<t> From the beginning, pirates have minus income because of the spaceport.<br/>
But that is too painful because you have to influence a dozen of colonies or raid 10000 credits to make economy stable.<br/>
Empire protection agreements will be broken even before empires research hyperdrive, and the ...

<t> 1. More In-Depth Economy<br/>
Only tax is stable and other major economics like spaceport or trading is too unstable.<br/>
It is due to the fact that there are only final product-ships which makes private sector running<br/>
But, people buy not only ships but also consumes electronics, foods ...

'Sabotage Construction' missions on construction ships or spaceports for 1 year has good chances, so use it if you have to test an agent or leveling up.
Sometimes, they get high chance even 1 year interval with high sabotage skill

<t> I suppose that's more realistic<br/>
because pirates can break promises more easily than empires.<br/>
<br/>
If you research long range scanner, you will find a pirate base nearby.<br/>
Send 20 missile or torpedo ships with moderate armor and shield to pirate base and destroy it.<br/>
<br ...

<r>
<QUOTE><s>[quote]</s>ORIGINAL: Bebop Cola<br/>
<br/>
Where did you hear that they don't have to pay ship maintenance?
<e>[/quote]</e></QUOTE>
<br/>
You can figure it out by just playing as a pirate. For pirates, military ship doesn't cost any maintenance, but civilian ships and stations ...

<t> They don't have to pay upkeep for military ships.. so they can just build military ships if there is available money.<br/>
So, paying them just 20000 credits means 20 escort ships. Paying 100000 means 100 escort ships. So if you buy anything from them, you will face a huge amount of raiding ...