Crime & Punishment

Sincere question, can someone direct me to where I can find the pirate code of honor?? I am sure for those of you who been around for a few years may know if there is such as one, thanks

Thank you gentlemen, I really appreciate the efforts you made to answer my question and this pretty well settles it. Thanks again.

I fully agree with both those rules, and realize that I've already been following them without putting them in words.

There really is no "code" but the roots of Piracy ethics in Eve can be traced back to the early days when ransoming was still a viable and lucrative profession. Low Sec thrived, sites were worth running, and before the age of the Jump Freighter many goods and items were transported through Low Sec.

So naturally Piracy was as just a valid profession as any. Nowadays word is valued above all eve isk. Why? Look at examples such as Chribba who is an exemplary member of the Community. Now while Chribba my not Don the skull and crossbones he does have one very valuable asset: trust.

Back in the early days you were isolated from many Pirate groups if you broke your word because really it was just bad for business. The actions of your "comrades" not only effected themselves but your wallet too! Dishonor a ransom and the well dried up.

So a very practical method was to just honor ransoms. Eventually word spreads, and for a small convo the wallet blinks. How does this translate to modern Eve Piracy? The basic principle is the same but on a wider scale.

Take Shadow Cartel for example. We have very simple rules:

1. Honor all ransoms.

2. Honor all 1v1.

3. Your word is your bond.

Now why are these three points critical? Because word travels. Persons in our Alliance have spent years building our reputation and reliability. Because of our strict "code" many opportunities not afforded to other groups become available to us. Big fights, Major kills, the spoils of being a predator when called upon.

See reputation and word makes you valued as well as feared. Do not throw such things away on a cheap pump and dump kill or a cheap laugh. You could be costing yourself quite alot in the end. Just be truthful and honor your word even as a Pirate.

I warn you though being an honest Pirate drunk with power is loads of fun...

Can someone also point me to the Devils Charity for Ship-less Miners guidelines ?

Shoot everyone, sort out the mess later.

That said I will honour ransom except where I hold a personal grudge against the mark or someone linked to them.

I once refunded a billion ISK ransom from a Legion pod because after he paid I said "let him go" and a fleet mate heard "light him up" apparently. I suppose more accurately the trigger happy fleet member who wasn't paying attention refunded the 1 bil ransom. The Legion pilot was still out his high-grade slave pod but at least it wasn't the pod + 1 billion.

I also refunded 550 mil from a Tempest Fleet Issue that paid my fleet to live and although we did let him go he wasn't able to warp before the rats finished him. Technically I might have been able to argue that we did let him go and rats killed him or that he should have been aligned so I wasn't at fault. But the payment was for survival and my reputation is worth more than 550 million.

If I'm not prepared to let you go for what you offer to pay I will say so and won't take your money, just your ship and I'm more likely to ransom a pod than a ship because pods can not be looted. Reputation is everything and all I'm worried about is that people know they can believe any promise I offer which comes in very handy when you occasionally fleet up with reds to fight a common enemy. It pays to be able to have each fleet trust the other not to turn on them the second the common enemy is dead, lack of trust weakens the co-operation and jeopardizes the chances the op will succeed. Even if you don't really like the group you are red to and fleeting with then for the duration of the op there is one commandment: Thou shalt swallow thy animosity.

That logic only applies when you think/know people will remember you. Whereas I commonly deal with people who had ransoms not honoured and dont trust them. Also the chances of me meeting the same guy twice are slim, so the incentive to honour a ransom really isnt there. It makes more sense to take the ransom then blow him away and loot the wreck, then to play at e honour. Its not like I lose out by doing so. I will only make an exception to this if theres a genuine need to leave them alive, otherwise what can I hope to gain? some warm fuzzy feelings?

Maybe it was different years ago, but your average player/corps/alliance that call themselves pirates seem to be nothing but gankers looking to pad their killmails with easy no-risk kills at lowsec gate camps. No code, no honour.