My self and many of the pirates in VO are a mix of both, we make our money mostly from taking money from traders and offering them safe passage. Or for those who do not pay we kill them and take their cargo. Keep in mind it is vary hard to make any money as a pirate so it helps to have some thing of a plan, mine was some thing like this.
* <strong>'''Never pirate a trader more then once in one log in</strong>'''. This helps those greedy traders from feeling like you are taking all their money and helps make sure they pay you next time.* <strong>'''Make a funny hail massage</strong>'''. This just helps make you stand out from the n00b in a bus over there with an eye patch and a bird who has a funny dye job.* <strong>'''Never charge more then the ship and or cargo is worth</strong>'''. I used to have mutiple hail messages for differnt ships my policy was to make my price around 5k less then what the ship was worth so for like a centa (Centaur) I would charge around 25k, where as a hog (Warthog) would be around 15k. Just get a feel for it if more then 1 out of every 10 people you see are running rather then paying you may want to think about lowering your price.* <strong>'''Never go back on a deal</strong>'''. Your telling people who already think you are scum that if they give you money you will let them live. They have no garentee you will so you need to build up a rep, so if they ask all their little trader buddies (Traders are cliquy and due to them being so rich they have many "friends") if you are good for your word they will get a yes back.* <strong>'''Find a way to make your name stand out</strong>'''. Now you have some pirate who do this by killing every thing, kicking dogs, and biting flowers. These guys are often hated and almost never make any money. (Though there is some thing to be said for being able to log in and kill any thing you want and then make the people you killed cry by peeing on their cats.) Then you have pirates that are kinda nice, these guys are often thought of with a warm fuzzy feeling and people like to thank them for making the game fun. Then you got guys like me who are known for doing any thing for money. Which end up leading me away from piracy and into other fields of work.
What ever you decide to do make sure you have fun with it and remember it's just a game. Don't you ever forget with out pirates there will never be a need for human traders as any robotics man can make a bot who will haul cargo from point A to point B. But only a human will dare try to take on a pirate. So remember your doing it to help humans keep their jobs.
The lower level variants of the [[Centurion]] are not vary good for pirating with, fortunately there are some special variants most notably the Rev C from Orion Heavy Manufacturing and the IBG from the Itani. These ships are vary light and vary agile, making them perfect fighters. I recommend using one in conjunction with a hog or even another Cent for maxum effect. Though good Cent pilots have been known to take one groups of up to 5 people at once and come out alive. Common configs are duel n1-3, or axia posies. though some will swear by duel gauss, find out what works for you this is a vary useful ship in the right hands.
<strong>'''<font color=red>Borb's Pirate Tips:</font></strong> ''' These ships are really not made for runnning down fleeing traders due to the high drain, so don't be surprised when Centas blow past you.
===Warthog===
The [[Warthog]] is very good for destroying the heavier transport ships, just place a rocket launcher into either the small weapon port or the large weapon port, and your energy weapon of choice in the other weapon port. You should, of course, never use the basic variant and explore the other options the universe has to offer. If you can fight quite well, then you should use the cargo transport or mining variants, as these will let you take back more of your goods from the remains of the ship. Also keep in mind turbo speed and the turbo's energy consumption, you want to be able to catch your prey, but you also want to be able to attack it.
<strong>'''<font color=red>Borb's Pirate Tips:</font></strong> ''' Mmm, I got my start in hogs. I find it's a good idea to either go vary light in hogs (i.e. one AGT) and use it to take out traders that stop to give you a fight. Or go heavy (Suns and jacks) and use it to take out traders that try to run. Keep in mind though the hog is more of a suport ship, so it helps to have a friend with a fighter.
===Behemoth===
Surprise! The Behemoth is good for pirating. When hunting down a Behemoth, having a partner along in a Behemoth is quite useful. He can add support fire, and when the enemy Behemoth explodes, he can pick up all the cargo and split the profit.
<strong>'''<font color=red>Borb's Pirate Tips:</font></strong> ''' It's a good idea any time you have a big ship with ton's of cargo to have plotted a few jumps into empty sectors just incase you have to lose an angry mob of rich traders who got mad at you for cutting off their old grandma and her little bus.
===Valkyrie===
Lastly two ion or phase and one gauss, or one ion or phase and two neutrons 1-3. This ship is often used in conjunction with the first tri-sun valk to great effect. The tri-sun will hit the target and this ship will then fly in close and inflict damage before the trader can regain he bearings. Or this ship will engage the trader and the tri-sun will fly around behind the trader filling him full of rockets.
<strong>'''<font color=red>Borb's Pirate Tips:</font></strong> ''' It often helps if you are using any kind of rockets with a buddy to make sure you are of the same nation and both have good faction. Rockets tend to not care if you are friend or not.
[[Category:Activities]]