Even if you had no bounty on your head the pirates will randomly pick a target (and on a 1v1 map it's a 50/50 chance of being you), and their power increases as your economy (and your opponents) increases.

It is possible, we've had this discussion, play a few more games and see how you do. Just please don't say "there is no way" because we'll all just tell you to learn to play.

The scenario name is close encounters... its a 9 "planet" 1v1...

Obviously there was a 50% chance of me being the target, the issue is, if they attacked the enemy he would have been in dire straights. I had him completely on the run. I was annihilating the computer and the pirates took me out... how much fun would the game have been had they attacked him? I would just be playing along when suddenly I get a "you win" message because the enemy's only planet fell to the pirates?

Sure I COULD have spammed a ton of canons on the astroid, let them destroy it slowly, and use my fleet to take the pirate home or the enemy base. but thats just silly. the pirates were just way too powerful considering the size of the galaxy and the fact our economy's were a home planet and an asteroid each....

I am also talking immersion here... where the heck to they get the money and the technology? why do they have large cruisers while everyone else has small ones with a few capital ships? It just doesn't make any sense and makes it feel less like galactic conquest and more like a game.

The idea of pirates is fine, but the mechanic of showing up, no matter what, every x minutes, is so stupid on too many levels. What pirates would be so reliable and punctual? It's so...anti-pirate! Jack Sparrow would be displeased.

-HM

Use hangars, stocked mainly with fighters (they do higher damage to light armor), not cannons. Also, I have never seen a faction eliminated by pirates and considering you've apparently only played one game I don't think you have either.

Or play maps that don't have pirates.... >.>

pirates would be better if their timer and strength were doubled. or even tripled.

Or more random. As it is you're guaranteed pirate action regularly.

I think it's silly that the pirates are so strong they're like another faction, and a faction that can pump out mega quantities of ships with no real economy to back it, but I suppose I'll get used to it.

I assume you do not have to take over the pirate homeworld to win the game, no? I've actually only played a couple of games (and none to completion, since the first I discarded, because as I played, I realized I could do better).

-HM

the main problem is for your first few games pirates will likely be very brutal. once you get used to the game and know more of what your doing it wont be as bad.

and don't forget to check your bounty, other than the 50/50 chance the computer likely put some bounty on you, its good to always keep an eye on it(push f3). also the pirates will only attack ONE system per pirate attack cycle.

In small maps I've never seen the pirates use more than 1 or 2 anti planet ships, so you can finish them off first and then park yourself in a cluster of turrets with your capitals and kill all the rest, they'll have no choice but to come to you.

I replayed the scenario in question... As the first pirate attack was "forming" the AI placed a 250 bounty on me.. and I placed a 500 bounty on him. The AI had his home planet and has colonized a single astroid. I had colonized an astroid and was in the process of wiping out an ice planet for colonization (colonized while the pirates were attacking).
The pirates attacked me and where all killed. The second wave however went for his homeworld. I sent my two capital ships to find it devasted. The AI's two capital ships (level 1 and 2) were hiding in his astroid base, the pirates were blasting away at his two remaining auto canons, and 7 or so frigates were hiding in an astroid belt. I proceeded to blast his frigate and capital ship manufacturing , at which point the pirates attacked me, so i killed them AT HIS HOME PLANET. and then blasted the two remaining canons.

At this point he had 2 heabily injured crystal miners on his home planet and that is IT. I began bombardment... halfway through his now mostly healed capital ships returned to fight my capitals off, with a few frigates. But since they were a carrier and a colonizer, and I was 2 space combat type level 3 and 4... I annihilated them and proceeded to destroy his home planet (it was taking too long so I researched bombardment and sent 4 bombers to aid them).

Then I took out his ravaged (by me, before) astroid colony and won. I elected to continue playing.
I then proceeded to attack the pirates... they made short work of my two level 4 attack capital ships. So i rebuilt, and used 2 to defend whichever planet they attack while 4 more to destroy their base.

As I was destroying their base, I was a position where I destroyed the defending fleet of 30 cruisers and 15 or so turrets. And was halfway through bombarding the pirate base. I got the "A pirate raid is forming" and watched as 15 cruisers and 5 frigates (I think the pirates were at level 2 or 3 out of 5 at that point) spawned out of nothing at the edge of the pirate system. They just appeared there...
5 x 400 credit ships and 15 x 600 credit ships just spawned out of nothing... from pirates that had managed to collect a meager 750 bounty the whole game...
In a system containing 2 terran planets, 2 ice planets, 2 uncolonizeable astroid belts, and 2 colonizeable astroids.

Obviously I could NOT catch them as they are very fast and ignore all combat until they reach the system they intend to bombard. Where I intercepted them with 2 newly built capital ships. One was VERY close to dying at the end of the fight (despite me upgrading both to level 2 and having 3 figher hangers with 2 interceptor squads and 4 bomber squads at EACH SYSTEM I owned)...
At the end of that battle I had one unharmed capital ship, 1 with 500/3000HP, and 1 surviving fighter bay in the system out of 3.

I then merrily colonized the now destroyed pirate base and with that the area was secure.


Had I not chosen to personally attack his home system while the pirates were doing so, I could have destroyed his other colony where the two heavily injured capital ships escaped to after getting whalloped by the pirates, and allow the pirates to finish off his homeworld. Like they have done to mine the game before. (the pirates bring a few planet bombers with them, POWERFUL ones)

The reason the AI was not dealing with the pirates as well as me is because.
1. He was building support type capitals instead of the direct combat type.
2. He was not upgrading them with money to level 3.
3. He was not choosing the most appropriate anti pirate levelups.
4. He was actually using frigates. (as an empire we are only able to build cruisers after research a tech 5 prototype... And pirate cruisers and frigates ANNIHILATE the standard frigates of the other races...


I actually found bombers to be most effective against pirates, since the pirates are MOSTLY cruisers, not frigates. Which are large and powerful and have 1500HP each. (frigate 500HP, Cruiser 1500HP, Capital 3000HP). The pirate frigates actually do double the damage, but are a lot easier to kill.