I was playing in a game where a player used the Grimy Trader to find me. He said he used a bribe technique. How useful is this technique, and how does it work exactly.

When you go to talk to the Grimy Trader, type in BRIBE, and then offer him a large amount of credits. In practice, 25,000 seems to work.

Then ask him about TRADER. Answer NO to his first reply, then YES to his second and type in the name of the Trader you are searching for.

Without bribing him, Grimy answers with a random port the Trader ported at with no relative time frame. I've chased down ports my target visited 3 or 4 days ago.

With a BRIBE, however, Grimy offers much more recent information...

Paladyne

Drop figs. Everywhere you go. Especially under every port you port at. If you have a fig beneath a port, the Grimey Trader can't look up the port's information, meaning he won't know you've docked there (until the fighter is removed or destroyed).

It doesn't matter whether it's a corporate or personal fighter, and it doesn't matter if you set the fighter to defensive, offensive, or toll. Just leave a fighter under every port. Or better yet, leave a fighter in every sector you visit, with or without a port.

There are tons of reasons for leaving as many fighters laying around as possible, and blocking the Grimey's Trace is only one of them.

hmm is that why the helpers lay the figs automatically

Changing you ship name helps too... Most Vet player's use the name The Merchant Marines.. Everyone using the same name or all you corp member's using the name really throws off the grimmy. A ferrangi is another good one when aliens are in the game.

"An Alien Trader" is a good name for your ship, too.

Yes, that's one of the reasons why many helpers lay fighters at every port (I don't know why SWATH doesn't have an option to do this, or if it does, I never found it). Another reason is that it gives you warning if somebody comes into the sector you're in or a nearby sector.