It is getting harder to disable other players. It was easy when I was in the lower ranks, but when I got in the 200s it almost became impossible. although I keep improving my weapons, defenses , scan and cloak. It seems that practically EVERY TIME I attack another player, I get hit with a Halcyon Trap. And I can't undo the Halcyon Trap with a Null Fuse, yet if I equip MY ship with a Halcyon Trap, my attacker seems to find a way to undo it, and finishes me off. And if I DO manage to disable another player, I can never succeed in raiding. Is there something I'm doing wrong? Is there a better strategy. How about strenth/rank ratio. Any suggestions?

Get better guns and more energy, as u get higher u need to do more damage since ppl have more defence also there is more hull so you need more energy.

Raiding is based on crew. If you have low crew, you'll fail at raiding more often.

Before you attack a player, check what their action count is at. If their action count is at 3/5/5, they can have a halcyon trap on, therefore, avoid those people.

Also, if people are able to disable you after your halcyon tripped, it means they tripped the halcyon on the kill-shot. Point plain and simple: your hull is too low if they can kill you when you have a halcyon on.

The best way to avoid halc traps is to attack those who have more actions available than the 3 5 5. Also if you do an attack or any offensive action in 24 you can not put on a halc trap or if you put one on then do it it dumps off your halc trap. Also you may need more hull to withstand attacks.

It's called using Trap Probes before hitting a 3/5/5 ship

You're going to need to either rely on the RNG to just give you the NPCs, or you're going to need to NPC for those probes, which completely defeats the purpose of getting easier kills at low ranks.

This!