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!