Privateers?

[A Bunny]

Question about the Privateers... what exactly do they do?

Besides being a minor annoyance, they seem to just sit around, waiting to be wiped out. Is there something I'm missing?

[Jetoilio]

I encountered a fleet of pirates near my starting system, but all they did was prevent me from surveying the system for a while. I wiped them out once my fleet was 3 times their size (to avoid/minimize losses).

[A Bunny]

I really wish they did something else. Like, I dunno, work with corrupt / evil empires.

[Jetoilio]

Personally, I'd like if you could pay them to go bother your neighbors.

[Zeratul Vergil]

The question is: How do we define evil empire in this game?

[Jetoilio]

My Fanatic Spiritualist+Collectivist empire that spans half the galaxy and purges everything that isn't it's own race probably qualifies as evil. Honestly, that combination is amazing for a large empire. Even with half the galaxy under my control, I still have absolutely no ethics divergence.