How do you play as a Pirate?

[jiro]

Today on board the Vae Victus the Crew and I have sword an oath of loyalty, for the good times and the bad. I am called Capt. Jack Sparrow and, like my parents before me, I am a pirate.

Any suggestions? trainings skills, ships types, rumors, how to make a living, where to run, etc?

I wonder if pirate = criminal? i used to play Neils Bauer's game - Smugglers 3&4. There was a way to play as a criminal. i dont think i can hide on a criminal starport of something, can I? or i can only hide on my factions? www.nielsbauergames.com/

suggestions please. thank you

[Cory Trese]

Here is a great guide posted just today:
startradersrpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=rules&thread=965&page=1

In Smugglers 4 the Criminal Worlds act a lot like Independent Faction Worlds. Many experienced players will swear up and down that avoiding the Factions / Hiding at Criminal Worlds (Rinze Spiral is my favorite in Free) is the way to go.

I'm sure other people will post as well to help.

Welcome to the Forum, Captain, glad to have you with us.

[Tenebrous Pirate]

If you go pirate...try and maintain a skill ratio like this:

Explorer: 1 (no need to ever increase)
Pilot: Primary Skill (increase 1st)
Negotiate: 1/12 of pilot skill
Tactics: 1/2 of pilot skill
Stealth: Primary skill (increase 1st)
Warrior: 1/3 of pilot skill
Intimidate: 1/6 of pilot skill

Look for ships with Fast Speed and Quick Maneuverability. Spear Class and Royal Class are my favorites. Pick upgrades for bonuses to engines and or sails. Pick a few factions you like, and don't piss them off. Everyone else...aim for the engines!

Here is an example, using my level 50 Cadar Spy on Impossible Difficulty. His build is exactly how I build my pirates.

Captain Freeman
Level 50 Spy
Exp 12 (1993)
318.18AE

Stats
Charisma 10
Wisdom 30
Quickness 60
Strength 20

Skills
Explorer 1
Pilot 60
Negotiate 5
Tactics 30
Stealth 60
Warrior 20
Intimidate 10

Officers
First Mate: Veteran (alien hunter)
Second Officer: Pilot
Third Officer: Military

Main Ships
The Nemesis
Royal Class
Hull 20
Armor 10
Engines 51
Sails 48
Crew 70
Cargo 100
Guns 24
Torps 12
Upgrades: Ancient Reactors (+6), Escape Shuttle, Advanced Bridge System, Titan Components (+5), Sail Command Probe(+4)

The Gungnir
Spear Class
Hull 16
Armor 10
Engines 40
Sails 42
Crew 80
Cargo 60
Guns 30
Torps 12
Upgrades: Ancient Reactors (+6), Heavy Bulkheads (+2), Water-Fuel Tank (~25), Advanced Sail System (25%), Omni-Stealth Array

The Discord
Royal Class
Hull 20
Armor 10
Engines 46
Sails 59
Crew 70
Cargo 100
Guns 24
Torps 12
Upgrades: Ancient Reactors (+6), Escape Shuttle, Advanced Bridge System, Advanced Sail System (25%), Sail Command Probe(+4)

The Royal Tenebrous
Royal Class
Hull 20
Armor 10
Engines 40
Sails 44
Crew 70
Cargo 100
Guns 24
Torps 12
Upgrades: Databank (~25), Escape Shuttle, Water-Fuel Tank (~25), Spybank (~25), Omni-Stealth Array

[jiro]

woot! nice... im having trouble deciding on what on the first 100 turns. how do you make money?
military earns promotions and rewards
bounty hunters get better rewards on assasinations
explorers with treasure hunting
smuglers and traders by trading
and pirates by?

[Tenebrous Pirate]

The first few levels are tough, but delivery contracts are your friend. Be an opportunist, that is the essence of piracy. If you see a shortage or surplus nearby, jump on it. If you encounter a low-level smuggler in a crappy ship, it is your moral duty to relieve him of his expensive cargo.

[absimiliard]

As a pirate my opening game often revolves around patrolling Indep worlds and shooting down anything not flagged by a faction.

Or, if a faction gets hit with two (or more!) trade wars I'll try patrolling over one of their worlds and hitting merchants (and ONLY merchants) from that faction. My goal is to make enough creds to pay the fines for attacking and looting a merchant while gaining rep with the people in the trade war with the faction in question.

But the second tactic can be tricky to pull off, and requires at a minimum a trade war and I won't try it without two in place. So, practically, I recommend patrolling Indep worlds. (and looting the hell out of their ships)

-abs

[TANKtr0n]

Yeah, I should take this advice. I keep trying to run as a Pirate and fail miserably. I guess I keep trying to do too much, too broad of a scope. I need to narrow my focus down to being a true Pirate - loot the weak, take any opportunity and make it an advantage, run away from factions that hate me... Right?

[absimiliard]

Jul 29, 2011 9:20:07 GMT -5 TANKtr0n said:

I need to narrow my focus down to being a true Pirate - loot the weak, take any opportunity and make it an advantage, run away from factions that hate me... Right?

Sounds about right to me. Though I would try very hard to make sure that no faction hates you.

(mild aside: I know Cory, and others, state that going w. two friends and 4 enemies is generally pretty good. I also know Cory has said that you probably shouldn't try to be friends with everyone. But I just can't go along with that advice, I disagree quite strongly with it. Playing on Impossible I find that keeping everyone friends with me, or at least not hating me enough to imprison me, is a real key to surviving. The ability to not get heavily targetted by faction warships/bounty-hunters/pirates combines quite strongly with the ability to re-fuel/repair without needing a long run to a safe port. This is why I prey almost exclusively on Indeps and faction-pirates when I play a pirate, and faction-pirates get a quick status check to be sure I'm not targetting a pirate of a faction in alliance with another faction because I don't want that rep hit either.)

All this said, I find pirates are fairly easy captains for me to play. I lose less pirate captains in the climb upwards than any class other than merchants/smugglers. (merchants/smugglers are almost impossible for me to lose once I get past the first few levels with them) For a real challenge I like spies, and worst of all bounty-hunters. I haven't tried a military officer recently, but I'll bet they're up there with bounty-hunters for difficulty. Pirate captains just benefit so strongly from the combination of no-rep-loss-against-Indeps and "plays excellently as a Quickness (Pilot/Stealth) specialist".

-abs

[Tenebrous Pirate]

Jul 29, 2011 9:47:25 GMT -5 absimiliard said:

Jul 29, 2011 9:20:07 GMT -5 TANKtr0n said:

Playing on Impossible I find that keeping everyone friends with me, or at least not hating me enough to imprison me, is a real key to surviving.

I guess I am just a tad crazier than you are. I like having a target rich environment.

[absimiliard]

I would never dispute that you are crazier than I am TB. ;D

Seriously now, I won't even dispute that being friendly with everyone is a bad strategy. I just find that making enemies almost always kills me in the end. I should probably try working up my playstyle to be more aggressive and hostile, but it's not how I do things.

(I also have a sort of pro-human and anti-alien bias that makes fighting factions, who I view as the only organized resistance to the aliens, tough for me. Indeps on the other hand . . . unregulated scum, their lack of decent organization is just asking for aliens to breed on their planets, infest their ships, masquerade as them, etc. The only answer I offer is "Cleanse the world with FIRE. Nothing touched by the alien is to be left standing. The alien taint can not be removed, it Must Be Burned Out of those Indeps and other alien-loving scum." In other words, I take a very "Warhammer 40k Grey Knight Inquisitor" view of the whole thing, and if you're not worshipping the Emperor correctly I say "Go with the Biblical Cleanser, Fire!" But hey, in truth, that's just my mental justification for a style of whole-game strategy I typically pursue.)

-abs