Where are all the space pirates at?

[Count Lake]

Space pirates need to be bodacious!​

 

[Molikroth]

So the pirates in DW just sat around for hundreds of years, floating in space, and waiting for a civilization to achieve FTL technology so they could get back into business?

That seems kind of forced. I turned pirates off in DW because they were a pain in the ass, and detracted from the game.

I've got no problem with small bands of opportunistic pirates sniping at unescorted merchants in frontier, poorly developed, or high unrest systems, and draining from trade income. Raiding and possibly capturing mining stations is okay too. And that's it.

Anything on a larger scale, such as huge fleets being required to deal with them, or pirates capturing entire planets, is just way too out there for me.

Privateering is another matter entirely. Privateers have access to the ship construction infrastructure. Give them letters of Marque during wartime, and let them go forth and profit.

To be fair, the galaxy was full of space monsters the free races of the galaxy released in an attempt to stop the extra galactic invaders, then they would have had to wait for enough of the monsters to die off before they could get around to flying around again, they also (presumably) didn't start as pirates, but rather traders, the remnants of the fleets of the free races, or minor races. They probably also had issues with food and population control since they were stuck on their ships and the few stations they managed to cobble together.

That said, as far as pirates in Stellaris, I can't imagine them as a legitimate threat against a well established empire. It's not like we see pirates strapping missile launchers and torpedo launchers onto ships today. How are those pirates going to get tech to really threaten you and your awesome space empire?

 

[Leonick]

Leave them for an eventual trade expansion where there are trade lanes for them to raid.

In the game as is they make little sense, you're an interstellar empire (fairly soon after the start of the game anyway), pirates simply can not operate on the scale necessary to be a threat to us at the scale we're currently playing. The only thing they could possibly attack are the mining stations.

 

[Poodlestrike]

More pirates (and more advanced forms of piracy) would be a good thing to introduce in a potential trade-centric expansion. You could have both randomly spawning pirates that harass trade routes and empire-sponsored privateers...

 

[TheBeautifulVoid2]

I'd like to see pirates be like border wars from HoI4: not requiring any sort of whack-a-mole, but causing constant attrition to the ships and ground units nearby, as well as giving them small amounts of XP.

I want to see an admiral who's become a hardened veteran through twenty years of pirate hunting.

 

[Chyll]

Oh please, not pirates. Can we skip this trope for at least a while?

Agreed.
I tried to play some Endless Space again recently to try and sooth my Stellaris itch... and space pirates were so annoying

 

[schultz]

The biggest problem I have always had with space pirates is: Where the hell did they get their military vessels?
If they are attacking and seizing trade vessels, then I would expect to see an ad hoc squadron of converted ex-merchants (and possibly a small escort or two).

But if they have a shipyard churning out corvettes and destroyers (or larger), then how was this shipyard built, and where are they getting the resources to build more ships?

If space pirates have the resources, manpower and infrastructure to be building and maintaining military fleets, then they aren't pirates - They have achieved nation status.
They might be a predatory nation, such as the Barbary Coast states, but they are a nation nonetheless.

 

[Admiral Howe]

@schultz largely sums up my issues with pirates in scifi/space games. I don't mind them breaking off from/acquiring ships from the in-game empires...but pirate nations, especially ones pre-dating the FTL nations, just don't do anything for me beyond blow my suspension of disbelief.

 

[Korashy]

Pirates make 0 sense until there is a civilian economy for them to disrupt. Pirates aren't going to attack military ships, except maybe in some extreme cases.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Pirates make 0 sense until there is a civilian economy for them to disrupt. Pirates aren't going to attack military ships, except maybe in some extreme cases.

It would be pretty interesting to see those extreme cases play out though, wouldn't it? Like, a pirate infestation left alone long enough will eventually morph into a pirate nation, with territory and a navy and shit, and then maybe eventually into a regular Empire.

 

[Legion141]

It would be cool if you could have events for 'rise of a pirate king' like the wildlings in ASOIAF (where a significant fleet arises from an asteroid belt or something) if you fail to look after the issue or perhaps they could be funded/supported by rival empires.

 

[Susarian]

Honestly, I'm glad "space pirates" are not all spammy in this game. They did their job. They showed up early. They blew up.

 

[Korashy]

It would be pretty interesting to see those extreme cases play out though, wouldn't it? Like, a pirate infestation left alone long enough will eventually morph into a pirate nation, with territory and a navy and shit, and then maybe eventually into a regular Empire.

Extreme cases, I mean 1 or 2 ships being caught out. A pirate nation would need billions of people to support it, which is frankly ridiculous. You might have nations engaging in piracy (Barbary states for example) but that makes little sense in terms of mechanics until we get a civilian economy + shipping, and/or the ability to send raiding forces against enemy colonies to "snatch" pops as slaves.

You have to look at the empires in terms of scale. They are massive nations with the resources and populations of entire solar systems at their disposal. Pirates (again only with civilian shipping/economy) are only ever going to be a local nuisance and never an existential threat.

 

[barny]

I'd like to see pirates be like border wars from HoI4: not requiring any sort of whack-a-mole, but causing constant attrition to the ships and ground units nearby, as well as giving them small amounts of XP.

I want to see an admiral who's become a hardened veteran through twenty years of pirate hunting.

Or something like in EU IV, so they pop-up in systems that aren't guarded or patrolled.
That would force you to split up your fleet a bit more and would give it something to do during peace times.

 

[Korashy]

Or something like in EU IV, so they pop-up in systems that aren't guarded or patrolled.
That would force you to split up your fleet a bit more and would give it something to do during peace times.

Not unless we can automate fleets and give them systems to patrol. I really don't want to play wack-a-mole non stop. Pirates add nothing but tedium until you actually have a flow of goods to interrupt.

 

[GC13]

the ability to send raiding forces against enemy colonies to "snatch" pops as slaves.

Speaking as an aside, I think this is a feature Stellaris really needs. We already have the Decadent trait which seems designed to represent slaver empires, yet you can't acquire slaves except by outright conquest.

 

[BrokenSky]

I'd like to see pirates be like border wars from HoI4: not requiring any sort of whack-a-mole, but causing constant attrition to the ships and ground units nearby, as well as giving them small amounts of XP.

I want to see an admiral who's become a hardened veteran through twenty years of pirate hunting.

Ideally we might be able to give our admiral lead fleets something like naval missions which involve pirate hunting.

 

[Xeldrakka]

The biggest problem I have always had with space pirates is: Where the hell did they get their military vessels?
If they are attacking and seizing trade vessels, then I would expect to see an ad hoc squadron of converted ex-merchants (and possibly a small escort or two).

But if they have a shipyard churning out corvettes and destroyers (or larger), then how was this shipyard built, and where are they getting the resources to build more ships?

If space pirates have the resources, manpower and infrastructure to be building and maintaining military fleets, then they aren't pirates - They have achieved nation status.
They might be a predatory nation, such as the Barbary Coast states, but they are a nation nonetheless.

That's actually the kind of Space Piracy I could get behind. Non-expanding, single system, fortress station, slave owning, asteroid/moon/gas giant mining class S assholes who generate in uncontrolled systems after a short amount of time following the start of any game. Until that system is surveyed properly, their base of operations would be undetetected, making them a terrible ghost that swoops in on undefended merchantmen and fringe colonies. Like others have mentioned, they'd likely be best suited to a trade expansion.

 

[[Q]uik]

I will agree that.. While i'm opposed to the other threads of "Pirates too weak" or "we need pirates everywhere" - 17 episodes and NO pirates seems... dumb and a bit dull tbh

 

[EddieTheLion]

I just wish that alien pirates wouldn't have human skull symbols on their ships...