Pirate

Template:RoleInfobox Piracy is a career that is centered around plundering goods and commodities from other ships and then selling them for profit. The stolen commodities can be sold on a Black Market which overlaps with smuggling. Pirates leverage their superior firepower into quick financial rewards by intimidating traders and miners to acquire their cargo in exchange for allowing them to leave alive. Traders and miners often forego weapons and defences for the sake of cargo space or mining tools. However, many pirates also destroy their victims while robbing them, either in self-defence or out of malice. This draws the attention of local security forces and bounty hunters. A pirate is successful when they make more credits than they spend on maintaining and upgrading their ship. Pirates also go on foot to loot valuable goods and assets at settlements. Pirates are criminals so they make excursions to lawful systems while living in anarchy systems. Pirates earn combat ranks by attacking and destroying other ships.

You can fire hatch-breaker limpets at un-shielded targets. These will open the cargo hatch to extract cargo canisters. Alternatively, once the shields are off a pirate can manually shoot the cargo hatch to damage it and get the cargo. This method requires more skill.

Piracy

Pirates can operate anywhere in the galaxy, but low-security systems are the most lucrative. Piracy is prevalent in Anarchy systems and systems with a ruling Anarchy minor faction. Pirates do not gain a bounty and there is no NPC security in Anarchy systems.

It is worth noting that if the last Station you were docked is owned by a minor faction you have, or gain, a bounty with, you will respawn at that Station and have to pay that bounty off if your ship is destroyed. Thus it is beneficial to keep your last dock at a Station in Anarchy space.

Piracy requires the use of several specific modules to operate successfully. Being able to track down targets between systems requires a Frame Shift Wake Scanner. Pirates must force targets out of Supercruise with a Frame Shift Drive Interdictor. Next, a pirate must be able to ascertain what kind, if any, cargo the ship is carrying. This requires a Manifest Scanner. Without that a pirate has no way to tell whether a pilot has value cargo or the type and amount of cargo. Then a pirate must obtain the cargo, by force if necessary. This means directly damaging the target's Cargo Hatch, or by using Hatch Breaker Limpets. Lastly, a pirate's ship must be equipped with Cargo Racks to hold the looted cargo. Collector Limpets can be used to more efficiently pick up disposed cargo. Doing these tasks effectively determines whether you make profit.

Proper ship choice is key to a pirate. Proper offensive and defensive capabilities are needed. Sufficient speed is necessary to not be outrun by haulers and other vessels. The ship must have enough internal space to carry all modules and cargo racks.

Various combat events (e.g. performing tight turns, firing weapons) heat up a ship's hull, which makes the ship easier to be spotted on scanners. This in turn makes it easier for pirates and bounty hunters to locate such ships. This helps players detect on-going battles and join in.

Once stolen cargo has been scooped, it can be smuggled and sold at stations and outposts with black markets. The Crime & Punishment system affects PVP and piracy.

Pirating NPCs

NPC ships that enter and leave Stations carry cargo reflective of the Station's economy. The respective imports and exports are based on the system state and the Background Simulation. The NPC ships may also carry an array of expensive rare commodities. Thus players can pirate the shipping lanes between wealthy Starports and Outposts that import or export expensive goods, for instance waiting just beyond No Fire Zones of Stations or following the wakes of haulers.

Piracy missions can be found on the Bulletin Board.

Seeker missiles and dumbfire missiles are effective to disable drives. Alternatively, cannons with High Yield Shell. The krait MKII is good for piracy. It could be equipped with two seeker missile launchers and any laser weapons.

Piracy at stations

Piracy is possible at a station such as McArthur City in Kurughnaye 2 (250 ls). The star system should be: government: anarchy, allegiance: independent, economy: industrial. This requires disabling ships while they arrive, but never shoot the station.

Pirating other players

The philosophy of pirates in Elite is simplicity. It draws on the fear of total loss of a ship and cargo by the attacking pirate. Pilots either drop some of their cargo to meet the demands of the pirate, or risk destruction and the total loss of their cargo with a pricey insurance payment. Pirates may use any number of activities to assert dominance over the situation and persuade the target into cooperation, (e.g.- mass locking, proving faster speed, or showing superior firepower). Sometimes the simple presence of a large combat ship is enough to pressure a pilot into dumping some of their cargo. In Elite, most pirates only seek cargo and do not actively engage for PvP kills; though will attack if pilots do not cooperate.

Generally, pirates will leave players unharmed if their demands are satisfied. Some will still attack to kill afterwards. However, like any other flamboyant task, those who engage in piracy will start to become known among pilots and those who destroy their targets after receiving cargo will become infamous. Such pirates are known as "player killers," and pilots are less likely to cooperate. Instead, they will attempt to escape or die fighting which leaves the pirate with nothing. It is therefore beneficial to the long-term success as a pirate to be careful with actions and to keep their promise of no harm if they drop cargo.

Methods

One of the most common methods of piracy involves staying in Supercruise at a low speed around a Nav Beacon while waiting for players to jump into a system, then use a Frame Shift Drive Interdictor to force targets out of Supercruise. Once a target has been interdicted and their cargo is scanned, the pirate has numerous options. The pirate can start simply by directly talking to the player with the Comms panel or a microphone. The target player may already realise they cannot outrun or outgun the pirate and quickly hand over some cargo before moving on. The pirate can choose to attack, damage the Cargo Hatch until cargo is ejected. Once cargo begins to eject (module ~75-80% health), it is advised to stop shooting, as further damage will not change how much cargo the ship loses. Once cargo stops, you can attack the Cargo Hatch again. Hatch Breaker Limpets can be used separately or while attacking the Cargo Hatch. The time needed to hack the cargo hold is related to the health of the target's Cargo Hatch module. Traders may jettison cheaper cargo first to draw attention away from themselves and attempt to jump to Hyperspace before jettisoning more expensive cargo. A Manifest Scanner helps to prevent this and it gives you more bargaining power by telling the player that you know what they have and what your demands are ahead of time.

It is possible to pirate players without using Hatch Breaker Limpets. This frees a module slot for something else or use a ship with a more limited number of internals. This approach relies on the target manually ejecting some cargo after the pirate makes demands over the Comms.

Shooting at players may send them into panic mode, especially if they have not encountered player piracy before. Try mass locking and using Comms first.

Give the ultimatum: "Stop your engines or I'll kill you!" before asking for cargo. Zeroing thrust is easier to do than dropping cargo, so they are more likely to do that. From there, you have the time to talk with the target.

When you have someone mass locked, to say, "Drop half your cargo or lose all of it!" works well and keeps the bounties low.

Sometimes the target will not respond in Comms, but will still do your demand. You would still get what you want and can consider it a success.

If you can persuade the target to abandon cargo instead of jettisoning, you can sell it on the normal Commodities Market instead of the Black Market. Sometimes the target asks what you prefer.

Pick your targets wisely. Because piracy requires special modules so your ship has reduced offensive or defensive power. Thus it cannot fight as well as the same ship outfitted for e.g. bounty hunting. So pirating traders in smaller and slower ships is ideal. You can stay on their tail, mass lock them and they cannot kill you.

Tips

• Piracy in Anarchy systems solves the problem of 1) Getting a bounty for destruction, and 2) Heavy fines if stolen goods are scanned in cargo holds.
• Only visit high, medium, low security systems for piracy excursions, then return to Anarchy to offload goods.
• You can be the scourge of multiple systems and just change ship and go back to trading when you get bored. This makes piracy viable as a career.
• Most pirates play other careers as well. They just look for the opportunity of additional income and excitement.

NPC Pirates

File:Unsanctioned-Outpost-Pirate.png

Unsanctioned Outpost

NPC pirates can be identified as any non-player ship with a bounty attached to it. Typically they come in two varieties; random and event.

Random pirates can be found anywhere in Supercruise, inside Resource Extraction sites and Nav Beacons, and overwhelmingly inhabit Compromised Nav Beacons. When scanning a ship they can usually be identified by their bounty since all NPC pirates have some sort of bounty. This scales depending on their ship and rank. Random pirates in Supercruise will attempt to interdict the player if they get close. Strangely, if a player interdicts a pirate they will not fight back immediately and will instead merely scan the player for cargo, then supercruise away if they have none. These pirates can also appear in certain Unidentified Signal Sources and are frequently in a Wing at threat levels 2 and higher. In salvage signal sources they will usually leave the player alone if they do not see them take cargo. Be careful with NPC Wings, because it is common for a small ship such as an Eagle or Sidewinder to be accompanied by an Anaconda or Fer-de-Lance.

Event pirates are more predictable and very common for traders. There are two kinds; ones chasing your cargo and assassins hired to kill you. The former can be generated any time you enter Supercruise or jump to a new system with at least a small amount of cargo on board. They can be easily identified since they always hail the player for their large cargo hold before interdiction. Cargo delivery missions also generate them occasionally. You will often be told by your mission employer that they are coming. These pirates are always scaled to the player they are hunting; a Sidewinder will be attacked by other Sidewinders, Eagles and occasionally Adders and their rank is always one or two levels higher than yours. Assassins function mostly the same, but are more dangerous as they do not care for your cargo and will attack as soon as they interdict. They also generally fly better ships than typical NPC pirates. These can spawn during a mission and you will receive a message about their arrival and attack and will gain a bonus if you can eliminate them. They spawn on rare occasions for delivering data and other legal non-cargo missions. Pirates will always attempt to B-line for the player and interdict them. If the player leaves supercruise the pirate will drop into the same place around 10-20 seconds later and will also leave it once the player does; the only way to get rid of one is to destroy them or leap to a new system which will despawn them. They will still follow players to space stations, however they will usually quickly retreat instead of attacking if the player is in the no-fire zone.

If the player has alert authorities enabled and the system is not in anarchy, law enforcement ships will immediately respond and attempt to intervene, with the time scaling as expected based on the security status of the system. If the player is flying a highly defendable ship that has little offence such as a ship outfitted for mining, stalling until they arrive is sometimes viable.

Pirates (not assassins) always demand a certain amount of cargo when they scan you; if you have any, otherwise they will leave disgruntled. They will also not bother if the player only has a very small amount of cargo on board. Complying will satisfy them and it is useful to have the jettison all cargo command bound to a button for emergencies. Beware, in some cases pirates can chase the player again immediately after receiving the cargo. So this is only advisable if escaping or fighting is not an option.

Playing against pirates

You can avoid becoming a victim of piracy and keep all your cargo by knowing how pirates operate, using defensive techniques, and a bit of luck:

• Avoid high risk systems.
• Travel in Wings.
• Use mines to deter pursuing ships.
• Use chaff.
• Use ECM.
• Become efficient in breaking frame shift interdictions, know the mechanics of the game (i.e.- submitting to interdiction means a faster FSD cooldown time than failing to avoid interdiction).
• Utilise developed PvP techniques and tricks to try to circumvent and outmaneuver pirates.

Dealing with NPC pirates

• If you dump a small amount of cargo they will stop to collect it.
• Most pirates will give you an opportunity to see their ship first; use this to determine whether to fight or flee. Notably you should be very cautious of Pythons, due to their deceptively high Mass Lock factor making them a dangerous foe.
• Make good use of the downtime between their demands and opening fire to lineup towards a system to escape to if need be, especially if mass locked. You can also try to get your ship positioned away from their firing line so they take longer before getting any damage done.
• Non-assassin pirates will despawn once you jump systems, use this to clear particularly problematic ones.
• Beware that all pirates scale to your combat rank not your trader rank; higher ranks will inadvertently make trading much harder.
• Pirates will also scale to your ship; sacrificing cargo by flying a strong combat ship is ill-advised for this reason. Making use of engineers and powerful equipment on a normally weak trader ship will be far more effective for defence.
• Pirates will always follow you to anywhere you leave supercruise, even highly secure areas like stations. You can use this to get them into areas with plenty of security around like Nav Beacons or mining sites.
• If your ship can handle them and you don't mind losing a bit of time, killing pirates can be an effective way of getting a bit of combat exp and crafting resources.

Dealing with player pirates

• Pirates are often accused of being griefers. While the victim of any pirate attack may view such actions as griefing, the pirate(s) will view the same situation as a legitimate way to play the game. The usual distinction is that pirates' main goal is cargo, while griefers' only goal is to attack players.
• Keep an eye on the Comms to see demands made by the pirate.
• There are skillful pirates that prefer easy cargo. If they talk to you: listen. If you run or shoot first, you will likely die.
• Losing some cargo might seem bad, but it is a small loss compared to the cost of total haul plus ship rebuy if you resist the pirate and die.
• An intelligent pirate knows that if they kill you after you have given cargo, you will likely block them. That is bad for their long term profits so they should not kill you if you give up cargo.
• If it is a player in a better, faster ship they will know the tricks to not let you get away and will likely blow your rear off. So it is better to meet their demands (or run anyway if they shoot first).
• Combat Logging to avoid getting killed is not permitted. It will get you reported, your account warned and possibly name-shamed on public sites.

PvE Low Temp Diamonds Piracy

Pirating Low Temperature Diamonds from NPC vessels can be extremely lucrative, with Anacondas, Federal Corvettes, and Imperial Cutters yielding 200-500 million credits of cargo at the high end.

First, look for a system with an Agriculture or Industrial economy type that is in Boom and has an Anarchy government type. While supercruising in the system, watch for Type-6 Transporters, Type-7 Transporters, Type-9 Heavys, Keelbacks, Asp Explorers, or Diamondback Explorers in addition to the big three ships. Mining ship do not necessarily carry mining minerals though. Target and scan these ships; if they are equipped with a Mining Laser, then they are a miner carrying LTD. Interdict the target and immediately fire on it to prevent it from High Waking. At that point, there are two reliable methods of acquiring the LTD:

• Shield Tanking - Most effective against small ships, as medium and large ships often have better weapons. After attacking the target, come to a full stop, max pips in shields, and wait for the target to hover between 700 meters and 1.2 km away. While the target attacks, use Hatch Breaker Limpets and Collectors to seize all of the cargo and then depart. Note that if the Target has Point Defence modules equipped, Hatch Breaking will not work unless those modules are destroyed, but it may be faster to leave and find another victim.
• Disabling FSD/Weapons - Designed for large ships. Equip weapons capable of quickly taking down shields or penetrating them and damaging modules. After attacking the target, focus on disabling the FSD and dropping the shields. Next, disable all weapons, including Point Defence. Allow the target to attempt to flee, but since it cannot jump away, it will eventually come to stop on its own, effectively surrendering and allowing its cargo to be taken with Hatch Breakers and Collectors. This method is high-risk, and may result in the unintentional destruction of the target, but it also offers the highest reward.

Reduce ship speed to minimum or zero while using Collector Limpets to ensure that they do not impact with the hull and cause the loss of LTDs. After returning to Supercruise, whether with cargo or just to select another target, be sure to wait for and evade an interdiction attempt by an NPC pirate before undertaking another interdiction. This will prevent an NPC pirate from dropping in and interrupting a piracy attempt.

Note that switching modes can reset an instance in the event that there are too few or no available targets in a system. Also, shield tanking is reliable, but not nearly as profitable as targeting and disabling larger ships, so be sure to invest in and practice the second method when possible.

Required and recommended equipment PvE Low Temperature Diamond piracy:

• FSD Interdictor (mandatory to pull target from Supercruise)
• Shield Generator (mandatory if shield tanking, otherwise optional, engineering suggested)
• Cargo Racks (mandatory, for obvious reasons)
• Collector Limpet Controller (mandatory, A or B rated module preferred)
• Hatch Breaker Limpet Controller (mandatory, A rated preferred, high class preferred if shield tanking)
• Beam Lasers or other anti-shield weapons (optional for shield tanking, mandatory for the rest)
• Pack-Hounds/Seeker Missiles/Cannons/Multi-cannons (optional for shield tanking, mandatory for the rest)
• Shield Boosters (mandatory, engineering suggested)
• Manifest Scanner (optional, effective only to monitor how many LTDs left in the target's hold, otherwise replace with a Shield Booster)

Looting settlements

Pirates who disembark from their ships can loot Settlements. The Maverick Suit is ideal for this task as its Arc Cutter can be used to cut open metal panels and maglocks to access Goods and Assets.

Settlement looting can be done stealthily to avoid alerting any guards and other personnel, but in order to thoroughly scour a Settlement for all of its valuables, it is best to eliminate all security. First, take out any Skimmers, restore power to the Settlement if it is inactive, and deactivate all security systems and defence turrets via the Command Centre controls. Next, neutralise any guards or criminal scavengers in the Settlement. At this point, pirates can search the entire Settlement for valuable items at their leisure. It is suggested to park an SRV nearby to store collected items, since a suit's backpack has limited space and will not be able to hold all of a Settlement's items.

• File:ELITE DANGEROUS - Thrift Store Shopping -02

Powerplay

Pirates who participate in Powerplay are recommended to pledge to Archon Delaine due to the following perks:

1. -100% reduced rebuy when killed by a ship pledged to another Power in the territory that your power does not control.
2. -100% reduce rebuy when killed in your Power's territory.
3. -100% reduced value on bounties placed on you in your Power's territory.
4. +30% increase in black market profits in your Power's territory.
5. Access to rank decal
6. Access to all Powerplay weapon modules. Rank 34: is the Cytoscrambler Burst Laser. Rank 39: Pacifier Frag-Cannon. Rank 50: Enforcer Cannon.

Development

Update 1.5

In 2015, Update 1.5 overhauled Piracy in ED and the definition of "piracy" broadened. Previously, the term "pirate" was normally reserved only for players who would actively seek out and prey on other CMDRs hauling valuable cargo, as well as the generic term for any Wanted NPCs that interdict players and that populate Nav Beacons, RES, USS sites, and other locations.

The cargo of ships at stations was changed to be more reflective of each station's economy and its respective imports and exports. These NPC ships may also carry an array of expensive rare commodities. This means that players can now choose to pirate the shipping lanes between wealthy Starports and Outposts that import or export expensive goods - sometimes even laying in wait just beyond No Fire Zones of stations or following the wakes of trade ships.

New and updated piracy missions were also added to the Bulletin Board. These changes provided a more open-ended path with more choices for players choosing piracy. Players can now engage in a form of piracy that is reliable, lucrative, and well-paying without having to rely on only attacking other players directly; this also had a secondary effect of lessening the social stigma and impact of the term "pirate." Since it is possible to carry out the activities of a pirate without having to attack other players many are more likely openly admit to pirating, leading to open discussion about the profession between players and helping to further piracy as a career. Piracy has become a more lucrative career choice with the potential for a much larger income less reliant on PvP than it had been previously.

Law & Disorder

This an upcoming rework that's due in December 2026.

• File:New Crime System- "Law & Disorder" (Elite Dangerous)

See also

• Bounty Hunter
• Crime & Punishment

Guides

• File:Piracy done RIGHT
• File:Tutorial Low Temperature Diamond Piracy - $2-$30M hr
• File:A Beginner's Guide to Piracy - Elite Dangerous Piracy Guide 2024

Videos

• File:Deep Space Piracy
• File:A Pirates Life Aint Easy
• File:Elite Dangerous - Pirata
• File:KUMO Crew performs first Python Mk II piracy - Elite Dangerous PC