I have been playing for several days now and am loving this game..I just have a few quick questions that I can't seem to find the answer for.

I was looking at becoming a pirate..aside from running missions to improve my standing with Corvus...should I activly be lowering my faction with the other factions ?

I have read that pirates offer safe passage through sectors..does this actually happen between players... like I tell him basiclly to give me money or I shoot him down ?

I took a mission from Corvus to monitor worm holes and kill those that come through but all the ones that were coming through were showing up as green on my radar...can someone explain the this to me...am I still able to attack friendly targets and..how do i distinguish players from NPCs..

Thanks in advance all....also please include any tips or information you think a new player to VO should know.

Thanks...

- Iostreamz

**EDIT
I also read somewhere something about "multiplayer ships where one can man a turret"..is this correct info or something that hasn't been implemented yet or what...thanks again.

You should look up yodaofborg in-game, he might be able to help you!

Hrmmm...Someone(SarahAnne, I think) wrote a good tidbit about this, let me see if I can find it. Ah! From here:

DOES PIRATING WORK IN THIS GAME?
The traditional modes of piracy work like these:

Scenario 1:
Pirate: YAR!! Drop ye cargo or be destroyed ye lilly livered roid farmer!!
Trader: Go screw yourself!
Pirate: AVAST!!
*Rockets fly, trader blows up, pirate takes cargo.*
Trader: Fsck!
Pirate: Ye were warned!!

Scenario 2:
Pirate: YAR!! Drop ye cargo or be destroyed ye lilly livered roid farmer!!
Trader: Whatever you say pirate sir.
*Jetissons cargo, pirate takes what he can fit. Trader goes on his merry way.*
Pirate: Pleasure doin' business with ye.
Trader: *mutters*Go screw yourself.*mutters*

Scenario 3:
Pirate: YAR!! Drop ye cargo or be destroyed ye lilly livered roid farmer!!
Trader: Make me.
Pirate: Yar!
*Rockets fly, pirate ship goes boom.*
Trader: Ha ha!

Scenario 4:
Pirate:
*Afterburners engaged, Rockets flying
Trader: WTF is tha.....
*trader blows up, pirate takes cargo.*
Trader: Fsck, you suck!

As far as profit goes, piracy is not very good. It takes a very smart and patient pirate to actually make a profit from it, and even then it pales in comparison to what a good trader can get. You have to choose your targets wisely and pick the fights you know you can win.

____________________________________________(no hr =/)
As far as the radar goes, it's sort of weird how it picks who is green and who is red, I've just come to try to memorize who is which dot and what I know about that person. Often if it's someone I haven't seen before, I've judged them to be friendly. But it's something you get with experience.

I wouldn't bother with standing until the new faction system is out. If you wish to be able to attack everybody *right now*, tank your standing with your home nation. Standing right now is only useful to unlock tools of the trade, so to speak.

On safe passage, some pirates do, some don't. It's a matter of preference. I never did, but I caught(and still do) tons of flak for it. Some pirates to it as a matter of principle, because oh man what if someone stained their honour backbone.

A lot of pilots will ignore you if you tell them to stop and pay or be shot- but I can be a good way to make profits without any work.

NPC's have a * in front of their name. Players do not. That's pretty much the only difference.

"Multiplayer" ships you can man turrets in are capships(Today's featured screenshot is one). Right now players can't fly them, but yes you can dock inside them and man the turrets. You just have to find the docking bay~

Scuba Steve 9.0: loved the different modes. I would agree, think you got them all.

M. Duncan

Excellent, appreciate the help gents(and/or ladies)

I just stole it from the FAQ in the manual, Duncan.

Raising standings can be a major pain after you have tanked a standing. Raise all your desired standings first, then do the tanking. You could even go so far as to stockpile standing related goods at the destinations, in case you have to raise that standing again.

You can not lose standing with corvus, so go ahead and raise it. corvus is a terrible place to shop, but sometimes ends up the only place to shop.

A lot of action ends up in the latos area, so many players have high standing with the latos factions. You might also consider where your going to do your shopping in the edras system.

when you think you have everything built up to where you are ready to tank your native standing, you have several options.
a) just go pirating in your native nation's space, and focus on foreigners.
b) hang out by a native station, and damage a foreigner. when the strike force comes to get you, blast lots of them. makes for a quick one shot deal.

Latos markets suck. Ukari L-14 is where it's at.