Matrix Games Forums

Pirate spam gets worse with time. That is my perception. They start out fine. Even set at few and distant, they become annoying later. Though at first, like you indicated, they may not even show up.

And since later in the game I always have bigger fish to fry, dealing with pirates is all the more tedious.

I just go to their home base and kill them.

ORIGINAL: J Boomer

I just go to their home base and kill them.

The discussion so far has assumed that you dont know where all the bases are and/or dont enjoy waiting 5 mins for your ships to cross the galaxy just to destroy a pirate base while still getting spammed the whole time and trying to deal with more important issues.

I suppose next someone will suggest using the game editor to remove them.

In conclusion: not sure if you are serious or trolling.

1. Update to the latest beta patch, no really, it improves the escort AI loads.
2. Are we even supposed to be able to stop the pirates? The gameplay design around the pirates themselves is that they are supposed to be a thorn in the side of both small and large late-game empires. That's why there are options when you set up the game to turn them off or alter the distance.. I mean, is it not like asking "how to stop space monsters?". If you have them turned on, they are supposed to be there, supposed to respawn. That's why the setting is there.

Of course everything in this world can be improved, including the pirate mechanics in this game. But my point is, i don't think we're even supposed to bother so much with the pirates as to divert all available fleets nonstop to whack-a-mole their bases. Deal with them in the early and midgame when it matters, but lategame.. Who cares if i lose 1 or 2 hydrogen mining bases to the pirates? I've got an entire empire to deal with.
This game is definetly not a game for micromanagement, that should be clear from the start.

I do admit that having the pirates in game setup at anything above Low is way way too much. Same with the space creatures. But again, that's why the setting is there, so you can choose what you want.

"I suppose next someone will suggest using the game editor to remove them."
---
Haha well I left that out cause I've resorted to that once... didn't matter to my dismay they still seemed to respawn till I illuminated (via monitoring stations in that case) all the areas where they liked to spawn.

a cheaper and smaller option for mining base defense is an ion weapon or two and an area weapon. Anything that comes near is rendered inoperative until the area weapon slowly melts it away.

Worst thing you can do is to wipe out their bases, except when they are in the middle of your empire or you plan to expand into their system. When I spot a pirate nest on the edge of the map, I just leave it there. Once you've killed off the initial complement of ships, they don't get many more (some seem to build none). If you have a tempting target nearby, just post a frgate there and that will handle the (rare) intrusion. Build a monitoring station nearby if you need the extra security of knowing when a raider is on the way (and where it's headed). Pirates are nothing more than a rare, briefly bothersome issue in my game.

Edit: To be clear, when you kill a base it respawns. Instead leave it neutered and isolated. Eventually, most will fall into this category.