Crime & Punishment

I am looking to go down the pirating path in eve. Mainly sticking to Frigates and Cruisers until I build up some experience and better skills.

I am guessing that most pirates must have some form of carebear activity alt? What would be the best route to take for this, mining or mission running?

Basically that. It's kinda feast or famine. Usually you make nothing, but then sometimes a couple bil will land in your lap.

Hanging around lo-sec schools (for skillbooks-loot) is also a way of suplementing your income as a pirate.. Popping a frig with cap-skillbooks feels very rewarding when the wallets is screaming for more isk

I make the occasional foray into w-space to shoot sleepers if I ever get hard up for cash. Sometimes I find a Noctis full of salvage or a shiny PVE T3 and the trip gets a lot more fun.

Try skulking around pocos in something like a bomber. They can drop an industrial in a couple volleys and sometimes they drop a couple mil in PI junk. Its not great money but after a while it adds up.

Also keep an eye out for ratters in anomalies, and idiots that warp to the sun to probe. Theyre usually shitfit newbs but sometimes they have pricey modules (cloaks are gettin on up there these days)

If you see a frig wreck at a station, check it for a cyno in the wreck.

I am one of the few players to make money via pirating and PVP without having to rely on outside sources.

However here are a few things to remember if you wish to go this path;

-Make sure every ship gets it's investment back before it blows up
A. this can be achieved through ransoms, hijacks, or stealing.
B. Salvaging (as said earlier) can make you extra isk on the side

-Knowing how to ransom is key; understanding when you are safe to ransom and what position of power you have over your opponent can make or break a ransom.

-Fewer people on your killmails means that there are less people for the loot/ransoms to be divided up between.

-Upholding a paid ransom is your call (personally I honor all ransoms). I do this for a variety of personal reasons, but each person is different.

-Be paranoid, never engage unless you are very certain you can get in, and get out with your ship intact.

-Having eyes and friends in high places and in the right intel channels can make or break a hijacking attempt.
A. if you do decide to hijack a ship; make sure that you have a friend who can fly it out for you
B. set time limits on ransoms and hijacks (offer the victim X amount of seconds to pay/respond before you continue blowing their ship to pieces.

If you balance your books correctly and assure that you are cautious, engage wisely, and are fast about your business. You can successfully pirate and make isk from your PVP.

Best of luck

You can look at my Killboard if you wish; and decide for yourself if you think I am one of those people

Missions if you have a pve alt account (which is smart since it can also be used as a scout aka high sec runner). Some Pirates run 5's in groups or if your really good can dual box quite easily to blitz them. Other alternative is in a Carrier.

Low Sec tends to be quiet and since you are already a Pirate you should already know what steps to take to avoid being a victim.

Other methods also include putting said Carebear alt in a wormhole corp and robbing the bastards blind. My CEO just did it and took a nice little chunk of 8 billion isk with one of his many alts. There's certain tricks such as befriending said morons, getting in comms, playing the part.

It just makes the reward that much sweeter. Other options for isk making include ransoms, extortion, making carebears pay you for protection, loot from kills etc etc.

I have a buddy who makes billions baiting super-rich yet stupid carebears into shooting at him while he ninja salvages and loots their missions with his frigate. He just scans them down, warps in, and starts stealing everything he can. When/if they fire, he warps out, grabs his PVP ship of choice, and then goes back to kick their teeth in.

The sheer amount of faction and deadspace mods he's gotten from killing blinged out mission battleships is just sickening. I'm not talking hundreds of millions. I'm talking friggen billions worth. It's a game of patience and research though. It helps to know who the locals are. When you see a missioner you don't know, stalk him for a day, ship scan him, see if he's a hot headed loudmouth in local. Those types are far more likely to shoot at you, and probably dumb enough to think they can kill you if you return for revenge.

While the loot is lucrative, the tears are priceless.

You get like 10 kills per month and kill mostly haulers, noobships and frigates. The frigate kills are almost all ganks with a battleship or t3. You have nearly no solo kills. Those that you do have are mostly t3s vs missioning battlecruisers or t3s vs covops. So you dont use a falcon alt, good for you. That doesnt mean your killboard is anything close to impressive.