I’m in hell Tipa…I can’t catch a shuttle for the life of me…
I have been circling gates, locking things, I have been shot down by smart bombs…shuttles can’t be caught…they are the ultimate ship apparently. I am praying for auto-pilot, nobody uses it, so I doubt big shot Eve players will use it.
I need a Rokh and smart bombs I think, to catch these people.
the journey continues…
You will figure that playing the bad guy is not that easy as it sounds. 
shuttles basically instawarp and are immune to warp bubbles and warp disruptors meaning that you need a ship that can kill it without using turreted weapons. CCP has made shuttles the ultimate travel ship as long as you don’t need cargo space or combat ability. Generally shuttle killing happens on lowsec gates and in trig systems using smartbombs.
A few ships I would recommend training for if you’re interested in piracy; Podding thrasher, gank catalyst, gank tornado meta and t2 fit as needed.
Your gung-ho try-it-and-see attitude is something many player corps would love to have. You’d benefit from joining a ganking or pirate player corporation by having faster answers than here. But you may lose a lot of experimentation as some people like to tell you what not to do.
I only wanted to bring up joining a player corp for your consideration in case you find these forums don’t cut it in terms of speed or quality of advice.
As for hunting explorers: in my experience a humble Heron isn’t too shabby for catching explorers in lowsec. It’s much, much cheaper than an Astero and many explorers will assume you’re harmless until it’s too late.
Fit rocket launchers or blasters, a mwd, scram and web, a sensor booster with a scan resolution script, a targeting speed rig and go at it. It will cost you almost nothing but it’s fun and sometimes you’ll get some loot. Double points if you catch someone flying a covops. Just watch out for faction explo frigs (though sometimes people fly them unarmed) and bait Herons.
As for the morality part: only you can decide how far you’re willing to go, but yeah, scamming is a legal part of the game and personally I wouldn’t shed a tear for a wallet warrior.
One of my strongest EVE memories and my first act of real piracy was talking to a naive Gila pilot doing WH sites, who offered to let me salvage his wrecks, and having a friendly convo with him until my corpmates arrived to tear him to shreds.
He was shocked and cried about having worked two weeks for the Gila and I felt kinda bad but also like there was no going back - I was a pirate and a scoundrel and a bad person, and I embraced it. Plus the loot was nice.
Thanks for that cool Heron idea Inaishite. I have to say, the Eve piracy community is extremely resourceful and interesting.
I thought about the Vargur guy, and I couldn’t go through with it. Blowing up ships is one thing, using intel etc. but to actively deceive someone, and play with their heartstrings is not for me. But it is interesting that this sandbox is so large, that even this level of deceit is possible. I don’t put judgement on those that have these skill sets and use them, but karma is a ***** so I am steering clear.
This guy has lost 20B in ships and destroyed 2-3 mil. But yet, he sticks with the game…there is incredible tenacity in that. So much so, if one could steer that, it could potentially be pretty powerful. I have decided I will reach out not to take his stuff, but see if he wants to take a 1mil Rifter out together and get shot to hell. I think I can induce some Satori awareness in this guy.
One thing that I have actually had quite a bit of luck with as a new player, that works a bit on that level but is much more innocent, and I recommend it to all new players for extra income. It is surprisingly effective ( I made 40 mil in about 1-2 hours with brand new toon with no skills) and it is super fun!
I call it the reverse-bait.
You will need an alt that:
Is a pretty girl avatar; even though 96% of players is male, many people still will assume you are a female. If you really are female, this step is much easier. You will have to act female.
Can fly frigates (barely fit them). I tried baiting with free corvettes, but the bait won’t pay you for those. It has to be the cheapest barely fit frigate.
Go to Gallente or Amarr low sec space. It doesn’t work in Caldardi low, and not well in Minmatar low.
Jump into a system with 1-2 people and look for people that played 1-3 years. The bait trick don’t work on most old-timers, look at their bios and avatars and make your choice, and let them come after you. Don’t make it too easy. You want to engage the bait, they will fly fancy ships, you can’t miss the hunter.
Remember, you are a new player, and a girl at that. Your 800k frigate just got blown, and 9/10 times, if you picked right, your capsule won’t be destroyed by the players described above. Then you smooth talk your way into them paying you for the frigate…several times over…don’t ask for the isk, that is rude. Just pick the right words. Most 1-3 year players will feel the excitement of having caught you, in that rush, they will be very generous…use that against them…
I could really get into this game…I have never seen a sandbox this…open.
I can really recommend this sort of game play to new players, on top of all the new player Venture mining and such.
Hey, in my book the game allowing you to be bad makes being gracious and generous double in value. I’m curious where your choice will lead you.
As for your catfishing scheme: I had a situation just like this recently, I never assume a girl avatar is a girl but I paid a noob I hunted down for their Magnate (just a little over its value with loot though).
The pirates that killed me in my early days would send me isk so now I try to pass on the kindness. I had a nagging thought in the back of my head that this could be a scam (they were only 3 days old and weirdly calm about the whole thing) but if it was, they didn’t make much profit.
Nice to have it confirmed it does happen though. Man, this game really is something.
I wouldn’t call it a scam lol How is me getting 10 mil for an Incursus because you think I am a pretty girl who lost her ship, any different from you taking my incursus at a gate camp?
I am starting to see one can really apply their own moral setting to this whole thing. You can be as good or as bad as you want. So refreshing.
How is it not a scam? You’re using deception and social engineering to obtain isk from other players. It’s still perfectly legal PvP, just a different kind.
wait…am I scamming people??
I always struggle seeing where things blend…
I will think about this more, you might be on to something.
hans_are_we_the_baddies.jpg
hahaha yea it does feel a bit like that picture…you kind of slapped me in the face with a truth torpedo.
I don’t see this as scamming. I did think about it more. People that make bad/fake contracts to try and have you hit the “accept” button…that to me is scamming. When a guy in a Wolf chases me for 10 min because I have bookmarks set up and he doesn’t, and I then get “caught at the gate”, blown up, and have to hear a lesson on “why I was caught, hope you learn from this”, well, at that point you OWE me imo.
So if after a brief, but friendly exchange that person feels; “poor scrub, I have so much isk, ill throw him(edit: her) 10 mil”…that ain’t my problem really.
def not scamming now that I think about it. Not even close.
You had me worried a second. Thought I was a bad person for a second.
Whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep at night, friend. We’re all innocent here.
Oh I sleep like a rose. All this is a game. It is pure fiction. There is actually no difference between playing Eve or reading a book. The people that exist in both, are equally real. We are all just avatars really.
I disagree. There are real people behind the screen and you are affecting them through your actions, good or bad. I know I can be deeply affected by things that happen to me in this game in a way more directly personal than in any other medium.
EVE is still just a game of course, but some games hit harder than others, and in a way this one is more real than a fiction book or any other game I know of. The freedom of moral choice it grants, the emotional stakes it sets, the mental engagement it demands - that’s what makes it special.
Yea now that I think about it. and reading your last post. Maybe I do need to see people in these games more as real, living people.
But to me, if I stole your car, that would be bad. But if I sign into Eve Online and someone else does also, that is different. We are bound by different laws, the eula is law. I have never placed myself in financial positions where losing a virtual item, would cause me any mental anguish. If your ship or station gets blown up and it causes you actual, in the real world harm, you probably need to throw your laptop in the river.
I see your point though…it is real people after all. Sometimes you forget a bit? all the crazy avatars…
You know what be hilarious. If CCP would force us to use our real life pictures instead of Avatars. That’d be hilarious 
I would wear an eye patch in mine…like a real pirate. Maybe have a parrot on my shoulder. And I would have a real hook. CCP needs to do this asap.
I remember this old Piracy guide. Although a lot of details have changed over the years, the general approach should still be highly relevant.
That’s super useful. Thanks a ton, I will read this tonight. 