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Pirating in X:R can be broken down into two interconnected groups: looting & boarding
Traditional pirates (c15-c18) had two goals: first to make money (to keep their crew happy); second to gain better ship(s) that they could then sell off as 'prizes' or use to increase their fleet strength.They would generally keep anything they could immediately use
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; ransom (or sell as slaves) the rest of the crew and/or passengers
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; sell off the excess cargo & keep or scuttle the hull.
Pirates of that age should not be confused with Privateers: the latter were legitimate privately-owned ships carrying 'Letters of Marque' that justified & legitimised their actions on behalf of their country's government (along with associated legitimate prize rewards awarded by said government) towards Hostile Powers designated by their Government; the former were purely freebooters, not generally associated with any government, country or any other power (although pirates sometimes offered their services as privateers in exchange for pardons + loot - Edward Teach (Blackbeard) for example became the legitimate British Governor of Jamaica for a while).
By contrast modern (c20/21) 'pirates' usually ransom their prize (crew, passengers, ship, cargo) due to the logistics difficulty of keeping & utilising such a prize for themselves, plus modern communications & surveilance advantages
In X:R we can currently ignore crew, passengers & morale & passengers, so it's up to <player> to prioritise cash, cargo or hulls as they see fit..
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