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Tips for an aspiring pirate?

I'm a month into the game and mining is boring me so i want to get into pirating. but i have no idea where to start.

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4 answers

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mull [ Editor ]

First things first. If you are serious about being a pirate get yourself a hauler alt. You can train for a mammoth on a new account in about 4 days. You will be -5 in no time and then you are stuck in lowsec which means no Jita. The market in most lowsec regions is terrible.

In the mean time find a decent gank T1 frig (rifter, incursus, autocannon punisher), dessie (catalyst, thrasher) or cruiser (rupture, vexor, thorax, arbitrator) fit. I would recommend a destroyer to start with. They are nice and cheap, have decent dps and are agile enough to be able to ignore most camps. T1 frigs are nice but most of your targets will be AFs or 2+ frigs so you will be outmatched.

Buy and fit as many of these as you can and stick them in a station in low sec.

Before you even start going out to try shoot stuff get to know the area you will be based in, the people who hang around their and try to figure out their affiliations (who is friends with who and which pilot is a covert ops alt).

Make some safes in a few systems. Random deep safes, scanning safes (a safe within scan range of most/all belts/stations), safes off gates and insta warps from stations (very important).

Make sure you understand the mechanics behind aggression (this is a good intro).

All of these steps are boring but will mean that you will be able to avoid ganks, can gtfo when required and will be much harder to catch in a camp.

Once you have all this sorted the fun begins. Head out and start to shoot stuff. FW plexes are nice places to find targets although you need to keep a good eye on your scanner and local to avoid the inevitable blob. If you have a covert ops alt mission runners are great targets, it is very possible to kill a BC in a T1 frig if they have heavy NPC aggro.

You will lose ships, probably a lot of ships, but that is how you learn. Just make sure that you do learn from your mistakes.

As for joining a corp I would say if you can find one which is active, will help you learn and does not fly in big fleets (>5 ships) then go for it. Otherwise once you learn some of the skills and tactics of small scale lowsec pvp you will be starting to make a name for yourself and finding a corp should be relatively easy.

As for isk, the goal is to get to the stage where you are making all your isk from pvp, either through loot, ransoms or some kind of protection racket. This is pretty hard though so you can always run missions or try exploration, both are good sources of isk.

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  • 2

darinas [ Moderator ]

The recruitment channel in game (and the recruitment forum on Eve-O) will help you find any number of corps specialising in piracy, and several will "train" you. The TEARS alliance, the Tuskers and the Bastards corporations are particularly vocal pirate groups in the blogroll and they seem to have a lot of fun. (EDIT: The Black Rabbits are quickly becoming much more vocal in the blogroll, and they run their own pirate academy too.)

However, there are many forms of piracy. There is the classic bucklerswasher types, who track down targets and destroy ships/ransom pods, then there are the ninja salvagers who "collect salvage and keep systems clean" but also fuel their ships with the tears of rage of many miners and mission runners. There are also wardeccing groups who find easy high-sec targets and prey on them. I suppose some people could even call mercenary bands "pirates", and they would be almost correct from a certain point of view, but probably wouldn't live to brag about it. Which would suit you more is a decision only you could make.

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gah'matar [ Moderator ]

Expect to die a lot. Mull has mostly nailed it.

Whatever ship you chose to specialize in initially, you'll want to focus your training around maximizing it. You'll probably want to start taking some kind of notes of what your fits are and what you killed with it. Mostly for those fights that were close. Ultimately you'll start getting a profile of what's a "good" target, what's a "good fight" and what's suicide.

At first you'll probably want to engage as many targets as possible to get a feel for it. Make a habit of checking age of characters, corps, alliances, etc. Also, it's a good idea of checking the info on everyone in local. You'll start seeing patterns, gang movements and people that always seem to show up together. If you don't have eyes in surrounding systems, that's often all the intel you'll have.

Don't be afraid of trying different fits (i.e.: 75mm T2 rails, rockets, 400mm plate Tristan, the same but with an MSE on a Merlin) and less conventional tactics (when to approach, orbit, keep-at-range, how to approach bigger ships without getting insta-popped, drone killing, how to break orbits).

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  • 0

nf_50 [ Editor ]

If you are talking about standard belt piracy I would suggest taking the following steps:

Step 1 - Learn about Piracy and join a pirate corp.

Try and make the decision as to whether or not you want to be an outlaw and have no access to high security space prior to losing all your security status. Getting your sec status back up is very tedious.

A pirate corp will greatly assist you by giving you the knowledge and the practical skills in pirating. There are even pirate training corporations out there such as The Black Rabbits Academy. Do some research, partake in some interviews and see whether piracy is for you.

Step 2 - Learn how to use the directional scanner.

Whether or not you decide to join a corporation, you should learn to use the D-scanner. Using the D-scanner is an integral part of piracy (and eve in general). Without the D-scanner, you will just be hopping from system to system wondering why you never find targets, or why, when you do find a lone probe sitting in an asteroid belt, you are suddenly ripped to pieces by a big blob.

Search youtube for videos on how to use the D-scanner. Riva Marko's videos are very good. Take a look at the "low sec survival" video on his channel too.

Step 3 - Learn how to tackle

In order to kill / ransom someone in low security space, you will have to stop them from running away.

Be sure that you can fit and use the following modules:

Afterburner Microwarpdrive Warp Scrambler Warp Disruptor Stasis webifier

Although the above modules will help, you will not be able to tackle unless you know, practically, how to do so.

I would suggest practicing on a current corp mate, or get a friend to assist you with this. Once again, you will learn quickly in a pirate corp.

Step 4 - Set up logistics

It is almost impossible to buy modules in low security space. Get yourself a hauler alt and get them allied to the pirate corp you are thinking of joining.

Step 5 - Have some of the most fun you can in eve

Ignore the above advice, get a decent number of frigates, interceptors or assault frigates (whatever you don't mind losing), fly into low security space and get going. You will learn quickly enough. Have fun.

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