Tips on dealing with powerful pirates?

[djvandebrake]

So I am playing a space trucker, and made enough to get some escort power. My cargo space is a little too high, my firepower too low, but not too bad. (A freighter and clipper with two berserkers, with the berserkers having upgraded guns).

I run into a pirate that starts tearing my ships apart. Killing an interceptor in seconds. Then the other. Wind up dead. I reload. Pirate spawns again. I try bribing him. It works - but he follows me to the next system and goes hostile again. I bribe again, can't land because there are no planets here, he follows me through another jump, turns hostile, and I'm out of bribe money so I'm dead again. Reload.

How am I supposed to deal with this? A powerful pirate will wait for you on planets, so docking doesn't save you; turn hostile in each system, so bribing doesn't save you; leave fights to follow the player, so running while it attacks other merchants won't save you (yes, that happened too); persist through saves, so reloading won't save you...

So if I'm already in a situation where I can't fight, am I just screwed and have to start a new game?

[callmetrivial]

this is an interesting way to go about it. suppose the only option for this method would be getting yourself stronger escorts. alternatively trying to make your hauler less enticing by removing some cargo space (not ideal i know) and replacing it with outfit space for shield generators or anti missile turrets.

[Timerlane]

You could try parking most of your fleet, and try running around in just a Berserker for a bit. If it's like the bounty-hunter fleet mechanics, that might make him 'despawn' for a while(now that you 'appear' to only have a tiny fleet that's not worth plundering). If not, take your Berserker and head toward Navy-patrolled space(the vicinity of Earth and the Paradise planets) and see if you can get them to take care of your problem for you.

TBH, I've never seen a pirate this aggressive toward a relatively small fleet. Do you have any missions in progress? This pirate might have been spawned as a mission element you were meant to run away from, but that would disappear as soon as you landed on the target planet(e.g. the 'Hammer of Thor' from the interceptor tutorial mission).

[noctilucus]

I would guess that your piracy rating is too high, anything over a few % massively increases the chances of getting attacked by pirates. Regular pirates do disappear when you land, although new ones will appear if your piracy rating is still the same or you happen to be in a pirate system.

Can you add some escorts or perhaps add some missile launchers to increase your perceived firepower?

[NXTtrain]

Originally posted by djvandebrake:

So I am playing a space trucker, and made enough to get some escort power. My cargo space is a little too high, my firepower too low, but not too bad. (A freighter and clipper with two berserkers, with the berserkers having upgraded guns).

I run into a pirate that starts tearing my ships apart. Killing an interceptor in seconds. Then the other. Wind up dead. I reload. Pirate spawns again. I try bribing him. It works - but he follows me to the next system and goes hostile again. I bribe again, can't land because there are no planets here, he follows me through another jump, turns hostile, and I'm out of bribe money so I'm dead again. Reload.

How am I supposed to deal with this? A powerful pirate will wait for you on planets, so docking doesn't save you; turn hostile in each system, so bribing doesn't save you; leave fights to follow the player, so running while it attacks other merchants won't save you (yes, that happened too); persist through saves, so reloading won't save you...

So if I'm already in a situation where I can't fight, am I just screwed and have to start a new game?

The fact that it follows you, means it is probably an enemy spawned by a (hidden) mission. Did you have any spaceport encounters?
... Also, does the pirate ship have a particular name, that doesn't change?

[Midnight Plugins]

When you target the ship, does the indicated government actually say "Pirate" or is it something else, such as "Bounty" or "Bounty Hunter"?

If it actually says "Pirate", bribing him makes all pirates friendly until you jump. I suggest waiting in the system after bribing until the Navy, Militia, or Syndicate show up to smack down the pirates.

At this point, you can either go your merry way or repair any disabled pirates to earn friendly rep with them. Ideally, do just enough that pirates are permanently friendly but not so much that it angers the authorities or your fellow Merchants.

[djvandebrake]

It gives a specific name... I kind of rage quit and deleted the save before some of these answers came in so I can't recall it, but finding out spaceport missions can spawn such encounters explains a lot. I did a number of them.

Edit: Looking through game files, it may also be I took a regular, non-spaceport mission that spawns a pirate, such as a frontier cargo mission.

[djvandebrake]

Loaded an earlier save and I had in fact taken such a job. Lesson learned - some missions aren't just *risk* of a pirate, but a guarantee, and the specific pirate is determined by their fleet entry.

So taking a very large "Frontier delivery" mission, even if you have a fairly low piracy risk percent, will still spawn powerful pirate fleets. If you have a fairly large amount of cargo space, you are still better off taking multiple smaller contracts (which spawn lower level pirates) until you can handle the bigger warships.