Pirates just seem to love me.

[Anger Puss]

I've actually owned the earlier versions of this game for quite a while before coming to steam to pick up this copy and there seems to be one thing that has bugged me that is problematic. I'm actually probably one of the few people who play the game that enjoy the pirates option every now and then but the problem I keep seeing is that AI players will put bounty ONLY ON ME and not on each other (when there is more then one of course). This usually leads to me having to invest thousands of credits just to stop the envitable wave of rape (in early game at least) which descends upon my worlds. Even when allied with an AI player they won't contribute any credits to the pirate counter on opposing factions and instead just leave me to drain my coffers.

Has anyone else had this issue and if so, is there anyway (besides turning pirates off) to fix this?

[AzureAlliance]

Originally posted by Robo Stalin:

Has anyone else had this issue

Yes.

Originally posted by Robo Stalin:

is there anyway (besides turning pirates off) to fix this?

Be Rebel.

But seriously, pirates are broken. L2P with pirates off. If you make your own maps, don't put any pirate bases on those maps.

[Anger Puss]

I've played without pirates plenty of times, It's just that I like the extra element they add to the game and occasionally would thus prefer to have the option of having them in the game without having the funding system so incredibly skewed.

[GoaFan77]

Actually I believe since Sins diplomacy AI players tend to bid on a combination of how much of a threat they precieve each player to be and how much they like them. If you're an unpopular faction like the TEC Rebels (before Truce Amongst Rouges) and/or you ignore the Diplomacy boosting research, its quite possible the AI is actually trying to all bid on you, for good reason. Less of a good reason is that AI players get a small increasing bonus to relationships with each other to try and prevent them from always going to war with each other, making the said research even more important early on.

That said, you can never tell who placed bounty on who (unless you have a peace treaty, then you can rule them out), so for all you know it is just the one player you're attacking that always outbids you.

I haven't tried in recently but generally in the past I have been able to get the AI into bidding wars with each other.

[Corvididae]

I have had something like this before. When the AI is trying to keep the pirates from attacking them they will usually place bounty on the faction with the next highest bounty level. If you make sure that two AIs have at least a bit more bounty on their heads than you at all times, and those two aren't allied in any way, then you should be safer from getting in a bidding war. Not safe, but less likely to be targeted.

At least in my experience this works. I like to play with the pirates enabled too.

[Cookie Eater]

This has hardly ever been a problem for me as I use pirates to my advantage to level up capital ships. Especially if you have the techs/ships that can take control of enemy ships. You can find yourself gaining a bit of military strength on top of an extra level or 2 on a capital ship.

[Anvos]

Only time I've really had pirate troubles is the list seems to default to me if everyone has 0 at the start of a game. Overall though haven't had much trouble with them, also I usually just kill off my system's pirate base as soon as I have a planet adjacent to it.

[Cookie Eater]

I consider the pirates as an extension of my own empire. They're like disgruntled and ungrateful employees and you're a corrupt business manager, you have to pay them a bit to motivate them. Use them to your advantage to achieve your own goals until you've sucked every bit of usefulness from them, then fire them....

..out of a cannon, into the sun. =D

[DirtyVaderDaddy]

All lies! Pirates are great! All you have to do is foritfy a system next to them and let them come. They level your ships up in wonderful fashion if you just let them come at you. Works on any faction too. Build hangers with fighters and let your ships sit back and hammer away. Lots of exp for you to pack on. Four or five attacks and you can have a dozen cap ships at level 6 for free.

[𝓢𝓮𝓬𝓵𝓾𝓭𝓮𝓭]

I agree with Dirty Vader Daddy.

[AzureAlliance]

Originally posted by Dirty Vader Daddy:

<snip> Four or five [pirate] attacks and you can have a dozen cap ships at level 6 for free.

Pirates are imba because of this.

[DirtyVaderDaddy]

Its all a matter of how you use them and how you fight them. But I have no clue what imba is supposed to mean.

[GoaFan77]

Originally posted by Dirty Vader Daddy:

Its all a matter of how you use them and how you fight them. But I have no clue what imba is supposed to mean.

Google is your friend. :p

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=imba

[AzureAlliance]

Originally posted by Dirty Vader Daddy:

Its all a matter of how you use them and how you fight them.

The problem is that there can only be one loser of the pirate auction. And if the player is skilled enough to kill the pirate raid with no losses, the 'loser' turns out to be the winner with the free xp you say. This creates a disincentive to bid; the pirate system is fundamentally broken.

Delete Pirate Bases in games where pirates are inactive, Stardock.

[DirtyVaderDaddy]

I don't see how the system is broken. You can use them to soften an enemy or use them too build the exp of your ships. If you aren't the main target they make for a lovely buffer world. Its seems more you don't know how to use them, not that they aren't useful. Its something that takes practice though. Always make sure that you keep track of the raid level so you know when to expect an attack.

[Revan1977]

Originally posted by CPPFZGoaFan77:

Originally posted by Dirty Vader Daddy:

Its all a matter of how you use them and how you fight them. But I have no clue what imba is supposed to mean.

Google is your friend. :p

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=imba

I got the context of course but I refuse to use anything called the urban dictionary. That sounds pure ghetto.