the unaligned pirates have made it impossible to pirate!
You just can't hold a wormhole in the center of grey. The only places where a person can decently pirate someone now are Latos H-2 and Verasi C-2. Other spots near the border of the nations are just not worth it because of lack of traffic. The interesting spots (Sedina and Odia) are infested with pirate bots. It would be cool to run into a group of 2 or 3 once in a while, specially if they would hail you demanding stuff, but this is rediculous. I was trying to pirate at the Odia b-13 wormhole, and I got one wave after the other. First a group of around 6, cleared them out, then another group of about 6 just a few minutes later. After clearing those out, a group of 12(!!!) jumped in maybe 2 or 3 minutes later.

There aren't any cargo liberation missions anymore in corvus stations, not that it would help, cause then if you stop a trader to make him pay you, the un bots would just blast him. Something needs to be done about this.

This is not meant as a rant in any fassion, sorry if I sound a bit angry in this post, thats not the intention, but I gotta admit, I think tonight was one of the first nights I logged off in frustration.

IMHO, it would be much better if the unbots spawned much less frequently.

Me too, but also I think this would be solved once we get Corvus or Pirate as a faction cause then they wont' attack you?

We'll check into this. I think they're currently spawned to attack certain convoys, but are just generally aggressive to anyone they run into. I expect we'll be tweaking all of this in the near future.

The NPC Pirates are making it more of a challenge to hang out in the WH sectors of grey space. Having run various convoy through that area I agree that Odia B-13 is usually filled with NPC pirates. In my mind that makes sense because your are in Corvus space where the capitol of the pirates in located. I don't mind the pirates and welcome more pirates in different ships if possible.

Sedina B-8 is also getting crowded with CtC convoys, NPC pirates, NPC trade convoys and players hanging out for combat. This is not a bad thing, it does suggest that one will have to adapt to these changes in the game.

I have not seen many pirates waiting in Sedina O-6 or Latos O-12 though and I would suggest hanging out there if you are trying to pirate other players in a high traffic area.

Also, if you are looking to play pirate I know of several events that I help TGFT run that have roles for player-pirates. We would welcome your participation in any of these events.

It is currently virtually impossible for anyone without an infiniboosting ship/battery combo to cross from Odia to Sedina 90% of the time due to the large unbot presence in B-13. It took me six tries (and close to half an hour) to get through in a Tunguska Centaur Aggresso... Finally I got lucky and caught the tail end of a convoy that the distracted the pirates long enough for me to warp.

The sheer numbers of unbots in B-13 is rediculous. I would jump in with a dozen unbots, kill 8 with a spray of jackhammers, jump out, and by the time I rearmed to return again, there would be 15 of the blighters - the 8 I killed replaced with another 11.

Sedina B8 is usually clear, but only because there are so many players hanging around there being pestered by the things. They interrupt duels, exhaust ammunition, kill trader, warrior and pirate alike and are a general pestilence. The TDs are worse, by far. If you encounter a TD, you're going to waste some ammo and/or health to take it out; you encounter 2 TDs, you're in the shit, and if a third TD warps in behind you as you're fighting them, you have about 2 seconds to kiss your ass goodbye, no matter what you're flying.

Not only do the unbots impair pirates, but the convoys do as well! I expended most of my ammo and a good deal of health to chase down and kill a Heavy Moth, and it didn't drop anything!

The rate at which the pirate bots spawn (especially the Hogs) needs to be significantly reduced, and the occurances of smaller convoys (as in, just a moth or a couple taurs with a small fighter escort... or maybe some atlases and mauds - when was the last time you saw an atlas trader?) without Teradons or Tridents needs to be increased, along with the amount of cargo the transports in them carry.

Finally, get rid of the TDs!! The Hog TD is a UIT Ship! The UIT are not in the habit of selling their war machines en-masse to pirates who are KOS with them! The Pirate ships should consist of Cents, Corvus Vulturius', and Corvus Mercenary Marauders. Only UIT Convoys (and maybe some minor UIT subfactions) should have TDs or UIT Mauds, Only TPG should have Raptors (and should also have Atlas-X and TPG Marauders), Orion should have Rev Cs and Convoy Guardians, Axia should have their Guardian Wraiths, Tunguska their Aggressos, and the Serco and Itani their repsective warships. These special faction convoy elements are needed to diversify.

/me just wants to be unaligned.
//solves everything except that he can't ever dock again.

why not just make the pirates corvus? Then they'd attack everyone who did't have good corvus standing...sort of instead of having a strike force, plus they don't follow you...

Well, they WERE corvus, but apparently that didn't work out too well, since they're unaligned now.

I think that had something to do with the fact that most people are at least respected by Corvus.

I don't think a faction change would do solve any problems, as it would basically be a bandaid for a problem that's root lies in the broked'ness of the faction system.

I'm throwing my vote into the spawn less ballot box. If I saw three or four in a sector every half hour or so, instead of three or four every five or ten minutes, I think I'd be content.

Also, if they're supposed to be pirates, can't you (devs) just make them so that they only attack trade ships? I seem to remember that before they were changed to unalined they would only attack you if you a

I remember when the bots only attacked traders, and people said they were boring; Momerath changed them so they would attack if you tried to pick up their cargo so they'd be a bit more aggresive to the players, and people said they were still boring. Then Momerath made them unaligned so they shot at everyone, and now everyone whines.

Typical.

Only problem I have with them is when their numbers grow too big, which is an issue I know it's being worked on. IF you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen; that's what y'all said when the Moth got nerfed, wasn't it?

I certainly agree that the new NPC bots have made things much tougher in gray space. However, as a trader I really enjoy it. Flying a loaded moth into or out of Odia is finally a real challenge proportionate to the descriptions of Odia that you read on the navmap. You either have to learn how to deal with 10+ NPCs on your own, wait for another convoy to distract them, or call for escorts. That, IMHO, is how it should be.

As for the desire to camp in gray space, let's pretend that those unaligned Bots are a horde of player pirates who have recently joined the game. How do you respond then? Either move to a less busy sector, such as the Latos side of the wormhole, or get your guildmates and friends to help you establish a tighter grip on B8 by killing off the competing pirates faster.

I think what a lot of people have an issue with is the fact that the NPC pirates are making the human pirates extinct, except in latos. The pirates are actually being pirated out by the other pirates.

won't the human pirates be able to find a new habitat to live in?

I put a call into Habitat For Humanity, but they have yet to get back to me.

I find the irony rather satisfying.
Death to All Pirates! Unaligned or not!

I like the NPC pirates for the most part. I think that they are a bit overspawned and can be overwhelming at times, although I've never had any trouble getting past them if I didn't want a fight. Ghost makes a good point, bots should never replace players in anything, it defeats the purpose. Maybe giving the NPCs a percentage of time they will attack certain types of ships and players? Seems to me even NPC pirates should have real world motivations. If I'm out pirating, I attack trade ships. NPCs should too. Maybe make them so they only attack non-trade class vessels 30% of the time, or if they are attacked, and give them target priorities, such as if they see a player moth and a npc moth heavy, they attack the weaker of the two. Pirates are all about easy profit (and sometimes outright murder!). I think NPC pirates should be too.

I'll agree that they spawn a lot and maybe that should be reduced. However, think about what would happen if there were lots more player pirates... They would form guilds and compete with each other, resulting in constant skirmishes for control of the wormhole sectors. The only difference is that it's NPCs vs humans right now.

If I was to reprogram the NPCs, it would be so that they pickup the cargo they liberate, making them targets for the human pirates.

"If I was to reprogram the NPCs, it would be so that they pickup the cargo they liberate, making them targets for the human pirates."

Yes!! have them pick it up and go home after they liberate it... makes them both more manageable (you don't have a bunch just lurking in the sector to make things difficult) and more realistic (what kind of pirates can support themselves without nabbing cargo anyway?)

AND REPLACE THE TDS WITH CORVUS MAUDS

Totally. In fact I noticed they were flying Raptors today to.

Makes no sense! Why would unaligned pirates be flying ships that you either a) need high standing with UIT to get, and b) need to take a special top secret(ish) mission to get.

CORVUS MAUDS! CORVUS MAUDS!!

And while you're at it for the voys...

TGP MAUDS!!! UIT MAUDS!!! VALENT MAUDS!!!