Today I made several tradeship kills. Sadly, all were empty. (Suggestion: Allow players to scan and see if the other player has cargo - this will cut back on my missle waste expenditure and allow me to tell if people are truthful when they say they have no cargo)

A few people got away. Let me compare:

A Centaur comes out of the wormhole I'm camping. I get lucky and he's within about 600m of me. I'm able to get behind him before he can get momentum up and jackhammer him to oblivion. No cargo. I am exasperated. More wasted missles.

I am soon overwhelmed by angry PMs. I am called a griefer in public chat. I ask if the player would be as angry if a bot had killed him, and tell him to think of me as a deadly pirate bot that makes trading a little more exciting. More ranting and promises to leave the game because of rampant griefing (I killed him once).

So that blows over. I have a duel with tosh and we both realize that we're rusty as hell when it comes to combat. I discover that someone already has a Valk!! (Haceldema)

Then I'm on the prowl again. This time I chase a Centaur from a station to a wormhole. I get within jack range, but before I can fire he jukes just enough to throw me off. Then he jumps to an empty sector. I follow and see him jump out. I don't get a message but assume he went back to the wormhole. I jump there and am proven correct! The chase begins again, but this time he makes it to the WH intact and warps.

Once on the other side, I am only just barely able to stay within 1000m and see where he jumps too. Another empty sector. I decided to try and cut him off at the wormhole I guess he's heading for and hit a storm! Damnit!

I get out of the storm in time to see him enter the wormhole and his nation space. I PM him to say "Good chase." and am rewarded by the response "Thanks. I learn fast."

Let's compare the responses - one newb got angry, flamed me and decided to quit. The other (Pen of the UIT, by the way, well flown :) ), learned from his previous encounters and managed to escape. To be fair, the first guy had little chance to escape - but then to freak out and flame instead of trying to figure out a solution is the less gallant response.

So for everyone out there flying unguarded, unarmed centaurs in the gray sectors - there ARE pirates. We WILL try to kill you. If you get caught, don't freak out and quit - think about the situation. Many of you have guild tags. Why aren't you guys flying in convoys? An escort changes things drastically. Why aren't you at least putting missles on those flying coffins? A good pirate won't be killed by the missles but he does have to waste time dodging them, which means you the trader can get away.

In short: Don't whine. Adapt. I complained about the lack of PvP, but I found a way to actually catch traders again. Now that you guys aren't invulnerable, you have to figure out a way to counter my counter. You can do it if you put your mind to it. I have a few ideas myself for when I have to start trading again.

I agree. If you don't wander too far away from home then you should "be safer".

Maybe you were the 13th person who had killed him and he was having a bad day. I hope instead he says "I want to get that guy back!" and starts building up his skills.

I know not to expect to fly to Corvus and get in and out without a bit of a run. I hope the mentors and general chat will spread the idea that PK happen, but hopefully not too often to thoses who want to avoid it.

If I go into the gray areas to buy expensive blackmarket equipement for my ship and I die before I can return to the UIT (anyone else read UTI? and do a double take?) I guess I wasn't ready for the higer level equipment if I can't keep it. :)

As a complete newbie to this game, I completely agree with the original poster. It's not like it's open pvp anywhere you go (i.e. Lineage 2). If you go to an area where you can be killed by another player, then expect someone to try or else stay the hell out.

What really interests me is that, despite all the doomsayers that said pirating is impossible, you pirated with a reasonable amount of success.

Good job Starfisher, Pen, and especially to the devs.

Pirating as we knew it back in the 18 sector universe is dead. Now it's wormhole and station camping. Not honorable, not glamorous, but it works. I think we and all other pirates were trying too hard to hold on to the old ways where cargo was chased down - now it is ambushed.

Even so, you were not always successful with that, AND things may be changing "Soon" with the mention that cargo will have mass.

Yeah, i had quite a blast pirating the UIT areas today, i got killed twice(one from a determined player and the other from seekers) yet was able to make about 15-20 kills in the time i was there, quite fun i must say.

Unless you got cargo, or intended to get cargo, you're not a pirate. More of a serial killer.

Starfisher: pirating is neither honorable NOR glamorous. And it has never been anything like that.

I compleatly disagree, being a pirate myself. The respect gained for our superior flying and fighting skills is quite high.

you do not seem to understand the meaning of honorable.

Has there been any consideration with having certain weapons 'weigh' more as well? Kinda a balancing factor?

I guess I'll have to break out my trojan horse centaur one of these days. (It was a centaur that took on valks!)

And Urza, pirating was never honorable, and the flying skills and fightign skills for most pirates were hilarious. (Really the only ones which I considered good at fighting was... SirCamps, even Pho couldn't pull much off)

Hats off StarFisher, More pirateing needs to happen, period.

Black Hats knock that rust off.

Traders get you evasive manuevers honed to perfection.

Let the fun begin... by the way, why arn't there wolfpacks prowling the trade routes?

Your chances of a kill would be better, besides a centuar carries more cargo than one pirate can grab anyways... All that lost cargo, thats what I call a waste.

>>mutorcs<<

I dunno, the usual "no buses, no three in a row." honor most pirates adopt is a lot more honorable than some of the tactics I have seen the vigilante policemen use in the past.

Plus, pirates tend to be a lot less verbally abusive than their 'copper' counterparts.

Fascinating, I can only count of two verbally abusive 'copper', and i can only think of two 'pirates' that never shot their mouths. Oh the irony.

Lamas: Correct. However, wormhole and station camping were derided as "dishonorable" and "cheap" in the past. That line was more of a premeptive statement. I know my current tactics are designed to maximize my chances of a kill in any way possible. This includes ramming. If I have ONE chance to hit the guy and knock him off course to get subsequent hits in, I am going to be damn sure to get that hit. Especially since the cost of missing is escaped cargo.

Pirate fighting skill... interesting point. It's hard to say. If traders start hiring escorts, then pirates will develop good fighting skills to counter that. If not, our tactics are going to be honed to fighting relatively defenseless tradeships.

Plus, you were a freaking aimbot with the rails, Piro. Of course Camps was the only one who could beat you; IIRC, he's the one who taught you the basics... give the rest of us mortal tach/gauss/sunflare users our due ;P

Nah, he wasn't that good, it's just that everyone that flew a valk never used rails.
Rails are really quite easy weapons to use, if you have a cent or a valk.
Pretty good on a hornet too.
Not so good on a prom, but rather useful there too.
Now, a centaur would really fail at rails. As would a rag.

hey my rail-wraith was feared. :)

My trojan centaur used several rails and those hard hitting heavy weapon flares.

Also, Rails are far from the easiest weapon to use :P

So maybe we need a Dev to add a /pay bribe and /demand bribe function for the traders and pirates?