EVE New Citizens Q&A

Fellow Capsuleers,

Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Dhalvex and I'm new to the life of a pod pilot. I was enticed here on the recommendation of some random reviews and opinions around the web. Mostly at the promise of complex and rewarding player combat. I've also seen a lot of advertisements for Kronos lately, and it's catch line "Rise of the Pirates" piqued my interest the most. Without any more needing to be said on that, here I am!

I've come to you with a question regarding the path of a pirate. I've been flying around with Aura and learning the ins and outs of space combat and some of industry, but it doesn't seem like anything really points you in the direction of where an aspiring pirate may go. I see that there are pirate ships on the market, per say, but I don't think that constitutes being a pirate as I see them everywhere, and it also seems like I'm mostly being sent to kill npc pirates all the time instead of joining up with them.

There are a lot of resources here on the forums that have helped me understand somewhat of how to play, from mining to missions, but I can't find much on what the role of a pirate is or how to go down the path of becoming one. I admit my first day has largely been spent shooting at asteroids and I don't find that nearly as fulfilling or romantic as a nice fat ransom.

Could anyone point me to where I should go to figure out the best way of becoming who it is that I want to be?

Thanks in advance,
D.V.

First, do all the career agent missions, even if their topics aren't of much interest to you. They are boring, but they teach you the game and it is important to understand all the basic mechanics, even for a pirate. Plus they're pretty good money for a new player with free ships to boot.

Second...lowsec! That's where the pirates live. Although a case for the dubious morality of wormhole dwellers and some capsuleers in null-sec can be made as well.

Where in lowsec? Generally the largest concentration of pirate corporations can be found in faction warfare zones. These are some of the most active combat regions, and they lend themselves to new players since frigates and destroyers are quite common there. The best way to make friends with a pirate is to shoot at them, IMO. Fit up some t1 frigates with the cash you got from the tutorials and head out to low-sec. You'll die a lot. That's fine. Chat with the people that killed you and ask for advice. If you seem eager and willing to learn a lot pirate corporations are likely to take you under their wing, or at least suggest groups you may be interested in.

Read this article from my blog for my take on it -

http://everevolutionaryfront.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-dark-arts-newbies-handbook-for-evil.html?m=1

The question that you need to ask yourself is what piracy means to you and what sort of piracy you want to do. The EVE community has some large differences of opinion on the subject. For some people, having negative security status from doing PvP in lowsec is what defines a pirate. For others, it means either camping or hunting lowsec for noncombatant ships which can be warp scrambled and held for ransom.

I personally view piracy as any profitable activity which involves shooting at people who are unprepared or unwilling to engage in PvP. In my opinion isk-negative lowsec goodfights do not qualify as piracy, but highsec corp infiltration or mission invasion most certainly does, because the money is good. Others will certainly disagree with me and that is fine. Any form of PvP career is valid in my eyes, but I won't call anything piracy that isn't both profitable and devious.

first of all, congratulations on a concise and eloquent first post. these values go a long way in provoking helpful replies.

as for piracy: there are the so-called pirate factions, NPC organizations which are labeled pirates mainly for lore reasons (they're the 'bad guys', ok?). you can buy their ships on the market like any others though and flying the ships does not make you a 'real' pirate (i.e. someone who extorts or kills other players).

if you want to take up the pirate trade, i would advise you to read up on lowsec life in general and look around for a player corp that lives in lowsec. chances are, they will teach you the basics of lowsec pvp and introduce you to their life style.

aside from lowsec, there are various other options for being the 'bad guy'. for example, you should google 'eve suicide ganking', 'eve awoxing' or 'eve trade scams'.

The role of a pirate is to be a repellent. A good pirate will scare bad players out of low sec, where great riches can be found. Without those bad player repellents (called pirates) those riches would be worth much less and highsec would be pointless. If you prove to have what makes a pirate you will become a guardian of the EVE economy. Please note that most bad players don't know that, expect insults come you way.

I'm not quite sure if one can actually become a pirate. You may have to be born for it.

Also, you might enjoy watching this.

He also wore an eye patch...

OK, troll out of the way.

Being a pirate in EVE is more about your attitude than the ships you fly.

Get in a ship you can afford to loose and figure out what you can do with it.

^^
In it's truest sense Pirates never fight fair. They attack targets of opportunity no matter how defenceless they.

Which I am ok with.

Look up a character named Psychotic Monk and his affiliates, the Belligerent Undesirables.

Chat with them in game. These guys will hold your hand through the first few steps of high sec piracy and get you on your way.

Edit: Monk is pretty busy these days as one of our newest CSM members but I'm sure he would be more than happy to point you towards some helpful blogs as well as some one who make ght help you in person in-game.

Pirates are predators. Successful predators go where the prey is.

While the recent Kronos expansion has led to a bit more interest in lowsec, most prey remains in highsec, with some in wormholes. Lowsec is pretty quiet still - last night I was able to check every single belt in Decon (not a quiet system) for Mordrus NPC spawns without a single other person being in local the whole time.

Your best bet is to join a non-pirate corporation, and attack their members in highsec and hold them ransom.

"Piracy" is indeed quite an abiguous term, and I'm glad OP used the word role to indicate what he was looking for.

To me being a pirate is more of a mindset, then it is a code or a collection of hard rules and regulations. I'd say most important to me would be the tendency to see everything and everyone as an oppurtunity to increase your wealth, and not be steered by a moral compass or arbitrary data such as the killboards. You plan to be a fearsome criminal, and thus you deserve your own narrative and a reputation to match. So work on that: make sure your actions are more hardcore then your banter in local: show, don't tell.

Need a head start? Stalk Customs Offices in a frigate and have patience. Observe the flock, identify targets, and as soon as you get a 5 degree scan of a hauler on a POCO rush to engage it. I've made kills worth a couple hundred million with a Rifter costing 3 million, pulling tens of millions out of the wreckages. To a new player a good PI hauler kill may yield a fortune. To me piracy is just escalating the same principles in scale: I once ransomed someones POS and he employed our group for merc work in hisec!

Above all, embrace emergence and cash in when the oppurtunity arises.

EDIT:
Oh, something Hedonism Bot's post sort of spawned in my head thinking this over: the definition of real world piracy is basicly the act of robbery or criminal violence at sea or offshore, differing from privateering in a sense that it is illegal and not sanctioned by states or international law. Henceforth I would say one could speak of piracy only if one's actions are not CONCORD or Alliance sanctioned. In mechanical terms, one would only need to take a look at crimewatch for hisec and lowsec. Wspace and nullsec are policed by players and determining illegality is harder, but you can damn well assume ship violence against residents or their allies can be defined as piracy if you profit from those actions.

Keeping to RL analogies, what about ganking? Is it piracy? Depends... if your goal is pure profit, then yes, by a broad definition it is. If your goal is to destabilize the economy or harm specific economic parties or morale, one would speak of terrorism. I would define myself as a pirate, but not as an outlaw, which is the technical correct term for a person of -5 security status or lower. These are not mutually exclusive or anything, I just deem it entirely valid for a pirate to bribe his way back to positive sec status.