The benefits of Pirates in this game....

Hah, I was expecting a post on pirates from you kosc.

Do the pirates own planets or starbases, or are they just there?

I think there is a pirate base, but I have yet to find it... They do like sending wave after wave of ships at me... Damn bounty on my head...

A bounty on your head? Whatever did you do?

I dunno, I had a 500 credit bounty on myself at one point, must have ticked one of the other 3 races off, lol...

Did you invade one of them, how about pillaging?

Pillaging usually makes me angry... damn rebels

i have actually found bounty to be of small motivation when deciding which enemy to attack, it seems as if the credits would be better used for more ships or some other purpose.

Actually, I like having the pirates to slow down colonization a bit in the beginning, especially for the more valuable planets (terran planets seem to have really big pirate fleets). Makes you somewhat safe for a bit from the rush and makes cranking out colonizers to just grab everything in sight not viable.

Yes, if you are at war or intend to be. If you're not and tend to develop economy the bounty seems like a viable choice. I don't have the beta though.

Yea, definitely slow down your initial colonization spree... which is good I guess. Though I find that it doesn't help much with defending you from the rush... they just leapfrog right over the pirate systems. ... just like they leapfrog your boarder colonies later in the game.

There is no leapfrogging if you have inhibitor fields set up!

yes, i agree however the mechanics of bounty seem to need work. the problem is if someone where to put a bounty on someone i was at war with then they are just paying me to do something i was already doing, conversely if they put it on someone i was at peace with then it would need to be quite high for me to go to war for it like around 10,000 (by comparison a capital ship is about 3,000) but that is just me.

Is there actually any pirate bases?

I've played a couple of games through and have no more trouble with pirates other then a few ships buzzing about.

My current game , they seem to have a deathwish for me, I've been fending off waves of 3-4 ships every 5 minutes...

Weird, the pirates in my games just defend the uncolonized planets and get pwned by my first capital ship with scout frigate screen. I'd like to see these more aggressive pirates. I'm playing on Hard so I wonder how I'd get them? lordkosc would you tell me about your current game?

Expect more pirate behavior and interactions in future versions It is very limited in beta1.

Sweet. More immersion!

Ima dead man at this rate!!!!!

YARR!!

Ye be walkin' the plank matey.

Yeah, Pirates that actually raid your areas would be cool.

I find the pirates also play the same part as the Neutrals do in Warcraft 3. They prevent rushing while offering a bit of a power up and challenge prior to meeting your opponents.

I am looking forward to seeing what Beta2 and more will offer with the pirates: I am hoping to see their ranks dynamically regenerate and grow in areas of dispute, such as where Cultural Influences are creating dissention... perhaps even unhappy planets going "rogue" if ignored too long.

Keep up the good work, this beta(!) has been a ton of fun!

  

I hope the pirates go stronger the longer you leave them alone. As it is now, pirates in an unexplored galaxy will still be only a few ships strong. even if you're massiva armada is wiping them out with a single salvo.


They also slow down colonisation in the early phases a bit. With pirates you can't swarm out over all nearby planets, you need to clear them first (which i thik is preferable to a land rush)

well...
thats not much of a deathwish...

second, I've never had a pirate actually come and attack me. are you sure you are playing the same game?

do you ahve to leave certain places uncolonized?

does it come late game or early...

empty solar system?

do tell.

indeed, never seen this either, even though i always play with pirates on...


Yes, but it doesn't seem to have much effect on the actions of the AI's. Putting a huge bounty on a player doesn't make the AI attack him significantly more. It does however give the attacking player more money. Haven't really looked into the issue of "Is the bounty per ship balanced" or anything.

If I understand how bounty are handed. They are hand out to people who didn't placed a bounty(you can't collect your own money now would ya?) and higher bounty incentive for AI may not be in yet.(speculation)