Pirate strategies

from GalCiv3 Forums

I started a game last night with common pirates on a large map, normal, and only the Drengin, since I was more or less just testing.

They are quite aggressive on common and they will come after you right into your ZOC, if you are undefended. My strategy, if you can call it that, was to go for military tech earlier than I normally would and build large fleets of tiny and small ships to handle them. They will fleet up to 4 cutters by turn 35-40 and it was about then that I researched up to medium hulls and  corvettes to take out their bases.

I stopped at turn 70 and I had eliminated 3 of 4 bases near my ZOC. Dealing with them slows down my empire building drastically and this bothers me a lot. I know I will not play a serious game with these pirates on common and I am still unsure whether I will play with this version of pirates at all. Based on the Drengin power level, they seemed to be having as much trouble as me.

  • What strategies do others use to build your empire and still keep the infernal pirates in check?
  • If I destroy a base will they still spawn new bases to replace the ones I killed? If so, this sucks. They should be a menace that can be permanently cleared from your current ZOC, at least.
  • When I use sensor buoys they seem to work as well for the pirates as they do for me. If they can see what I see, then I assume this is true for all the AI. This would seem to be a nasty bug. My sensor ships should not help the AI, Aygodye!
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Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Similar to what you did.  It's a balancing act of competing priorities. 

I haven't seen any signs that they spawn new starbases.

I have never heard of AI using our sensors.  I have seen pirates act as if they lost sight of my colony ship.

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I find the pirates pretty easy to deal with. In the early game I just evade them with my scouts and colonizers. I then build a few antimatter missile or durantium driver small ships and drive them of. Two small hull sized ships with two shields and either antimatter missiles or durantium railguns is enough for the toughest pirate stacks. Once I have medium hulls and enough logistics to groups a few of them into a proper fleet I can just mop up their bases in my vicinity without much thought.

 

All in all I don't feel I need to invest all that much resources into combat the pirates. By the time I start dealing with them I need to start getting some military ships anyway.

Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

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Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I too like to do some empire building in the early game and find the pirates a bother, so my new games recently all have the pirates set to RARE. That helps a lot.

 

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

PS, even with pirates set to rare, I still get a bunch later on as I take over the many Minors--their fleets go pirate, as do their shipyards.