Fria Ligans forum

and slavers.


I'm working on a storyline for a friend of mine that'll start with Slavers from Algol/spacepirates boarding a cargoship.
But it struck me that I have no idea what the most logical thing for the attackers to do with the ship when it's done. Just leave it or take it with them? Kill the crew (if pirates) or let them go?

Anyone can help me out?

They could scuttle it, leave it as is, strip it of useful parts (requires a salvage station, iirc).
It all depends on their goals and motivation for being pirates in the first place.

Also, don't forget that it was quite common for real-life pirates to simply take the new ship and dump their old one. Especially if the new one was bigger or faster or in any other way better than their old one.

That's a good question.
Another common tactic of pirates during the golden age was to give the crew of the ship waylaid the chance to join them and either put their captain in a boat and let him go or to throw him overboard or maroon him. The pirate fleet would then grow.
I also read a report of a pirate crew that captured a slave ship and when the crew refused to turn on their captain the pirates freed the slaves and armed them saying "Well, in which case we shall leave you to sort this out like gentlemen" Which I can see happening with ships bound for or from the slave markets of Algol.