A (not so) safe start for new pirates!

[slayernz]

xdesperado - cool alternate approach. I agree that you don't have to invest much in Stealth. For me, 10 is a good minimum, but others are comfy with lower.

Training up to be a successful boarder (Intimidate + Warrior + weapons) certainly helps keep the victim ship from being swiss cheese. I've never really tried doing the boarding thing much because I've always suffered from some losses whether it is my crew or my ear. With my current strategy, I don't get even a scratch on my matt-black paint.

Re leaving a planet without a plan ... some of the most lucrative killing (and therefore XP) came when I flew back and forth between Hydri-Thulon Prime (4,-7) and Gamma-Javat II (8,-2). In a 10AU round trip, I usually got on average 5 encounters - 25 encounters per game year. There are other trade routes you can go back and forth over, and they net equally as good returns.

I agree with you also in not going gun-crazy. 25 guns seems an optimal amount - but with good tactics, even 18 guns works brilliantly well for gun-bunnies.

Oh oh oh ... one last thing, if you are trying to build up your loot score (number of ships you loot), sometimes either you are full cargo, or the enemy ship surprisingly has nothing at all (zero fuel or cargo). In that case, transfer a little of your cargo onto his ship, go back and choose "loot all". It then counts as though you're stealing, even if you are just taking back what is rightfully yours.

[xdesperado]

slayernz unless you were just flying the route and not landing to buy and sell goods at both ends, then you met my criteria of not leaving a planet without a plan.
I was mainly speaking to those who talked about running off planet with the only plan being to patrol in red sectors.

A possible lucrative exception to the idea of not going off without a way to make money from the trip is to load up with W-F and head for a major planet of a faction you have serious negative rep with.
On reaching said planet attempt multiple landings.
There has been times I've gotten over a dozen encounters in a row just trying to land on a hostile faction world.
Might just be me and my hatred for Rychart but their core worlds seem to be extremely lucrative for this tactic.

The switching cargo deal is also a good reason to have a high Intimidate...Yes boys I know I just left all our water fuel on that ship we just destroyed, but I swear there will be plenty of spice for everyone once we sell all these tacky hats...

[johndramey]

New info! I think I have a couple hours of downtime at work tomorrow. If I do I'll go through this and combine all of the information posted into some blurbs in the OP. Thanks again for everyone's help.

[johndramey]

Just updated the OP with some basic info from athios, slayernz, and xdesperado. Thanks you guys for helping to make the thread a little better, and I hope it helps everyone that is just starting out!

[xdesperado]

johndramey thanks for including my post.
Wasn't really intending to make a guide for a Boarding style Captain with it.
Guess my personal play style is a bit of a blend between the Gun Bunny and Boarding Captains.
Early game your raising pilot and tactics and using mainly the Gun Bunny tactics of targeting engines.
Once I've raised pilot and tactics to attribute max I'll raise warrior and intimidate. Because I don't raise stealth my level stays fairly low keeping both my XP costs and encounter levels at lower more manageable levels for longer.
As the game progresses I want my pilot and tactics to remain around 150-200% of level while warrior and intimidate run 90-110% of level.
Generally once my intimidate reaches 20-25 points I'll stop raising both it and charisma. Only the largest crew ships will see much benefit beyond that point. (Note if you aquire a ship like the Omega Cruiser at some point you may need to boost your intimidate much higher so your W-F use remains manageable.)

Early game I keep all weapons looted from enemy ships. How many I keep is largely influenced by crew size and cargo size. But by the time I've gotten ahold of a ship with 75+ in both I'll try always keeping 20-25 weapons. (Note if you don't mind giving up the Escape Shuttle the Weapons Locker is a great upgrade. Just remember if battle starts to go against you that you'll need to try escaping from it or risk dieing.)
On ships with really large crews and/or holds I'll keep even more weapons on hand. Always great fun when a Bounty Hunter 10 levels higher than my Captain thinks I'm a soft target to be boarded with his 10 weapons only to run into 50+ of my crew members all armed with weapons.
To aid in boarding combat I almost always get a MO and a Templar. My 3rd officer then varies between Pilot, Spy and Bodyguard depending on what I find, types of activities I'm engaging in most, and how the game is generally progressing.

Remember your not out for glory or rep, but to make a profit. You don't want fair fights you want to dominate in combat as much as possible. Even with your officers and weapons don't board immediately if the enemy crew size is close to your own or larger. Move in close to your target then alternate between targeting engines and the decks. Reducing engines limits enemy mobility and may even win the fight for you without the need to board, and clearing decks means less opposition to deal with when you do board. With that being said there are times you may decide to go to boarding as soon as possible such as your much higher level than the enemy or you want the enemy ship for your own and don't want to try flying a wreck to port and paying to repair it.

Much like exploring your going to lose crew when boarding. Unlike explore though you have a chance almost always to make up some if not all those loses immediately through conscription. This is another good reason for having high intimidate and a Templar as both help limit any morale losses from conscripting crew. As a rule I don't conscript after every battle since you get slightly more efficient crew in the spice halls, but if I've lost more than 10 or so and have a chance to bring my crew numbers back up to full or close to it I'll do it. You never know when you'll run into your next target and having an under strength crew is no good.

It's been mentioned before but unless you are trying for the Black Heart award it's always better to stay friendly with a couple factions. Sometimes early game politics and encounters may dictate who you can easily remain on good terms with while other games you are more able to pick and choose your friends and enemies.

Personally I almost always play a Thulun Captain (great ports for ships and upgrades, very good markets to sell goods at, and generally can pick up some lucrative contracts and a fair number of rumors.) For pirating keeping either DeValtos or Cadar as friends with a rank or three is a great choice because of location. Rychart's control of the central corridor of the Quadrant makes them a prime target for my Profiteering.  The fact that they tend to have trouble maintaining good relations with other factions is just an added bonus for me. They're in a trade war with DeValtos and a Solar war with Steel Song great I make money off looting their merchants and earn brownie points with possible friends. 

Good luck and happy hunting.

[xdesperado]

Copied this from my post in the DP Challenge discussion thread.
The Pirate Warlock is a really good ship especially when upgraded.

Have found some very nice Pirate ships people might want to be on the lookout for.

Pirate Warlock
Hull 20
Armor 10
Engines 41
Sails 28
Crew 90
Cargo 90
Guns 22
Torps 6
Speed Medium
Agility Quick

Pirate Hydracruiser
Hull 22
Armor 8
Engines 44
Sails 23
Crew 90
Cargo 60
Guns 34
Torps 8
Medium
Quick

Pirate Carrier
Hull 32
Armor 24
Engines 32
Sails 34
Crew 90
Cargo 100
Guns 16
Torps 28
Medium
Low

Remember as a Pirate your looking for encounters so upgrades that raise your ship's signature actually are in your favor while ones that reduce the signature are counter productive.

Cargo Prow increases signature and adds 16 cargo for more loot.
Ancient Reactors increases signature and makes encounters when trying to land much more likely while giving you more maneuverability and extra engines to soak damage with.
Titan Components increase signature and add combat bonuses at medium or closer ranges.
If your ship has fewer than 23 guns consider the Extended Gun Decks. Avoid this upgrade if your ship has 24+ guns. The sweet spot for number of guns is somewhere between 25-30. You want enough to quickly reduce engines/crew but not so many that you start accidentally destroying as many targets with errant damage as you capture. (As the Vikings proved long ago the proper order is rape, pillage and burn. Burning first makes the other two much less profitable and fun. )
Even on ships like the Pirate Warlock getting the Titan Components is a better choice than the Prow Guns. The extra engines and their combat benefits at multiple ranges are more valuable than those 5 extra guns and the bonus when closing. Only time you might consider the Prow Guns is if for some reason your flying a ship with less than 15 guns after the Extended Gun Decks are added.

The Weapons Locker and Water-Fuel Tank are two possible exceptions about not reducing your signature, since they both give a serious boost to the amount of loot you can haul while remaining combat effective and not running dry and reducing morale.

Happy hunting guys and hope this helps someone.

[johndramey]

xdesperado - whoa, somehow your posts slipped under my radar. Awesome info in there, I'll try to boil it down for another addendum to the OP. As always, thanks for your work to make this guide better.