Getting my ass handed to me royally by pirates in Universe...

[Mansen]

So I decided to pop back into DW now that Universe has launched - But I just can't seem to get into the game properly. I am getting my ass handed to me royally by "early game" pirates from all sides.

Started out pre-warp with the new "default timeline" settings and slowly built up a fleet and economy - AI started suiciding single ships against the space monsters (a reminder to disable those completely...).

Got my warpdrive and explored the nearby system - same as above, more suicide ships deciding they want to patrol "neutral" territory. [:-]

In the neighbor system I find an independent colony of my own race, which is practically Pirate central - Something like 20-40 ships depending on how many factions are around.

By sheer random luck I manage to find a Capital ship which can single-handedly destroy entire fleets, which I decide to park in the pirate infested system.

Some two hours later (No one around me has colonized elsewhere yet) I finally manage to colonize and lock down the planet - But I'm still getting massive pirate raids. If I move my capital ship anywhere, the planet is done for.

What on earth happened to pirates? I never noticed them being such an overpowering threat - challengine, sure. But Cap ship competing? [&:]

[Shark7]

*Spoiler Alert*

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You may have found the Legendary Pirates that are in game. And they can more than hold their own against the Empires. If you've found a pirate group with a lot of ships in the fleet and many of them are capitals or cruisers...hehe, well good luck. [;)]

As for in game, when you start a new game you may want to set the pirate groups to start 'Distant' from you. That gives you a little bit of build time before you're dealing with them.

[Mansen]

Nope - Just a bunch of frigates, escorts and such. Again this was with the "default" setting you get when you just pick Shadows from the "timeline". You don't get to pick anything.

But I definitely won't be trying that anytime soon again

[Ostwindflak]

My first priority in any game I start from scratch is: Launching a Crusade to rid my immediate home planet area of pirates. I gear my fleet building towards dealing with them before anything else. I find that if I cripple them early they tend to leave me alone until I choose to wipe them out.

[pycco]

ok, pay the pirates that are raiding you, pay them to attack other pirates. pirates fighting pirates is a good thing.

they can find cap. ships too, warp stopping techs can help with the hit and run attacks lots. the pirates can be brutal though, if you are having lots of trouble, turn them off.(even use the editor if you don't want to start over). it takes time they have better techs than you if you have only one system colonized just sit on it and get techs, you will eventual get an edge tech wise over them and crush them.

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: Mansen

Nope - Just a bunch of frigates, escorts and such. Again this was with the "default" setting you get when you just pick Shadows from the "timeline". You don't get to pick anything.

But I definitely won't be trying that anytime soon again

Shadows timeline. Chances are they are just more technologically advanced than you are then.

[necaradan666]

Remember however that paying pirates for protection or attacks is just giving them fat wads of $ to buy more ships

[pycco]

ya sometimes its that and deal with it later when you can, or be killed right away and watch your poor SP get blown up again and again.

[neofit]

I have the exact same problem. Way too many pirates. There weren't any in my home system at the beginning, but every other system around mine has some. I have explored a few dozen systems, haven't found any other empires' planets or bases yet. But by getting information here and there, now I know of 13 Empires, all of which (but the Guardians) hate me, and a whopping 16 pirates. Only two pirates have really caused me trouble so far, but all of them have from 2x to 16x more ships than I can afford to have, and some pirates control up to 27 colonies to my 3. And everyone hates me, since the stances and orders we can give to our ships are primitive and my stupid ships attack every pirate they see, even those who haven't done us any harm yet. I don't think I can win the technology race against them either, since they already have quite a few techs that I don't have, and I can't expand fast enough because they keep raiding any system that I leave with as many ships as I have in total.

In short, there are way too many powerful pirates on the default settings. If I played as a pirate, it may have been good to have many of my peers, but as a regular empire I am not sure there is a point to keep playing.

[MoloMowChow]

I feel like all the pirates from my half of the galaxy aim for my stuff in particular. When pirates raid me, it's often several different pirate factions at once, as if the universal pirate AI works on the same clock or something. They're like cockroaches, they always manage to squirm away after I initially sniff out their bases and build a bunch more elsewhere.

And in pre-warp games, they're pretty much guaranteed to obtain any derelict capital/cruisers before any empire, except for ones that are in the edges of the universe or something. This makes them even more of a pain early on.

[Bingeling]

Pirates can be a pain, a but a few things.

As Shark wrote in his advice, don't expand too fast. Expanding fast gives them more targets. Also, the clock is against the pirates even if it does not feel that way. They start with some tech, but they do NOT research at the speed of the empires. They will lag behind, and you will grow in power relative to them.

At the very start all empires dislike you due to a "strange ways" negative. This negative influence disappear with time, look at them in the diplomacy screen to see what is making them annoyed.

[pycco]

if this is a prewarp game it takes the A.I. quite a while to expand, dont give up m8 just go slow with it. most of the time i have 1 planet tell i get the techs i want to fight the pirates. and as long as it takes for population to grow in the early game i have a SP that's it for a long while to avoid massive debt[:(] imo starting in the standard era is much better until you get the hang of the game. or turn off pirates, and enjoy the pre warp era.

[Icemania]

Mansen, check out the Guide to Guide Mk II, look for the Pirate thread ...

[Darkspire]

ORIGINAL: Icemania

Mansen, check out the Guide to Guide Mk II, look for the Pirate thread ...

That thread marked the end of the Pirates, read the first post I made in that thread, those were fun days, The pirates are so diluted these days, even on max settings, they really are not a challenge anymore.

Darkspire

[Icemania]

I agree Darkspire. It would be great to see the Pirate difficulty ramped up at the higher settings ... or some mods with Super Legendary Pirates!

[Mansen]

ORIGINAL: Icemania

I agree Darkspire. It would be great to see the Pirate difficulty ramped up at the higher settings ... or some mods with Super Legendary Pirates!

nopenopenope...so much nope. [:'(]

[Gregorovitch55]

On the subject of these pirates, I seem to have about average number of pirate factions in this my first game proper, about 15 or so. They appear to be very difficult to completely destroy. I have sequentially targeted four of them so far and destroyed their bases (that I know about, backed up with map stealing missions), but they always seem to pop up with another base somewhere and cause further trouble.

Are you supposed to able to actually wipe them out, and if so what are the conditions for doing so?

[Icemania]

ORIGINAL: Mansen

ORIGINAL: Icemania

I agree Darkspire. It would be great to see the Pirate difficulty ramped up at the higher settings ... or some mods with Super Legendary Pirates!

nopenopenope...so much nope. [:'(]

Yesoyesoyesoyes ... there is a slider remember!!!

[Hassell]

Are you supposed to able to actually wipe them out, and if so what are the conditions for doing so?

When creating a custom game there is a setting (actually a checkbox) in the options for pirates that triggers pirates to respawn / regenerate when destroyed, or not. I am not sure what the default setting is, but it sounds like that is the issue.

[Gregorovitch55]

ORIGINAL: Hassell

Are you supposed to able to actually wipe them out, and if so what are the conditions for doing so?

When creating a custom game there is a setting (actually a checkbox) in the options for pirates that triggers pirates to respawn / regenerate when destroyed, or not. I am not sure what the default setting is, but it sounds like that is the issue.

I'm playing one of the set games from the main menu, the Age of Shadows pre-warp start one. I have seem that option on the custom game setup, but I am unsure about what the situation is because i cannot remember if if was given the option to toggle re-spawn on or off. I would have turned it off if it was available.