Pirate questions

[Storm]

Hi there,

Still a newbie here, I've searched but there's such a flood of noise that I can't seem to get actual answers regarding the pirates.

1. The Yaki - I've found out they have a mission attached to them, where we could become friends; until then, they're -15. Question is, can they go down? I.e. can they go -16 if you kill their ships? I've only killed one or two in the Terran Cadet campaign, but haven't really seen them around. Found out online that they have a base, but no idea where or anything more.

2. Scale Plate - I've seen some stations like spaceweed, and I see that I'm -3 to them, no idea whether my ranking went up or down up to when I finally noticed them. What's the story on them please? Can you do missions for them, befriend them, or what? I know there's the Hatikvah plot where you kind of go against them, but I want to first befriend them so I don't risk losing access to them if possible, as I haven't actually started engaging with them yet.

If I can befriend them, how can I do it please? Scanning their stations doesn't seem to spawn any ships that I can shoot for standing, and can't seem to see any missions appear for them at their stations.

3. Duke's Buccaneers - I was doing a Freighter escort mission, and flew nearby a station of theirs, Boso comm'd something about a storage, but I was in a fight with Kha'ak ships. Shortly after, someone from the stationed comm'd me and told me not to get any closer. What's the story with them please? I see they're also -15, is there a plot for them to befriend them? And if so, will they be fixed at -15 even if I kill their ships?

Also, what must I do about the storage module for Boso please? I can't seem to see a mission for it.

4. Any other pirate advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[zpc]

Phew, huge topic - I'll give some pointers while hopefully avoiding too many spoilers...

1) Yes, the only "fixed" pirate reputation is SCA (until you do a very lategamish thing)

2) They have a very isolated pirate station in Hewas Twin IV "The Cove". SCA are "THE" pirates in X4. They got a new camouflage technique and stay -5 towards the player for most of the early and midgame (for some players this never changes). One has the ability to befriend them later when doing terraforming (monumental task, nothing a small pirate normally is able to do)
No matter the fixed reputation, one can do "gilde missions" for them once you visited their hidden base.

3) Haven't done their plot yet - but they are tied to the PAR plot. Check the plot outcomes before deciding what to do with the Buccaneers. They are kind of a n00b trap - hitting them hard because of their awesome ship (Prometeus) or the loot they are dropping (advanced mods) might bite you back if you want to do the PAR plot in a certain way. But again, take this with a grain of salt, I don't know all the details - better check them yourself (e.g. @egosoft forums, there are guides)

4) Visiting SCA early provides a lot of pirate missions when you travel the universe. The ToA DLC also provides more pirate gameplay. I'd at least befriend one faction to get access to carriers / aux ships. Sadly, there is no pirate carrier ship - but having one is recommended for easy deploy of fighters (and auto-repairs). Aux ships I consider the mobile base of a pirate - it can repair boarded vessels and can dock all kinds of ships (M trade ships for large loot operations, S-ships for different tasks)
YAKI can be saved as well - which includes sneaking a large force to their home sector. You have to cross 4 Xenon sectors to do so - but this could be managed by flying each big ship with travel mode yourself (you need teleport to jump back and forth). Fighting your way all across those Xenon sectors takes a lot of time and a solid force.
I wouldn't recommend attacking YAKI ships - only defend yourself if you are attacked. Befriending them will give you access to their ships & blueprints, so there is no need to fight them. Befriending them is worth it, but involves some work. (their M combat ship has universal cargo - very unique property in the whole game...)

[🎮 PalkoVvodets 🔑]

Originally posted by Storm:

1. The Yaki - I've found out they have a mission attached to them, where we could become friends; until then, they're -15. Question is, can they go down? I.e. can they go -16 if you kill their ships?

Don't know if there are exceptions but Yaki do have unlocked reputation. That is mean it may go up and down. When you proceed with Yaki plot reputation resets to 0 (if rep hasn't grown up before).

Originally posted by Storm:

2. Scale Plate - I've seen some stations like spaceweed, and I see that I'm -3 to them, no idea whether my ranking went up or down up to when I finally noticed them. What's the story on them please? Can you do missions for them, befriend them, or what?

The only way to unlock (in non-modded game) SCA rep is to finish at least 1 terraforming project in Scale Plate Green system. Nothing else is capable of impacting it.
-5 is the base value for Player--SCA relationship.

Originally posted by Storm:

3. Duke's Buccaneers - I was doing a Freighter escort mission, and flew nearby a station of theirs, Boso comm'd something about a storage, but I was in a fight with Kha'ak ships. Shortly after, someone from the stationed comm'd me and told me not to get any closer. What's the story with them please? I see they're also -15, is there a plot for them to befriend them? And if so, will they be fixed at -15 even if I kill their ships?

Cutscenes are just context sugar. Purpose is to pay attention that you can destroy storage module at BUC station and grab some their stocked treasures. You may do so with SCA stations even though there is no any cutscene.
BUC is also locked on rep until Paranid plot proceeded. You may fight them as many as you want.

Originally posted by Storm:

4. Any other pirate advice would be greatly appreciated.

You may befriend with Split FAF by looking for data leaks at FRF stations and completing FAF missions.