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EVE New Citizens Q&A

 
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Pirates

Author
Candi LeMew
Division 13
#21 - 2015-09-18 15:14:36 UTC
Hunting explorers with Dickvirus T3s.

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Remember... in Anoikis Bob Is Always Watching...

"I been kicked out of better homes than this" - Rick James

Memphis Baas
#22 - 2015-09-18 15:36:11 UTC
Also, things are balanced this way, unfairly if you want to call it that, partly because if it were easy, everyone would do it, and then you wouldn't be able to get anywhere in a cruiser or battleship for all the frigate people just waiting to take you out easily. So it's possible but not easy.

Same with piracy, actually. Anyone would take the chance to make an easy 100 million off a juicy target if it were easy, but it's not. You lose access to high sec, and on top of it most players know the dangers and take steps to either avoid the hot spots or protect their ship (warp stabilizers, cloaks, use fast-aligning ships, etc.).
Vol Arm'OOO
Central Co-Prosperity Union
#23 - 2015-09-18 15:56:36 UTC
Necro Huren wrote:
Pirates.

I am not talking about the NPCs but players, is it a good career choice to be a pirate (after some FW)? I am a Minmatar and, because of me, I only use my own Faction's ships. My current plan is raiding mining ships or lightly armed ones in 0.4 to 0.0 systems with a Rifter or another close-combat Frigate or a Thrasher. After I get the hang of it I will move on to T2 Frigates and team up with others (if I can). After a while, when I have enough people to support me, I will get a Stabber and/or Bellicose. Is this a good idea and career line to down?

What's the payroll for Pirates usually, early on? Should it be enough to get me another T1 Frigate and its weapons at least? Would I be able to create a Pirate Gang later on? Would it be possible to only be outlawed in Amarr, Caldari, and Gallente space but not Minmatar, as I don't plan on raiding any Minmatar?

Thank you if you answer.


The term "pirate" is a very broad one for eve and covers a lot of different play styles. If you are the sort of pirate that preys on economic targets - haulers, miners, carriers, jfs, etc... you can make very good isk. Oth if you just like yoloing around attacking everyone without a care for whether you will likely win or not then being a pirate will be isk draining. In my happy grp of players, the pvp usually pays for itself. But we all also have independent sources of isk, so that we can replace the big toys should an op go belly up.

I don't play, I just fourm warrior.

Deck Cadelanne
CAStabouts
#24 - 2015-09-18 16:09:51 UTC
Vol Arm'OOO wrote:

The term "pirate" is a very broad one for eve and covers a lot of different play styles. If you are the sort of pirate that preys on economic targets - haulers, miners, carriers, jfs, etc... you can make very good isk. Oth if you just like yoloing around attacking everyone without a care for whether you will likely win or not then being a pirate will be isk draining. In my happy grp of players, the pvp usually pays for itself. But we all also have independent sources of isk, so that we can replace the big toys should an op go belly up.


This is kind of what it boils down to, really.

I don't call myself a pirate, what I do is PVP; I don't expect to make ISK from it but sometimes I do. My targets are anything and everything that I find in my area that isn't in my fleet. When I do PVE it is often just in the hope of baiting someone into coming after me.

If I was concerned with actually earning ISK, I'd probably become a high-sec outlaw ganking freighters and such.

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional."

- Hunter S. Thompson

Trevor Dalech
Nobody in Local
Of Sound Mind
#25 - 2015-09-18 16:28:19 UTC
If you're going for low sec piracy your targets will be few and hard to catch, but you may be able to make a profit off them. It won't be anything that will make you filthy rich though, and there will always be bigger fish who are hunting you.

I would suggest finding an additional PVE source of ISK aside from your piracy to make sure you can afford to lose ships to said 'bigger fish' and so you have something to do when you can't find any targets to shoot. I would suggest something in low sec so you don't have to travel back and forth, and don't have to worry about your sec status dropping. My personal choice is low sec DED sites and other combat sigs, but there are plenty of other options.
Bumblefck
Kerensky Initiatives
#26 - 2015-09-18 16:55:13 UTC
Necro Huren wrote:

...I don't see how that is balanced... A Cruiser hitting a Rookie ship/Frigate going at 500m/s...




OP goes from raging aspiring pirate to whining forumite in less than ten seconds Lol



Good luck with your career (forum or otherwise)!

Perfection is a dish best served like wasabi .

Bumble's Space Log

Necro Huren
Dreadmen
#27 - 2015-09-18 17:11:09 UTC
Bumblefck wrote:
Necro Huren wrote:

...I don't see how that is balanced... A Cruiser hitting a Rookie ship/Frigate going at 500m/s...




OP goes from raging aspiring pirate to whining forumite in less than ten seconds Lol



Good luck with your career (forum or otherwise)!


I have... Mind changes... Where did raging come from... Oh well!

"Nothing is impossible, just improbable." - Necro Huren

Zihao
Doomheim
#28 - 2015-09-18 17:20:23 UTC
Necro Huren wrote:
Amber Patoria wrote:
Necro Huren wrote:
Really? So do I have to become a Gate Camper? I feel like that is worse than preying on defenseless miners (unless they have super drones and/or 200 alts waiting to protect them).

You don't have to be taking sec status hits for your activities to be classed as piracy.

Try wormholes perhaps, it can be lucrative ( especially if you like hunting explorers) along with exciting!



Hunting explorers? Sounds fun, I guess that would be a while before that though. Unless the explorer is literally flying a paper ship.


We literally do fly paper ships. Happy hunting. :)
Necro Huren
Dreadmen
#29 - 2015-09-18 17:22:31 UTC
Thanks for all the tips/explanations/dictionary terms.

Not trying to sound like a smart*** or anything but 'pirates' historically preyed on economy targets (haulers/rich ground targets/political figures/ransom/many more).

"Nothing is impossible, just improbable." - Necro Huren

Necro Huren
Dreadmen
#30 - 2015-09-18 17:23:32 UTC
Zihao wrote:
Necro Huren wrote:
Amber Patoria wrote:
Necro Huren wrote:
Really? So do I have to become a Gate Camper? I feel like that is worse than preying on defenseless miners (unless they have super drones and/or 200 alts waiting to protect them).

You don't have to be taking sec status hits for your activities to be classed as piracy.

Try wormholes perhaps, it can be lucrative ( especially if you like hunting explorers) along with exciting!



Hunting explorers? Sounds fun, I guess that would be a while before that though. Unless the explorer is literally flying a paper ship.


We literally do fly paper ships. Happy hunting. :)


Stop trying to lure me in to kill me with a alt that has a Strategic Cruiser and warps in after I find you.

"Nothing is impossible, just improbable." - Necro Huren

Zihao
Doomheim
#31 - 2015-09-18 17:26:56 UTC
Nah, much too new for alts, but you can be assured someone will also be hunting you while hunting me. They'll just be a total stranger and probably kill both of us. Lol
Necro Huren
Dreadmen
#32 - 2015-09-18 17:40:04 UTC
Zihao wrote:
Nah, much too new for alts, but you can be assured someone will also be hunting you while hunting me. They'll just be a total stranger and probably kill both of us. Lol


Either way I will kill you! And then I will kill you with Smartbomb swarm when I get some buddies! Lol

"Nothing is impossible, just improbable." - Necro Huren

Aimee Arbosa
Division 13
#33 - 2015-09-18 17:43:47 UTC
Necro Huren wrote:
Zihao wrote:
Nah, much too new for alts, but you can be assured someone will also be hunting you while hunting me. They'll just be a total stranger and probably kill both of us. Lol


Either way I will kill you! And then I will kill you with Smartbomb swarm when I get some buddies! Lol

You're gonna kill him twice at once? Shocked

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Kali'ara
Republic Military School
Minmatar Republic
#34 - 2015-09-18 17:53:52 UTC
Aimee Arbosa wrote:
Necro Huren wrote:
Zihao wrote:
Nah, much too new for alts, but you can be assured someone will also be hunting you while hunting me. They'll just be a total stranger and probably kill both of us. Lol


Either way I will kill you! And then I will kill you with Smartbomb swarm when I get some buddies! Lol

You're gonna kill him twice at once? Shocked


Doesn't get much more piratey.

Also, Mr Bumblefck touches on an important point. For any aspiring pirate the forums are a very important place. Have you ever seen a thread ransomed? I have.

There's no better place to display the cut of one's jib.

Tipa Riot
Federal Navy Academy
Gallente Federation
#35 - 2015-09-18 18:23:45 UTC
Zihao wrote:
Nah, much too new for alts, but you can be assured someone will also be hunting you while hunting me. They'll just be a total stranger and probably kill both of us. Lol

This remembers me of a funny incident, I was probing with my Svipul for prey and pinpointed an Astero ... warp ...while in warp a Covert Ops frig appears on dscan ... land, T2 frig tackled Astero ... fighting, I killed both ... when a Cynabal lands on top of me, I barely escaped without the loot. Lol

I'm my own NPC alt.

Markus Reese
Deep Core Mining Inc.
Caldari State
#36 - 2015-09-18 18:25:06 UTC
I want to be honest, and others can correct my errors but it is really difficult to make any isk in piracy in eve. Piracy for profit is pretty much limited to high security system ganks. It is actually one of those things I really want to push CCP for is a means to sustain yourself as a pirate. Ergo, you can go off to lowsec and never have to leave, use alt, etc.

To quote Lfod Shi

The ratting itself is PvE. Getting away with it is PvP.

Necro Huren
Dreadmen
#37 - 2015-09-18 19:09:52 UTC
Markus Reese wrote:
I want to be honest, and others can correct my errors but it is really difficult to make any isk in piracy in eve. Piracy for profit is pretty much limited to high security system ganks. It is actually one of those things I really want to push CCP for is a means to sustain yourself as a pirate. Ergo, you can go off to lowsec and never have to leave, use alt, etc.


I had a thought once where... 2,000 players targeted and destroyed a CONCORD ship.

"Nothing is impossible, just improbable." - Necro Huren

Erica Dusette
Division 13
#38 - 2015-09-18 19:19:06 UTC
Markus Reese wrote:
I want to be honest, and others can correct my errors but it is really difficult to make any isk in piracy in eve. Piracy for profit is pretty much limited to high security system ganks. It is actually one of those things I really want to push CCP for is a means to sustain yourself as a pirate. Ergo, you can go off to lowsec and never have to leave, use alt, etc.

Yeah, in seriousness this is true imo.

Somewhere like lowsec most people don't fit expensively, especially if they're doing frigate PVP as the OP seems to be looking for. You could probably take the loot from all the kills in one night and you'd probably have made more ISK if you spent that same time mining or missioning. You'll get lucky sometimes and get some great loot out of your kills, but you can't really bank on it and certainly can't sustain yourself purely from it.

In Amber's case, hunting explorers can net you some tidy loot, though rather than camping relic sites you'll probably make more if you actually ran all those sites yourself.

Ransoms can be great, but the opportunities for it (and finding people willing to pay) are likewise intermittent.

People "pirate" for the fun of the fight, any loot is really just an added bonus.

Highsec ganking is a different matter and you could certainly make some good money from ganking freighters and such, though it's generally not a solo thing. I'd imagine bumping freighters and ransoming might be one solo way of making some semi-reliable ISK though.

tl:dr - If you're looking to make profits then PVP generally isn't the way to do it, especially not frigate PVP somewhere like lowsec. PVP is more often an expense that people PVE to pay for. Though in saying that you only need to get that one amazing ransom or loot drop and you might earn enough to sustain yourself for weeks/months. Though don't go betting on it. Blink

I'm not sure how all corps work, but in our corp scouts generally make the most profit from PVP. Anyone can be a scout though, whoever finds a target or sets up a fight/gank for the rest of us is entitled to any loot from it. This often sees some of our pilots make hundreds of millions, if not billions sometimes, from a single encounter.

Jack Miton > you be nice or you're sleeping on the couch again!

Part-Time Wormhole Pirate Full-Time Supermodel

worмнole dιary + cнaracтer вιoѕвσss

Zihao
Doomheim
#39 - 2015-09-18 19:20:25 UTC
Anything profitable takes work. Unsurprisingly the majority of pirates don't want to work that hard and find the cheap thrills fun. It's not sp much about the profession as the mindset. If you are playing eve for profit you are basically roleplaying a sweatshop gold farmer.
Memphis Baas
#40 - 2015-09-18 19:44:44 UTC
Markus Reese wrote:
I want to be honest, and others can correct my errors but it is really difficult to make any isk in piracy in eve. Piracy for profit is pretty much limited to high security system ganks. It is actually one of those things I really want to push CCP for is a means to sustain yourself as a pirate. Ergo, you can go off to lowsec and never have to leave, use alt, etc.


This is because the game is a PVP game. So while in the real world the pirates are attacking civilian ships operating in peacetime, in this game you're like trying to be a pirate during World War 2; most of your possible targets will be escorted and/or be freaking warships better armed than you.