Space Pirates in the Wayback System
While a rare issue in the Core Worlds, spiracy, as some amusingly refer to, is a significant force of social decay in the Wayback. In recent years, the Planetary Jingwei's grasp of the pirate problem has severely weakened. Nowadays, pirates run free, operating in bands that raid and pillage defenseless colonies.
Space pirates spend lots of time in space and are slightly out of their element when fighting on the ground. They are bad guys, albeit often bumbling and incompetent, with a sense that the smarter pirates are probably running the show off-stage. They obsess over trinkets, a catchall term for loot, with a primary want for goodies that come from outside the system.
Tactics and Units
As mentioned above, the faction Space Pirates encompasses many different groups of outlaws, criminals and looters roaming the Wayback, trying to prey on the weak. Their roster focuses on high mobility and reckless assaults. Weapons are improvised and repurposed—rarely accurate but packing a lot of raw firepower, especially when firing on the move.
Space Pirates use a variety of transport vehicles to quickly move across the combat map and close in on their enemies. While these vehicles offer some protection, pirates are especially vulnerable when disembarking. Anticipating when and where they will land and keeping a squad ready to react is essential to prevent an overrun.
Pirates tend to use two primary transport vehicles depending on squad size. Larger squads ride in heavy trucks, while smaller squads use light jeeps.
With very few exceptions, all pirate vehicles and weapons can also be employed by the player.
Pirate Squads
Scavengers: A gang of regular space pirates equipped with makeshift assault rifles and frag grenades. Against armored targets, they also use improvised RPGs. They come in large squads and try to overwhelm enemies with reckless aggression and firepower.
Chain Gun Team: A small team of scavengers with a portable chain gun. Lacking accuracy but making up for it with sheer firepower, perfect for suppression while advancing. The makeshift nature of the gun makes it prone to jamming.
EMP Gunners: A specialized pirate team normally tasked with disabling automated defense mechanisms when boarding spaceships. Their EMP gun disables enemy mechs and vehicles on the battlefield. While not dangerous to infantry, they can easily take out vehicles caught out of position.
Boarding Commando: Heavily armored assault specialists. The first to board spaceships and brute-force through defenders. While not well adapted to open battlefields, they are extremely dangerous in close quarters, wielding Corridor Sweeper Shotguns, Thermite Grenades, and Stun Grenades.
Pirate Vehicles
Rocket Truck: An improvised, highly mobile artillery system. Suppresses large areas with massive rocket barrages, though individual missiles are very inaccurate. The truck must reload every other round. It is not very resilient and relies on speed to stay safe. If critically damaged, there’s a chance it cooks off, launching rockets in random directions.
Chain Gun Truck: Using the same chassis as the rocket truck and basic transport, this vehicle delivers mobile suppressive firepower. The truck-mounted version of the chain gun is heavier and deals more damage but is still prone to jamming.
Laser Truck: A specialized version of the pirate truck with a repurposed spaceship laser cannon mounted on top. This truck is a major threat to heavily armored vehicles. The cannon generates extreme heat and must vent periodically to remain operational.
Flame Truck: A heavy truck with high durability but minimal armor. The flamethrower mounted on top covers large areas in fire, devastating entrenched infantry. However, the flammable liquid inside the truck makes it prone to catastrophic explosions when damaged.
Engage, Explore, and Stay Informed
That's it for now! We'll see you next Friday.
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And here are the recent prior Dev Diaries in case you've missed them:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/2432860/announcements/detail/512950040394727468
https://steamcommunity.com/games/2432860/announcements/detail/535466769966436075
https://steamcommunity.com/games/2432860/announcements/detail/535466136352851020
