EVE Guide Making ISK as a pirate  

Making ISK as a pirate

I. Starting Out
II. Choosing a Ship
III. Ransom Prices
IV. Pod Ransom Prices
V. The Unexpected
VI. Closing


So, you've got your newest piece of kit, and you've been practicing your "YARRR!11!!!!" on all your friends. What next? How do you survive on the income of a pirate? How does a pirate actually make ISK??? What the hell does that button do anyway???

Here's a few tips to get you started:

I. Starting Out]

You'll find out that getting used to pirating, and making it work as a source of income is a difficult thing to do, and can drain your wallet fast if you don't pirate sensibly.

Piracy occurs on many different levels, and in many different forms, from small to large scale belt raids, to sentry tanking-gate camping mass mayhem. Your choice of ship depends entirely on the type of piracy you want to engage in.

II. Choosing A Ship]

I'd advise you to do what I did. At first, think small. Use disposable ships, like tech1 frigates and cruisers. The ideal t1 frigate for pirating is a Rifter or a Punisher, and I've seen some of our new guys run around successfully in an Incursus too.

You need to accept the fact that you're going to lose a lot of ships, and probably get podded a few times to start out with, so keep your losses to a minimum until you get the hang of it.

When you're confident with flying frigates, and effectively ransoming or killing people, try moving up to a cruiser. A close range fitted platerax (Thorax with armor plates - Ed), a close range, tanked rupture or a Dura-Maller (Maller fitted with a non-repairing tank, such as armor plates - Ed) usually works well. I've also seen some success from rookie pirates in Moas and blackbirds too. Your ship needs to be fast, and needs to have enough midslots to run at least a MWD and a Scrambler.

Like I said, try to think small at first, and never underestimate those you're fighting. Even if it's some guy mining solo in a thorax in a belt, and you attack him in a frigate, or weakly tanked cruiser, there's nothing to say he doesn't have a stasis webifier/warp disruptor and some heavy drones waiting for you.

III. Ransom Prices]

The easiest way to make cash I've found is to ransom ships, people are willing to pay more to preserve their ship and fitting, than they are to see it go up in smoke and end up in an egg with you demanding ISK. You'll find that if you just go around blowing people up, a lot of people won't trust your word to let them go after a ransom, and won't pay up. You'll also find that if you don't ransom, the returns from actually killing someone are pretty low, and you can't survive on that forever.

To ransom a ship I generally start the price off at half the market value of the vessel, and then depending on character age, and possible fitting, the price can decrease or increase as I see fit.

Everyone's price is different, depending on their age and employment history, and how they behave in convo can also have an effect on the direction the price goes, so remember customers, be nice.

Most people I've found are happy to pay the ransom to survive intact. Things you should watch out for though, are pretty apparent when you start to pirate:

• Your customer stalling for time. (His friends are probably trying to organize a rescue mission)
• Wrong size payments. (You ask for 15m, he gives you 1.5m, an old trick, and it can catch you out at a quick glance)
• Numbers in Local Swelling. (Probably a good idea to tell him to hurry up)

If he can't pay the ransom there are several steps you can take to get a positive outcome on your front.

• Shoot. Kill that sucker, and watch his bits spill into space, ripe for the picking. Then ransom the pod if you catch it.
• If he doesn't have the ISK, ask him to eject, and you'll spare his life, and he can leave in a pod (This may sound dumb but it works, I've gotten several free ships out of this, including a megathron and a scorpion).

IV. Pod Ransom Prices]

Well basically, this is to your discretion. If you catch and egg early in your career, then you're off to a good start, they're pesky little buggers to snag.

Basically, when ransoming a pod, take a few things into consideration:

• Character age - if he's young, his clone is cheap, and he probably doesn't have implants, if he's old, raise the stakes, he can probably afford it.)
• Corp and history - If he's an alliance member, or part of a large corp, chances are he'll have a bulging wallet, and will be packed to the gills with implants, so, again, raise the stakes, and make him pay for what he's worth.
• Attitude - Smacktalk is bad, we know people get mad about losing ships, but it's not nice to abuse someone verbally. so... Drop another few mil on per insult.

Pod ransom prices are varied, so use common sense to get the best deal, and let your victim bargain with you. The key here is not to believe him when he says "OMG you scoundrel! I have no implants!", hike the price up, and see how he reacts.

V. The Unexpected]

From time to time, crazy things will happen, it's wise to keep a cool head to avoid losing your ship or getting confused (and no, i don't mean by waring an ice pack).

Basically, here are a few things that have happened to me in the past:

• Overview lightup - You're sat happily ransoming someone, and lots of red flashing squares appear on your overview. Oh Dear. It's time to leave, his friends have arrived. Think about this logically, if you feel confident fighting them, then go right ahead, but use common sense, and don't engage three HAC's in a cruiser or you'll go home in an Egg or a Vat.
• Log outs - Yes, it happens, if it does, kill him. It shouldn't be tolerated. If he logs back in before he dies however, you can use this to your advantage. Myself and a wingman managed to get 40 million ISK out of a caracal pilot who logged out on us, by adding ISK to his ransom every time he did so (a total of 4 times), it happens now and again, so stay on your guard.
• Stabs - Yes, the pirate's worst enemy. WCS help a victim escape, if he escapes, and you've aggressed him, don't follow him to a gate/station, it's not good for your heath, and you'll lose your ship to sentries. This may seem to go without saying, but I've had people say "Oh crap, what did i just do?" on teamspeak as they're hurled into warp, and they realize actually how silly they are.
• Fighting back - The best part of piracy, when your victim fights back. If you're winning, open a conversation and ask him if he wants to live, to shops shooting and negotiate a price. If not, I believe an influential member of the community one said "End of Descushun, Deth to all", you die, or he dies, and that settles it, just try to get your egg out, if you pop, because it's kind of embarrassing being sat in a pod and being asked by your intended victim for a release price (It's happened to me once before, and no, I didn't pay).

In effect, just stay on your toes, don't fly anything you can't afford to replace, and you should be set for a life of rum, prosperity and gallente wenches

Use your head, and evaluate a situation before running in screaming "YARRR!!!111!" in local.

Another thing to remember, is keep it clean, to the point and factual when ransoming, take no crap, and give a time limit for payment. I usually give one minute, which is more than enough to type all those lovely 0's

VI. Closing]

In short, Keep your head on your shoulders, and think about all the possible outcomes of a situation before heading into it.

Don't be too hesitant, but at the same time be as fast as you can, because your target will twig that you're in local eventually, and looking to mine the plating off his hull

Honor your word, be polite and use good judgment, and you'll succeed as a true pirate.

And remember, steal cake from teh fridge whenever you get the chance .

Any questions, or further detailing you need after reading this, drop me (Verone) an eve-mail in game, and I'll be happy to help.

Good luck, and don't die too much while you're learning.

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