Able to 'hide' from Pirates?

Playing base game, with no MODs, survival mode, started in the 'solar system' scenario (started in lander above earth-like planet), offline mode, just me in the world. Random encounters, drones, and cargo ships on, but wolves/spiders off.

Built ship to go into space finally, went up and and parked ship on lg. asteroid -- two pirate bases approx. 35+ km away...one is 'Raiding Station' and other is labeled as 'Raiding Outpost'...I've made a point of staying at least 25 km from both while scouting. I've gone out approx. 25- 30 km searching through asteroids for resources, and twice when I returned to main ship I found it shot up...I have 3 gatling turrets which apparently destroyed whatever attacked as the area around my ship and the asteroid had a lot of floating scrap metal.

My questions:

Is there a way to put my ship into a 'stealth' mode, while it is parked on the asteroid so the pirates will not be able to find it...if I turn everything off would they still be able to find it? Currently processing a lot of ore in the onboard refinery and wanted to leave that run while I am out scouting...but coming back to find everything shot up and having to rebuild parts is putting me further behind (haven't found all types of ore yet -- silicon seems rare in this instance of the game), so I cannot rebuild some items yet.

Since they seem to be aware of me now, will they continue to come back to that location even if I do turn everything off in an attempt to 'hide' my ship? If I move the ship 20-30 km away to another asteroid and then power everything off, would they still find that new location?

Is there a way to find all the bits of scrap metal left floating nearby after other than jet-packing around and gathering it? Trying to see all those little pieces against the backdrop of stars/asteroids, etc. is difficult...constantly finding another bit here/there after I thought I'd found it all.

If I overlook any of the scrap from destroyed ships/drones (don't know what attacked my ship while I was gone scouting) is it a hazard for collisions?

At what range do the pirates 'see' my ship and send drones/ships to harrass me? I'd thought that since their bases were over 35 km from where I'm parked I would be under the radar, but apparently I'm wrong? Possibly there are random 'patrols' that come through the area and that is what found my ship?

If the random 'cargo ships' that are spawned into the game come near my ship's location will they attack?

Thank you for your time and assistance.

 

The pirates do not actively target you until you're within their sensor boundary...20 km for a Raiding Outpost and 15 km (I think) for a Raiding Station. I intentionally seek them out for free parts.

I'm guessing that a cargo ship passed near your position and spawned a drone while you were away. If you’re beyond 20 km from either SPRT station, they won't come after you.

The Raiding Outpost will send out large-grid SPRT Assailant drones (light armor, one interior turret) that are very easy to overcome and provide large quantities of free parts, including a small reactor with 20 uranium ingots. The Raiding Station, on the other hand, will send out SPRT Incisor drones (heavy armor; one gatling turret) and SPRT Exterminator drones (heavy armor, two gatling turrets and two missile turrets). Sometimes the Raiding Station will spawn an unarmed small grid scouting drone (I forget the name), and those are usually precursors to an Exterminator.

Cargo ships, on the other hand, will spawn drones when they/you are too close; a cargo ship such as a Mining Carriage will spawn Assailants, and others such as the Military Escort willl spawn Incisors and Exterminators. If a cargo ship passes within 2 or 3 km of your position, prepare to defend yourself. The upside is free parts. The downside is getting your location all shot to hell. Depending on the cargo ship, you can get any of the three drones listed above. The Argentavis, on the other hand, will spawn three other heavily armed and capable drones (Dyad, Barb, and Gatling Platform), so watch out for that guy.

All drones can be overcome with a hand grinder and guts. I like all the free parts I get, so I sometimes park myself in an asteroid and wait for them to come to me. When they're close and their guns are pointing away, I pop, grind out their remote control to stop them, then the turrets, then harvest the drone.

One last thing, if you're concerned about little pieces hanging around and just want them gone, then hit Alt-F10 to bring up the Admin Screen, select "Floating Objects", highlight everything you want gone, and hit "Delete".