In two separate incidents my bus was blown up by red pirates for
no apparent reason. I didn't even have cargo with me. This is really
annoying for newbies. But I think I found a pretty good strategy
how to deal with this:

1. Icarus, Nessus, and another red pirate circled S4 and killed
everything exiting the station. I quickly docked to S4 and set it as my
home base. Then I picked up a freeby shuttle and started harassing
them. I was able to make 7-8 hits before I was blown up. That's
not a lot of damage, but if they kill me, I can be out again in no time.
After 5-6 iterations I had done enough damaged that they got really
annoyed and started to fire rockets at my bus. Counterstrategy: fly
close to the attacker, the explosion is going to cause massive damage
to himself. After another 5 rounds they sustained enough damaged
that they had to withdraw to S7. I followed them, set S7 as home base
and continued. For some reason Nessus switched to a bus and
I blew him up. It turns out he flys like my grandmother. Without rockets
and a gatling gun he isn't worth much. He came back a few minutes
later to get his ship back (which he parked in S7). I had 14% and blew
him up ... again, without taking any damage. He really flys like crap.
In the meantime Icarus fled S7. Picture this: Icarus fleeing from a bus.
After 15 minutes of fighting S4 and S7 were cleared from pirates and
they sustained at least 5,000c in rockets and probably another 5,000c in
damage. I paid zero, nada. I think this was a victory for the peaceful
traders.

2. A day later Pegassus attacked me in S14. I set S14 as home station
again, got out a freeby shuttle and started going on his nerves. I
nearly killed him twice (WITH A SHUTTLE), but he kept going back
to the station. The he finally hit a asteroid trying to fight me. Hard to
believe, but there are pirates who fly even worse than Nessus. This
was at least 25,000c in ship and weapons and again no cost to me.

Next time you meet a pirate, get out a freeby shuttle, and start
hunting them. Even if you can't kill them, probably you at least
annoy them away.

?

I do that sometimes too, and it works. (:

I find it most funny if you kill someone with skill in a bus. Especially if they're not in one.

Not a bad idea...I always like the fun of fragging busses - easy bounty enhancement.

LOL! Excellent post.

=)

This rocks!
I'm going to remember to do what you have suggested!

/me salutes andreas :)

Hey! You guys stole my idea!!!!! <---- "Kamikaze SUPERBUS"

nice idea andrea

cheers

enough busses and they run away like their pants are on fire >:)

Just get a good bus if you think they are almost dead, heavy battery, graviton blaster!, or pyro's patented design!

nice idea... really helps me achieve my aim of getting 1000 PKs..
Thank you!

Great idea! I forgot how much SKILL it takes to kill a bus! As far as PKs are concerned I don't care because I don't have a huge ego to bruise.

lol jimc3e, me never cared about it nither, who cares if you die, so be it it's part of the game :D

cheers

I didn't ask for your opinion...

Great story..... Shiny Frog was harassing me in 14 (ok, he was station nuking). I, like andreas, set to home and got out a bus. He couldn't hit me with nukes and survive (he was a wart hog), so he was limited to using his rockets. He crashed into an asteroid and died. (Think 40k c ship). This happens again. He nuked me once (0 c ship) I switch to centurian with one gravitron. I kill him two more times, this time, while trying to escape to sec8. Loss for me? My bus. :( Loss for him? 4 wart hogs with nukes, battery, and rockets. ouch, about 160,000 c min.

then wy did you do the effort of replying icarus :D

cheers

I would simply like to comment, Mister Camps, that it's all well and good to brag about your talent, but it might be better to brag about something that happened outside of your fevered imagination.

I can vouchsafe, for one, that Mister Frog does not use nukes. The rest of your story is without merit.

I will also add that if somebody keeps rushing me with busses, I have minimal difficulty in ventilating their ships. It's never been a problem.

The thing about this strategy is, while nice, its easy to acclimatise to. If I'm low on cash, I look for a nearby pizza-cutter and start attacking. They change to a bus, I hyper away (3000m+), they see that Im not within immediate range and change back, complete with valuable cargo. I run in, catch them on the other side of the wormhole theyre heading for.

This doesnt work all the time, or course ;)

But the world of Vendetta is open to a huge amount of playing styles- and there are ways round every defense.

Incidentally, a bus is a good pirate-basher, but the Centurion is even better (especially if your pursuer is in a Prometheus).

Quote: "Just get a good bus if you think they are almost dead, heavy battery, graviton blaster!, or pyro's patented design!"
>:D It works! I've scared off pirates in that thing! Even better is to set up an l mine trap in the 7 tunnel, grab a bus, and get them to chase you. I got Phoenix that way before 3.2. :P