Are Pirates Just Confusing or What?

[Shrooblord]

What are Pirates' motives? What is their game plan?

 

I've seen many occasions where a tiny group of Pirates in sub-par spacecraft will jump into a well-armoured and defended Sector and get blown to smithereens.

 

We've all run into Pirate-controlled Sectors, which are stocked up with 8-14 Pirates of which at least half are pretty sizeable and dangerous ships, given the location in the galaxy.

 

We're all familiar with the traderattack event, which summons a trader with hyperdrive failure, a band of Pirates and, if the trader is destroyed, a band of Pirates warping out of the Sector.

 

...

 

Why? Aren't Pirates supposed to want to loot their raid prey? Isn't raiding and selling stuff on the black market their whole schtick? Do Pirates even commandeer other people's vehicles like any good Pirate ought to? Why don't Pirates warp into a well-defended Sector with their insane fleet that's just chilling somewhere amongst the asteroids in a completely unpromising corner of the galaxy? Can we accept quests and missions from the Pirates? Can we join them? I'd like to know.

 

Let's talk Pirates. What's up with those dudes, and how would you see them improve over the development lifetime of Avorion?

[Vylmire]

They're drunk and stupid.

 

But yeah, they'd be a lot more pirate-y if they actively carried salvage weapons and collected scrap and loot from wreckages. And it would be a lot more interesting if they periodically brought their proper fleets in to raid systems rather than the usual pathetic raid parties.

 

Perhaps scale their fleets so they're an actual danger in less civilized sectors, whereas they wouldn't bother attacking properly fortified sectors due to excessive risk?

[Shrooblord]

Perhaps the "Legendary Pirate Captain Swoks the Umpteenth" could come in once in a while with an armada to wipe out puny little Sectors and convert them into lovely smugglers' dens?

[Hellatze]

They simply poorly coded, or not implemented fully well.

 

For sake adding more feature.

 

 

[SpaceMonkey]

We're all familiar with the traderattack event, which summons a trader with hyperdrive failure, a band of Pirates and, if the trader is destroyed, a band of Pirates warping out of the Sector.

 

...

 

Why? Aren't Pirates supposed to want to loot their raid prey? Isn't raiding and selling stuff on the black market their whole schtick? Do

 

 

  I dunno... maybe they're kinda mob-like and sometimes they just like to "send a message" by wrecking the crap out of a ship in front of a faction, then jetting off. Maybe they're the more murderous rapey pirates, and less so charming, puckish rogues.

[MetalX]

Yeah, they are terrible pirates.  How about how they send out the fake distress signal saying that "a freighter is being attacked by pirates, help"

 

Really?  Sure, I will hop into my unarmed ship to come and rescue you from the pirates with guns. *wink*

 

Seriously, who do they think will show up to a distress call about pirates?

 

Definitely the worst pirates in the entire history of pirates, for sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

[Cygnus001]

as for blowing up traderships I quote Genesis: The battle of Epping forrest

 

"The shops that need aid are those that haven't paid."

 

just making an example of unwilling, non-paying...customers  ;D even more so by just blowing them up - mwahaha!

 

so, can I make friends with them pirates somehow?

cuz me olde scavange-ship is ready fi sum piracy, arrrghr-ight! (not that I have not done it already)

 

 

for the rest, it needs a lot of tweaking and fleshing-out, I´d like to see them blockading gate-systems and such, maybe even denying gate-travel etc. and thus blackmailing the affected faction

 

manipulating gates so you end up in their backyard (hence why some pirate systems have a lot of wrecks in them)

Privateer intro anyone?

 

they should use hit and run tactics, jump in in different locations and splitting any defensive force effectively so they stand a chance (5 pirates vs. a faction cruiser or something like that)

 

distress calls can be fleshed out much more, calls for fuel, parts, crew etc. which the player has to provide, booby-traped merchantships that blow up dealing damage to the player ship and then more pirates attack (a lot more), warp-blockers with much more range, maybe even some hostage situation where gun fire might not be too overly smart - better provide those vehicles they demanded, or else! that could in return lead to a happy equipment dock owner which has a rare item as a token of gratitude or give you a nice discount OR a faction hunting you for letting their CEO die in a cargo box (they are already ingame but serve no function),let them build defensive plattforms around there and so on

 

oh a lot of things can be done....

 

 

[Shrooblord]

What an amazing intro to any game. I love it!

 

I really like your ideas about Pirates' interaction with Gates. That seems like an area for a lot of room in dynamic gameplay. Exciting!

 

booby-traped merchantships that blow up dealing damage to the player ship and then more pirates attack (a lot more)

Yeeees, yyyyeeeesss!!

 

And yes, hostage situation Events could also play out in interesting ways. Maybe even incorporate some smart talking and dialog options, rather than the standard "oh there you are, we blow you up SUCKAA" smack talk that's the only thing that the pirates are known to say right now. I'd love to see how I could "diplomacy" myself out of a nasty situation.