Questions...

How to pirate ?

What is a typical pirate carrier ? is it even possible to make a living as a pirate ?

After playing few hours, i understood that i was going nowhere, at least money-wise, so i restricted myself to alcuin, bedalov, emerald and huang system, and decided to study extensively these systems, to get a grip on how the game works.
Now, i have half a million in the bank, i could do a couple 100000 more, i've a good trade route set... but... I didn't shot one time. Not worthy. One i can't sell to the lindevaal, two even if i could, the prices are so low, and wingmen so expensive... Not worthy. (eg. lithium at 375$. uh. I need 60 of them to replace one wingman..)

By the way, why the lindevaal won't accept to buy my stolen stuff ? I've bribed them to allie level, but when i'm trading it doesn't accept pods, even though nothing is tagged as denied (when clicking on offer item, it beeps and that's it.. bug ?)

Took me about 15 hours playing (lot of pirating tries) and now i'm wondering... what am i going to do next ? Am i going to buy weapons, that, anyway, i never get to use ?

I guess what i'm beggin for is a 'My first 150 days in TS' guide, or whatever number of days is, in average, needed to get into the pirating with some chances of success.

In my view, information is a bit too scarce for a true beginner, one that don't play iwar since 1999, that never played epic, original elite or privateer. You guys have a sense of the game, a general knowledge of it that a beginner can't have. So while it might be fun for experienced players to discover the limit of the game while playing, this just left beginners in the dark.

Other questions :
i'm still wondering, is there any mining career in TS ? And mercenary missions ?
That's what hints the front page of the site, so i'm waiting for them. If yes, how do this happen ? From all the docs i read, some factions are well known as hiring mercenaries, or specialized in mining; but this doesn't tell me how i get into the new career.

I bought the storm petrel, all my tug equipment disappeared, is this normal ?

Some menus only appear when docking to a station, does that mean that i should dock once to each station in the cluster, just to make sure i'm not missing some ?
(painfully slow - but i read in the source about a changing identity feature on medical research stations, so this makes me wonder what i might be missing. yes i'm frustrated to the point that i'm searching the source for answers, even though i don't really know C, or pog)

Any help appreciated.

Torn Stars is still very much in its infancy. At present, piracy doesn't pay. It's mostly a trading sim, although some more roles will be added in Unstable Space, and more still in Traffic.

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It's my belief that these sheep are laborin' under the misapprehension that they're birds. Observe their behavior. Take for a start the sheeps' tendency to 'op about the field on their back legs. (off-screen baa-ing) Now witness their attempts to fly from tree to tree. Notice that they do not so much fly as...plummet.

We really appreciate getting this kind of feedback. Torn Stars was our first release, and it is input like this that helps us make it better.

Here is a good thread discussing the very issues that you bring up:

www.i-war2.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2297

One suggestion I have is that you read the help files on Pirating. They explain where you can sell stolen cargo. (you get a much higher price if you sell to a stolen cargo fence).

Just so you don't give up hope: our next release is Unstable Space, due out this winter. It has many improvements that were suggested by the players. The navigation screen allows a player to find many things (like fences) quickly.

Wingmen are much tougher in USpace, so they don't get killed as easily. It is possible to run away. And factions do not become hostile so quickly, which gives pirates a chance to get started.