Thats what they are supposed to be, annoying

And you can easily influence them to attack others, thats what bounty is for.

They are also incredibly predictable. They will bee line for your territory from their spawn point. Soon as it says they are inbound put a carrier or 2 in the system and bulk up that regions defenses. As has been stated before they can also be easily influenced to go elsewhere. If you really really dont like them you could always turn them off as well. I suppose there would be no harm in programming a scale into the options menu. I personally would love for them to be really strong with capitol ships and base defenses. What would you recommend to the devs that would solve this issue? How can they make it more to your liking?

I SECOND this motion! Added NPC pressure would really make this game rock!
Thats what the bounty is for to redirect the pirate agressions to the target of your choice.. OH Wait you don't want to spend any money on that just on your Super Cap fleet.
/Sarcasm and joking off

I like the attacking pirates, level up the capital ships with ease.

I just had an eppifany , what if once you put a bounty on an enemy player, you also had the option to mark certain planets/asteroids where you'd like the pirates to go? Or specify that you want them to disrupt enemy trade routes?

Right now it seems 9/10 times they just keep attacking the same planet/asteroid over and over...

Epiphany.

Anyway, I have seen the constant Pirate raids that the OP mentions, but I've also seen dry periods. I'd hazard a guess that it's dependent on the amount of bounty on the players.
The higher the bounty the more frequent the raids.

Pirates go where the money is, just make sure that the bounty is larger on some one else.

Okay, well I guess part of my problem was that it was my first game. I didn't realize you could pay the bounty to have them attack someone else. That should help a lot.

exactly, in my first game yesterday they actually went past my ally's 12 gauss turrets and two hangars AND past an attacking enemy fleet (so the pirates jumped to my ally's planet) just to attack me and they also ignored my nicely defended arctic colony to go to my undefended homeworld. I completely missed that possibility so I got quite beating. against the ai they attack the same location all the time though.

so bottom line: like them, like their strengh and the way their arrival is announced and that you can deflect them. maybe have the pirates have some hate level towards players so that they don't always go for the one with highest bounty, cause that makes it a bit too predictable. also have them explore more diverse routes, so that they don't always attack the same place. that may be had as there aren't always routes avaible, but hey.

one the hate thing: yes, unfair if you are the one picked on for no particular reason, so maybe let factors influence it such as number of trade ships (pirates want to plunder after all), general wealth in ressources or general military strengh (hey, after all you are a menace to them and they should take that into account).

lastly, I may be too stupid, but for new players a quick destription of pirate ships functions would help, so you can better prioritise targets.

one more option: lets say you have a lot of money, its a free for all game and your fleet slots are all full. it could be interesting to give some money to the pirates and they start building a capship or some other strong ship (and are of course grateful and not attack you unless massive bounty is on your head at which point you wont do it anyways). not sure how realistic or useful it is, but ideas are ideas.

I don't get attacked by pirates, I just make sure the Bounty on my head is not the highest. If the bounty on me is the highest, I just add a little more bounty on my "Allies" so they can terrorize them.

I think the Pirates are just right the way they are. They are vastly improved over Beta 2. It would be great for new players to have teh option of turning them off since there is so much for the new player to get used to anyway, then add the pirates back in after you have a handle of the basic game seems reasonable. Would want to miss out on the pirate booty though.

So do I!

Wait... it was my suggestion , no wonder its so good!

I have a question about z pirates. when it says RAID LAUNCHED does it say at who ? because for me thats all I see which makes me pull my fleets back in defense only to find that they dont attack me. am i missing somthing ? im currently playing a game right now against two M comps in which i dont have any bounty on my head yet it says impending pirate raid but i never see any. After building up a fleet I sent it to find the pirates and found them I did massed at their base but no where else. Ideas?