How to do trading with Free Families?

[shawhu]

In my game, Zyarth doens't have shipyard...completely overrunned by xenon. I helped them (twice), they are rebuilding, but it takes ages.
So I'm thinking maybe I do some mining and trading with free families to raise reps so that i can buy ships there.

Problem is, all my freighter get multiple pirate-alike demands to drop cargo in Heart of Acrimony II and Tharka's Ravine (all of them). It's not like regular pirates, who only appear 1, 2 ships at a time. I got 5 FRF ships demanding. So, what do I do? Killing them is easy but killing only getting things worse. I want to raise the reps, not destroying it. any advice?

And, I know it's already explained, but, why can't I kill them when then attacking my ship? As soon as they start shooting, it should give the victim rights to fight back without losing reps.
And, how do I set the auto response to ignore when harrassed by pirates? I've only got flee or attack.

P.S. where do you guys get your first rattlesnake?

[Imperial Good]

So I'm thinking maybe I do some mining and trading with free families to raise reps so that i can buy ships there.

Be aware that Free Families does not sell the same ships and loadout as ZYA does. Specifically, they do not sell the Cobra, Dragon (non-Raider) and various S ship variants as well as guns and turrets.

Problem is, all my freighter get multiple pirate-alike demands to drop cargo in Heart of Acrimony II and Tharka's Ravine (all of them). It's not like regular pirates, who only appear 1, 2 ships at a time. I got 5 FRF ships demanding. So, what do I do? Killing them is easy but killing only getting things worse. I want to raise the reps, not destroying it. any advice?

FRF do operate some pirates however these will stop pirating you once your rep is sufficiently high (~15?). However, the main pirate issue is from FAF which might disguise themselves as other factions. It is not possible to ally FAF and FRF keeps rebuilding FAF ships. Even though FRF rebuilds ships for FAF, they do not like them that much meaning you can reliably fight FAF in FRF space. As such excessive military force against FAF is an option to keep pirating down.

If you want to gain reputation with FRF then you can use scout ships to sell individual Energy Cells to various stations of theirs. It is unlikely pirates will care about these ships due to the ship type and low cargo value. This approach gains reputation quickly due to the large number of trades performed.

And, how do I set the auto response to ignore when harrassed by pirates? I've only got flee or attack.

You can set the default response to "comply" which will drop some cargo and cause the pirates to leave the ship alone. This is usually the best option if you are approaching late game development and losing the odd shipment is inconsequential. Early game you might want to use fast Paranid M traders equipped with combat engines to allow them to flee pirates reliably and avoid cargo or ship losses.

P.S. where do you guys get your first rattlesnake?

I think I ordered mine from FRF because ZYA lacked the hull parts at the time. However, if you own Cradle of Humanity DLC I would generally recommend going for an Osaka or using the free storyline Syn as an early game destroyer as both of those have comparable or even superior damage while not being made of paper. Rattlesnakes are very fragile and a single mistake, such as flying too close to a K, can be fatal.

[shawhu]

Thanks for the reply. Really helped me a lot!

I am in the middle of the game (early middle), got a dozon of stations, 15 destroyers, amoung them a syn and an osaka. They do worth the effort. I agree with you completely.
It just, now I want split ones. haha. And later I'll compare them and try to get enough money to buy all the blueprints for building shipyards and ships. In order to do that, I'll have to try all of them.

I do have another unrelated question about shipyards that I can't find answers online.
Can I use say Argon ship building module to build ships from other factions (like a syn or asgard)? Or do I have to buy terran blueprints? I am not talking about weapons and shields, just the ship building module.

[Smart_Bomb]

I wonder if you brought over a fleet of ships to sell to their shipyard if that would help them in any way.

[Imperial Good]

I wonder if you brought over a fleet of ships to sell to their shipyard if that would help them in any way.

It should help them a little but chances are they will burn all those resources like they did before on Rattlesnakes and other ships they lose to the Xenon.