What makes you a target for piracy?
Does anyone know what factors contribute to a pirate making the decision to attack you after they scan your ship in Elite: Dangerous, as opposed to when they just leave you alone with a comment like "my mistake"? I realize everyone is a target in E:D, but I'm talking about what makes an AI decide whether or not you're worth attacking.
A couple factors seem to make a difference, these are what I consider them to be, from my own personal experience, ordered by most influentual to least influentual:
- Amount of cargo
- I've been chased for carrying 50 limpets, which are incredibly not valuable, even in that quantity
- Value of cargo
- I've been chased for 1 ton painite, whereas I was ignored for 13 limpets a few seconds before
- Combat Rank
- This was suggested in comments as a possible factor, and I agree. I'd also be interested to know if a high Trade rank makes you more of a target too.
- Armament
- Meaning your complete lack of weapons, or your huge arsenal, whichever the case may be, also your shields and hull reinforcement packages, basically your defense and offense as one factor. For all I know it could be split into several types of gear comparisons.
- Ship type
- I swear freight haulers are targeted, but I don't know. I feel like I got scanned in a Cobra Mk III as much as I do in my Type 7, but I get chased a hell of a lot more in the Type 7, even with low or cheap cargo.
I think these are generally correct but I've seen a lot in my mining days, and every rule there has its exceptions in my experience.
I've also wondered what role your system-reputation, affiliated power, or wanted level might play when being considered as a target for murder / robbery, or going even further, things like fuel level, or proximity to mass-unlock distance could have an effect, but maybe I'm over thinking it, and its just a comparison of your defenses to their offenses.
Anyone know of any resources that can confirm or deny any of this? Like much of E:D, at least when it comes to mining, there isn't a lot of authoritative information around.
Best Answer
I believe there's a random element to it as I've been scanned for cargo when using a ship with no cargo bays. I've never really been allied with pirate factions so couldn't say if allegience makes a difference or not.
For supercruise/interdiction, I've noticed I'm less likely to be pulled over by pirates when flying a combat-focussed ship and more likely when I'm on smuggling missions.
Pictures about "What makes you a target for piracy?"
What is the motivation of piracy?
Criminal piracy is primarily driven by the desire for financial and material gains and has no ideological or political dimensions. The main objective, as in the case of other criminal activities, is to secure personal financial benefit.What factors affect piracy?
In general, based on these 2 theories, the factors affecting digital piracy could be summarized into three core factors: attitude toward behavior (including performance expectancy & effort expectancy), social influence (or subjective norm), and environment's influence on behavior (perceived behavioral control or ...What makes an effective look out in a high risk piracy area?
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