Elite: Dangerous - PvE Piracy April 2019 Update

[@Hikurac]

Why on Earth do we have to use obscure methods like bumping the ship or using projective force to stop them? It's very unintuitive from a design perspective. Just let us shoot out the thrusters. In regards to the realism of the ship stopping, there are secondary thrusters that help with stabilizing, such as with flight assist. So say that if the main thrusters are disabled, then these secondary ones will act as an automatic safety measure, stabilizing the ship to prevent it from flying indefinitely into space or into the nearest star.

[@grimlyjr4858]

This video was what finally got me into piracy. Definitely the most fun I've had in Elite in a long time. Thank you! I really wish there was some sort of special weapon or module to stop the ships from drifting though, as the limpets blowing up the cargo at over 10m/s feels more like bad AI than a mechanic.

[@MurkyDregs]

Bump stopping is ridiculously easy. I don't understand the complaints. It's an enjoyable fao maneuver only difficult for those who don't know how to fly.

[@brunoks6951]

All we need is a F*ucking harpoon, or some limpet that can slow down the target...

[@WiggyB]

Yup. Bump stopping is rather silly but it's what we have. Previous mechanics had the miner surrender and stop, but that's very intermittent at the moment.

[@HoxtonLive]

Even if FD provides a solution other than the current cheese method, i am not prepared to give up an internal slot for it...

[@FreeLee123]

Great Video. They need a better mechanic to stop the ship you are targeting. The two specific weapons you mention are great but its just a workaround, its not by design. PvE piracy will have to stay on the back burner until they fix this. Shame, its fun.

[@danf2]

I was pulling my hairs out.

[@beerkegbob6952]

Been away from the game for awhile. Came back to low diamond hunt and found out the NPC's are completely broken now. Thanks for the info

[@lewyswhite8325]

Mate this is a brilliantly put together video, and it covers everything. Thank you very much for the effort.

[@einseitig3391]

I watched this once and had to return to make notes so that I can enact some of the methods mentioned; like college. As I tend not to bother with engineering (save FSD) I will have to try (and fail) with my standard craft and weapons. I wanted to thank you for the time you put into both the investigation and video production. E.

[@WiggyB]

Thanks! There's a lot in the video. Hopefully you'll be able to make sense of it when there's a T9 in front of your guns.

[@WiggyB]

I should add, the only engineering really required is on the force cannon. This can be a grade 1 mod with the force effect. No need for grade 5. The enforcer can be vanilla as it's force effect is inherent.

[@bearded_nea]

Like WiggyB said in the video you can still bump stop if you don't want to do any engineering for the build.

[@ekflagristoj]

11/10 video! 100% informational with no fluff on a topic that's under-tutorialized. Detailed video description with time stamps and further reading. Narration from pleasing voice with clear enunciation. A tight script instead of aimless meandering. Bravo, CMDR!

[@lukaswei4767]

This is the beginning of a new Legend Space Redbeard Looter of the miners Destroyer of systems

[@the_ccCreator]

Thanks for this video. Bought a Clipper and was trying to give it purpose in my fleet. Was looking into piracy but all the other videos just mentioned the nerf and that PVE piracy was broken. Thankful that you found some solutions. Looking forward to a change from mining.

[@d.h.k.c8113]

They should make a bounty hunter system that activates once you've successfully pirated a few ships, that spawns an enemy ship that follows you, with strength based on your combat rank.

[@CosmereArcanist]

I’m currently grinding illegal salvage missions for navy rank, and every now and then I’ll have an NPC accuse me of stealing before trying to steal my cargo and kill me. I gotta admit that it’s interesting! Makes me feel more like a smuggler. I’ve heard of bounty hunter NPCs that track you down if you have a large bounty, but I haven’t encountered them yet.

[@brandonkeener3006]

Piracy would be so much better if we didn't have to do all this nonsense just to get a ship to stop

[@antwan1357]

I don't bother stopping a ship I just match speed. I can imagine this is to get every single cargo , but you have to take into account other pirates. I don't care about getting every canister . For me it is the excitement of disabling another ship , and actually doing the deed. Sometimes I'll even just loot a single canister from a npc battle and just boost out in a fast ship just for fun like my engineered Courier.

[@yummyzerg]

I know it might be very late, but seeker missiles with the Thermal Overload experimental effect do less damage to hull, and are very nice for whittling away modules.

[@goldfinger-9992]

Thankyou Cmdr! The cannon is great, but I don’t have the power play module yet, so having to nudge them to get them to slow to almost a stop. Still perfecting this...you earn your money but nice money indeed and fun.

[@cmdrquelcertoleo3408]

You can also use Inara to check best prices for selling your loot. Go to Galaxy -> Commodities -> Select LTD -> Best Sell and pick the system with a black market (it has a skull symbol) Great video cmdr although now I moved to PvP piracy, it’s even more fun.

[@pozzop2068]

Great upload it’s actually more challenging than I thought excellent fun and nice way to make credits. Much better now!

[@MrMister5305]

Crazy idea here, but they should add some sort of gravity harpoon hardpoint to latch onto the ship you're trying to loot and keep it from moving.

[@romsgropeps1515]

Nice video, I was away from the game before chapter 4 was released, cleaned up my save and watched out for something new to do in the game. I did some piracy attempts but it was a long time ago and it didn't work out, I'll give it another try with my freshly acquired ASPx thanks to your video, cheers. (PS : very easy to understand you even for non-english speaking ppl).

[@GRDwashere]

Thanks for this updated guide... If you ever see the Anaconda 'Black diamond' out there you can be sure she's been up to no good. ;)

[@daviddesrosiers1946]

When I get back from DW2, I'm building a Cutter that's going to be an absolute piracy and murder whale.

[@blackranger900]

The repair limpet is a good idea. I have trouble killing the hull before I can disable the point defense.

[@LaPiraguaAsesina]

Do Those limpets repair hull or just modules?

[@lenaistalar8032]

Sharp, to the point and very informative. Thank you, CMDR. o7

[@st_cuthbert544]

good volume, good explanation, good clips, good voice = +1 sub ;)

[@cmdrxla1107]

Exactly the update I was looking for. Many Thanks

[@klazik4261]

Great vid and good info! 1 question though. How the hell do you catch anything in a conda? Everything just outruns me.. I mean. They can practically drift faster than you can boost..

[@WiggyB]

It is marginal in a conda! A cutter is better but harder to manoeuvre. My pirate conda has G5 dirty drives with drag secondary and most of the modules are light weight for extra speed.

[@klazik4261]

@@WiggyB oh yeah. Im a dumbass. Returned to the game a few days ago, and didnt stop to think about engineering. My bad! Also: you earned a sub 👍

[@piratebunny173]

Always loved your piracy videos.

[@WiggyB]

Thanks! I keep half making new ones. I'm so damn slow that by the time I'm ready to release a new one FDev change something and I have to start again.

[@AirBiscuit]

2 things: the 10m/s bit isn't correct, never was. You damage canisters at speeds over 40m/s, but ONLY if you're scooping them manually. Limpets can deposit items at any speed they can keep up with (250m/s I think). Secondly, since the fleet carriers patch, LTD NPCs are back, but where you find them is not 100% pinpointed. Agriculture is out, Industrial, non refinery/extraction systems WITHOUT rings are in. "7 Pi-1 Orionis" and "Frog" seem to have reliable Ltd only miners spawning.

[@WiggyB]

Thanks for the post. I'll check out those systems soon. Been looking since the update and not had much luck. As for the 10m/s, sorry but you're incorrect. Mats could be picked up faster but canisters could not.

[@WiggyB]

Found diamonds in Frog. Not many, but it's given me hope! Thanks again.

[@Erikaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

They really should just add some sort of tractor beam to bring ships to a stop. Mining is so much more profitable than every other profession that the only reason anyone would ever play as a trader, or as a pirate, or as a bounty hunter, is because they think it's fun. Bringing ships to a stop is the opposite of that. Thank you so much for this tutorial. I've been wanting to pirate ever since I got the game and I finally gathered enough money to get an Anaconda and give it all the stuff I want, only to discover it takes ten hours of practice to be able to stop ships 🤦

[@hellscorpio82]

Too much of an hassle does frontier intend to fix the power plant bug? Cause it killed pve piracy for me!

[@captpugwash8915]

Excellent video! Now piracy is nearer to ‘proper’ piracy. Have you tried any of the medium ships for this method? I was thinking of the krait or challenger ..

[@WiggyB]

I've used a Python for years. A Cutter would probably be META these days, given that the target tries to run.

[@captpugwash8915]

Yeah, I’ll soon be grinding rank for the clipper and cutter ..

[@Phoenix258]

very good video. there's a lot out there that make it too complicated. im new to piracy and i must admit, the methods to stop a ship are silly and need changing, but thanks for the explanations.

[@WiggyB]

While I do find bump stopping good fun, I also agree that it's a stupid mechanic. I'd like to see limpets that we can fire at the ship and use to manually manoeuvre it to a halt. More limpets, better control. That kind of thing.

[@vincemorgan9640]

I have developed a different style of shooting to what is seen here. I try to locate each and every projectile within the screens boundaries, and over time this has proven itself almost entirely ineffective. The only advantage that I have noticed by using this method is that the target rarely realizes that you are actually shooting at him. I noticed that in this video the ship engaging is actually pointing toward the enemy and I thought this was note worthy. They say that there is always room for improvement, but herein I see that this is not always true. If Wiggy gets any better at this game I think the rest of us should just just hit delete and retire with whatever shred of dignity we can salvage.

[@thiagocabral4988]

Awesome video!! I have a question though: how can I find a system with better spawn rates? I tried an anarchy agriculture but I can't seem to find any ships with LTD

[@WiggyB]

Spawn depends on many factors. Staus of each faction within the system, status of the power play powers within the system, presence of rings for mining and many others probably. Good systems change with time. You'll need to do some legwork and build up a list of good systems near you homeworld. I cycle between about 20, moving on if the rates aren't good.

[@lapiaz2226]

Thanks for this. Going to follow this guide tonight

[@lukasburger2047]

Would flechette launchers work too? They do a large amount of module damage even through shields and do very little hull damage

[@WiggyB]

They might well do. Haven't tried to be honest.

[@kudosbudo]

Do they do damage? I've never ha dthem damage any module. Hit bounce explode and nothing. Even on weak npcs?

[@WiggyB]

You have to release your trigger BEFORE they hit the target. That way they air-burst. If they hit the target they do no damage.

[@tomodonnell6383]

Glad you're back, great video as always. o7

[@blackranger900]

Hey, nice video. Have you noticed if our behavior in SC has any effect on the T7 spawns? I'm wondering if I am parked near the star is just as good as driving around in circles as far as NPC spawns go.

[@SenseiJacksama]

I never knew the enforcer had a push effect. Are there other weapons like that? I use drag munitions on packhounds to help slow down the target and limit it's maneuverability if I have trouble getting a clear shot on the drives

[@WiggyB]

Rails also have a mild effect. Cannons with the force shell mod are by far the strongest. Have fun commander.

[@12Monkeysable]

Pirates in the old day had Harpoons, to hook up with the ship.....

[@eMKeaL]

This looks very promising however one thing - is there anyway to replace Enforcer cannon with standard MCs, or maybe only the PowerPlay weapon has enough force to push objects?

[@firefox396]

Love the video! What do you think the most effective begginer set up for this would be? I tried doing this in a keelback once but they just highwaked before i could take down their shields 😅😅

[@WiggyB]

Have a look at my Krait Vanilla Piracy video. No engineering required!

[@thepurplbaron6388]

Wiggyb, I was wondering how to pulling off piracy in an asp explorer without any of the methods that u mentioned?

[@WiggyB]

Give it a go. Good luck.

[@Paladin1034]

What are some good systems to hunt in? I'm in an agriculture, boom, anarchy system with an ice ring. I've only seen one T9. Do I have to do all that, or will they appear in any boom agriculture with a ring planet?

[@danf2]

We need better telemetry on target headings in space because this is the future and numeric data other than distance from could be useful, in space it is difficult to visually pilot to perfect alignment. I know the pros can do it with their eyes closed but Im speaking on behalf of the casual normie.

[@WiggyB]

I do have to agree. I like that piracy is difficult, but having to resort to this method as a solution is rather contrived.

[@micahrhoten3885]

bit late to the bandwagon here but i was wondering what weapons would be good? i keep blowing up my targets too soon, and never manage to find anything better than a type 6. what systems to you go to and what weapons do you run? i tried burst plasmas and a seeker missles but it nearly two shot the enemy.

[@Sp0ttheCat1701]

Is there any replacement for the powerplay weapon? I would like to try this but am currently pledged to a different power.

[@WiggyB]

You can bump stop the ship instead. Have a look at my Vanilla Pirate ship video. I explain how to do it in that video. More difficult and takes longer but good fun.

[@Sp0ttheCat1701]

@@WiggyB Thanks!

[@Sp0ttheCat1701]

@@WiggyB I watched the video and just bagged 102 mil worth of diamonds from a T7. Your tutorials are great thanks so much.

[@liamcore7203]

can't believe there is no tractor beam of some type. Lame system.

[@LaPiraguaAsesina]

If I dont have PP cannon, can I use only stock cannon with damage falloff shooting at more than 3km to get the same result of low damage?

[@bobbyvandyke6324]

Can you not just fly up to them and ask them to drop a certain amount of cargo like they do to you? i have this happen all the time while mining they usually want 10t of my cargo or around 400k worth of cargo. can we not stop and ask them like that? if not then piracy seems pointless because i make far more credits mining than I would being a pirate but being a pirate seems a lot more fun seeing how mining in this game can be compared to watching paint dry.

[@drpadriacoleary7625]

hi i am a new player trying the piracy option outlined here with a krait mk II. my problem is i can't seem to find merchant spawn to hunt despite following as best i can all the advice i can find on how to find targets. Any advice?

[@WiggyB]

Hi Padraic. Finding high spawn systems is probably the most challenging aspect of piracy. The good systems change with time and depend on many factors. These include the states of all the factions within the system, the presence of rings or asteroid belts, the presence of galactic powers (power play)... I have a list of about 20 systems that I cycle between. I can always find a few that are giving reasonable spawn rates. Keep searching and revisit systems that you've been to as their state changes. I've made many B credits from piracy, so the ships are out there. I hope that helps!

[@brunoks6951]

Did someone here tested concusive mines to try to stop the AI??

[@hinghang3887]

How do you get the drag effekt for the missiles?

[@oddball1975]

Great video as always :)

[@AmbroseBoaBowie]

What about player piracy

[@Frank-dr3ki]

Where can we find good pirate home stations?

[@WiggyB]

After the recent update, that's still up for debate! Target systems have completely changed. It looks like industrial and industrial/high tech systems with no rings or asteroids are best at the moment. Time will tell.

[@uk69uk]

I have a partially engineered type-10 sitting doing nothing, (FSD, thrusters, hull ect done, just no guns) ..... Should work for this do you think?

[@WiggyB]

If you can get it to boost above 360 you might stand a chance. I've always held off building a T10 because I wasn't sure if I could make it fast enough.

[@uk69uk]

@@WiggyB I'll throw some G5 dirties on there and see what I can do :)

[@uk69uk]

@@WiggyB G5 Dirties only give me a speed of 309..... However: On my 1st outing I found a T9 with 275 diamonds in his chubby little hold. 4 Large Overcharged beams with Thermal Vent took his shields down in seconds, and 3 medium seekers ( I don't yet have the packhounds (gimme a week)) with Drag Munitions took his drive out in a couple more. leaving him no time to boost away. It was pretty easy to get him to stop too, mostly by nudging, and with 2 Force Shell Cannon for the final work. I got carried away and took his PD right away, whilst his shields were down. This made him tumble! so slower to gather.... Won't make that mistake again! Wouldn't have known were to go without your guide.... Thanks.

[@kinaiyuei9802]

But they reboot so quick that you can't do the bumper stop anymore

[@WiggyB]

Were you in a wing? I've only ever had them reboot when I've tried wing piracy.

[@WiggyB]

I just pulled a T9. No problem stopping it. Any more info you can give me?

[@eMKeaL]

They definitely not reboot when pirating solo. I did two T7 and one T9 yesterday. No reboot after disabling drives.

[@jasonpayne4952]

Great tips for getting the max amount of cargo out...... Fail on the Game Physics for having to work that hard at it. Should be able to just match speed with the target.

[@jonesskill4650]

They have reduced the spawn rate of mining ships, now every t7 or t9 is a trader, not a single miner yet (2 hours looking on RABAY - Same system you used in your video) This is the buff you are talking about?

[@WiggyB]

As I tried to make clear, the spawn rates change with the amount of piracy, faction states, Power Play states and a myriad of other factors. A system that is good one day will not be good the next. A big part of piracy is finding a set of good systems near your home and learning when they give good spawns. The fact that ships are much easier to chase means that you have far more systems to choose from than before. Hope that helps.

[@blackranger900]

I recently experienced this. I've spent over 4 hrs in the last couple days searching over 8 different systems with practically nothing to show for my efforts. Very discouraging.

[@WiggyB]

Most pirates will experience droughts from time to time. I have a list of over 20 systems that I fly between until I find one or two that are working well. The list was much shorter before they changed the behaviour of the NPCs as most of the agricultural systems are now open for piracy. Just make sure there's at least one ringed planet. I've made well over 6B from piracy to date and pulled 2 T9d and a T7 last night. The targets are out there.

[@helderperez1474]

This all work the same with odyssey?

[@martinpalmer9662]

Great content but the jumping effect in the retro style clips are really off putting.

[@WiggyB]

Thanks for the feedback on that.

[@AudioDud3]

Trying to stop these ships is extremely unintuitive I think F dev needs to start working on a grappling hook or something.

[@oneofdavidsmightymen]

Hi wiggy what’s the current situation with piracy of LTDs.

[@WiggyB]

I was pirating last week. Everything was working as before. I'm not aware of any more recent changes and can't test as I'm on hols. Is something broken?

[@oneofdavidsmightymen]

WiggyB thanks I’ve spend two hours in systems looking for type 9 or 7 but as yet haven’t found any 9 or 7 and the 6s haven’t carried mining equipment

[@WiggyB]

Other than the actual mechanics of piracy, finding good systems is critical. These change with time depending on the state of the minor factions. I have 10 or so that I regularly visit and several more that I use less frequently. Make sure there is at least one ringed planet for them to mine. Systems at war or with power play activity tend to suck as there are loads of related spawns that displace miners. I tend to let 10 or 15 ships spawn and then drop to normal space and back to refresh the instance. Nothing spawning, move on. If you're new to piracy, building up a library of good systems near your home will be a key initial investment. Good luck.

[@oneofdavidsmightymen]

WiggyB thanks I used eddb to find agriculture, industrial and ringed but had no joy the activity in one for powerplay as you explain was a problem I will factor in what you say and have another go enjoy the break

[@jaster9870]

The fact that you need to engineer or use a powerplay weapon tells me that piracy is not really a thing and doesnt have proper tools in game to actually pirate.

[@thegrandmo7548]

Need a tractor beam

[@TheLamnatar]

i wish i had a tractorbeam =(

[@dsagent]

Do you teach? You sound like a professor.

[@WiggyB]

Ha. Not sure how to take that! I don't teach, but I am an Engineer and often work with Universities. Hopefully I don't sound like a burnt out sandal wearing boffin. o7

[@11er33.]

Pirate? I prefer "high risk trader"

[@eMKeaL]

Nah, more like surprise wealth redistributor

[@11er33.]

@@eMKeaL surprise communism

[@Litheon11]

nice video, but such bad game design. I've converted my corvette to be used for piracy, but this is just dumb. This is not fun gameplay at all and certainly doesnt make me feel like a space pirate.

[@Jowley]

This is much..

[@ross-carlson]

Couldn't make it through 14 minutes when I needed to know like 30 seconds of information - can someone just tell an experienced miner where the change is? UPDATE: Skipped through it - here's all you need to know. Get in front of the target and used a cannon and enforcer cannon with force shell to bring the ship you're attacking to a stop. Enjoy you 14 minutes back.

[@ross-carlson]

I finally realized where the "buff" he's talking about is - it happened back 6 months ago when deep core minerals got so valuable.

[@WiggyB]

No, the buff is that you can now pirate in secure systems because mining ships will quickly jump to anarchy systems. This makes every agricultural system a target, regardless of security rating.