Pirates

> *"Most people on the pirate worlds are not pirates, just ordinary people unlucky enough to be born there. Or people who feel unwelcome everywhere else."*
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> - Brother David, mission: Pirate Reconnaissance (FW Pirates: Harmony)
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> *"In the galactic south, the average age of a pirate crew member is seventeen years old. And many are much younger than that. They're more like street kids than like hardened criminals."*
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> - Katerina Reynolds, mission: Information Gathering (FW Katya 5B)
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## Pirates

### Capital System

Freedom, Almaaz
(Northern Pirates)
Buccaneer Bay, Algenib
(Core Pirates)
Greenrock, Shaula
(Southern Pirates)

### Hyperspace Capabilities

Hyperdrive

Pirates and anarchists have claimed a number of relatively undesirable or remote systems on the outskirts of human space, from which they make regular raids on merchant shipping. Pirate worlds are nearly the only source of advanced (and sometimes illegal) hand-to-hand combat tools civilians can buy. They also offer a variety of lucrative and risky jobs, many of which will upset Government ships which manage to scan your cargo hold.

The details of governance on pirate-controlled worlds varies wildly, but the bribes required to land are effectively the same across the galaxy, and pirate ships and crews tend to be drearily consistent.

## Bounties

Players who have proven themselves in space combat may be offered bounty missions from the jobs screen. There are two basic classes of pirate bounties: ordinary **pirates**, and **marauders**. Pirate bounties become available at around combat rating 6 (your save file must have a combat rating of at least 300 points, which is approximately level 5.7), and consist of a single pirate vessel located in a random system up to 2 hyper jumps away from the planet offering the bounty.

Marauders, on the other hand, tend to travel in groups, and often use highly customized ships. Marauder hunting jobs will be offered beginning about halfway between combat rating level 6 and 7 (at exactly 600 cumulative enemy crewmen killed, about level 6.39) and will require you to search systems up to 3 jumps away from the source.

Bounty ships can be boarded and captured, which will satisfy the terms of the bounty contract and allow you to collect payment. As mission-spawned ships, they will persist upon leaving the system or landing on a planet. Beware when boarding Marauder vessels, however, as many of them are fitted with self-destruct systems and can explode during boarding attempts.

Some bounties may disguise themselves as merchants, and the player will need to uncover them by targeting and looking for the name of the ship the bounty is on. These bounties reward more money to the player.

## Ships

Pirates use a wide variety of ships from every human shipyard. For Marauder ships, see Marauders.

### Light Freighter

* Argosy
* Clipper

### Utility

* Bactrian
* Nest
* Roost

### Interceptor

* Berserker
* Fury
* Hawk
* Scrapper
* Sparrow
* Wasp

### Light Warship

* Headhunter
* Modified Argosy
* Quicksilver
* Raven

### Medium Warship

* Aerie
* Bastion
* Corvette
* Firebird
* Manta
* Osprey
* Splinter

### Heavy Warship

* Falcon
* Leviathan
* Protector
* Vanguard

### Fighter

* Barb
* Dagger
* Lance

## Faction Relations

Pirates are generally hostile to all factions.

* Republic - Hostile: the Navy will attack pirates on sight and will destroy their ships.
* Free Worlds - Hostile: it is the policy of the Free Worlds to eliminate piracy in the South. In the story, the Free Worlds will occupy Greenrock for a time.
	+ Although, eliminating piracy does not mean just destroying the pirates; there are missions to do diplomacy with pirate worlds, so that they stop piracy altogether.
* Syndicate - Hostile: the Syndicate will attack pirates on sight and destroy their ships.
* Merchants - Hostile: pirates will attempt to loot and destroy merchant ships.
* Quarg - Hostile: the Quarg will attack and destroy pirate ships.
* Korath Exiles - Hostile: pirates will attempt to destroy any Palavret and Rano'erek that jumps into certain pirate and neutral systems. This can be a good way to loot their advanced tech yourself.