be roleplay.
[12:49:19 AM] Elgatodiablo: You know its nice that you have all that proof and all, Bacon... but I just don't believe you.

[Thexare]

You simply cannot destroy him before asking for cargo or money, if I remember the rule right.

[Tenacity]

It would appear I was in the right then. We did no (or very, very minor amounts of) damage to his hull, and merely kept his shields down with my inferno cannon while we made our monetary demands. He did not comply, and stalled us long enough to call in a bounty hunter battlecruiser as backup... at which point he died for not complying, and we subsequently got the hell out of there because a lone bomber, VHF, and light fighter are no match for a bc =(

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[ryoken]

You were fully in the right mate. And a bomber/VHF/L fighter can rock the hell out of a BC.
Use the fighter's to distract it while the bommber does it's nasty work. Just duck and dive.

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[Tenacity]

You were fully in the right mate. And a bomber/VHF/L fighter can rock the hell out of a BC.
Use the fighter's to distract it while the bommber does it's nasty work. Just duck and dive.

easier said than done.

The battlecruiser completely ignored the fighters (except for almost instantly blowing up the light fighter we had with us) and focused entirely on me in the bomber. I cant dodge and fire supernovas at the same time, and due to lag or maybe my horrible aim, most of my supernova shots were missing anyways.

EDIT:

Then again, I'm still a pretty new bomber pilot. I had a red catamaran when I flew for the dragons, but that thing manuvers more like a fighter than a bomber... and I never had to go up against anything but transports with it.

This is my second bomber character, and the only one I've taken up against capships. Our same group (VHF/bomber/LF) took out Megiddo's bounty hunter (orca) gunboat in omicron theta earlier today, and even that was an extremely difficult fight. Due to extreme server lag at the time, coupled with his dodging, 9/10 of my supernova shots missed, and several of the shots that did hit square landed right after his shields started to regen - so they did no hull damage. It was a long fight but we eventually took him out.

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[Srkad]

You were fully in the right mate. And a bomber/VHF/L fighter can rock the hell out of a BC.
Use the fighter's to distract it while the bommber does it's nasty work. Just duck and dive.

Yea. but that woulda been no fun for me now would it? just running from him hehe.

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[Virus]

HALT does not count as a demand. Money or cargo must be demanded.
http://discoverygc.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=14896

Asking ridiculous sums of money is also against the rules...
http://discoverygc.com/forums/index.php?sh...mp;#entry143124
http://discoverygc.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9025

You can also damage them as much as you want.... but NOT kill them before demanding cargo.

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Into the Maelstrom - A Measure of Salvation - Reaver Company Database

[Tenacity]

Yea, I didnt say "HALT!" - I had my escorts disrupt him and kill the lane while I asked him if he "bowed down to the spirits of the light", and after a lengthy conversation where he kept protesting I asked that he donate a sum of 3 million credits to prove his loyalty. I dont think 3 million is a ridiculous sum of money - considering that we had 3 people in the group (1m a peice isnt much) - and we didnt get it anyways because he called in the BH capwhores to help him... not that they helped much, a single supernova took down his transport, didnt want him thinking he could get away by stalling a pirate encounter.

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[Dab]

Well Virus, 3 million isn't a ridiculous amount of money.. Its what I charge for any transports with over 4,000 cargo. They make what, 14-18 million per trade run. 3 million is rather small. Especially when you only collect from the trader every 4 hours. I also pirate 5 million for non-BLS approved cardi smugglers (My Kiretsu char, not a BLS, but we're basically allied) and for people who call in BHG capships to help them..

Now, 15 million plus would be overboard. However, if that 15 covers them for a full day, 24 hours, that'd be a bargain for a trader.

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