I'm absolutely loving this game.  From what I can get my hands on, the Entrenchment expansion is going to be awesome as well.  I really only have one "must have" request.  Is there any chance that we could get an option to make the pirates tougher?  I don't just mean giving them more ships, but giving them tougher ships.  Not only tougher ships, but I'd like to see them get a lot more aggressive.  Maybe they could pick grav wells they consider thier "territory" that they defend aggresively.  Maybe they do a better job of preying on trade and refinery ships.  Maybe they even attack non-player character race worlds to gain territory?  You all know the system better than I do, so you know what's feasible and what isn't.  I'd just LOVE to be able to crank up the intensity and capabilities of pirates without having to mod. 

Everything else is great!  Any other things I may have posted about are really minor.  This though, is a serious request.  Could we get a slider like we do for native inhabitants in the in-game map creator?