pirates cheating

from Sins Forums
hello there,

I don't know if this has been adressed before but in my latest game I noticed something odd...

I played a medium random map vs. 2 hard AIs and those pirates really pissed me off.
So right after their last attack I payed them a visit with 5 almost fully upgraded cap-ships to whipe out their base - it was an easy job yet it took them quite a while...

I sent them with focus fire from cannon to cannon and then finally to attack the base itself.

I didn't pay much attention while fighting off the AI with my other fleet I suddenly heard the pirates warning.
then I looked at the pirate world which was completely whiped out with only 10% health left on the asteroid...

but then it happened - "pirate raiders have launched"....
I said - "uhm... wtf? how? where?" - then I saw them coming:

about 20 ships "jumping" in out of nowhere to the pirate base.
there was no phase lane, no other star and nothing left on the pirate base.
where the heck did those ships came from?

they were no match for my caps but isn't that cheating just to spawn some ships every 15 minutes to attack someone?
why have a pirate base anyway when those ships just "pop up"?

I thought pirates where just another AI with some limitations in expansion and research.  :NOTSURE:
20,102 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
why didn't you just kill off the last 10% of health on the pirate asteroid? that will knock them out of the game. did it a couple night ago.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Pirates are not just another AI, they're a special entity that doesn't quite play by the rules, but they're just limited to their raids and the one rock :P
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
The are pirates, maybe they have some truly secret base that nobody is aware of, they just use the "pirate base" that we all know of as a gateway ;)
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
Although, I usually don't kill them off until I'm cleaning up the galaxy towards the end of a game because I really like using them against the other players to hold them off while I build my tech tree and invasion fleet. As soon as I get the pirate warning I sit on the pirate screen and make sure their is a bounty higher than mine until it says they've launched.

I am pretty new to the game though, so what do I know? Just one of those the tactics I've learned to use in my short time.
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
PIRATE HAXXX@!!!

I just type to the pirates - Where is JACK SPARROW and my BLACK PEARL then I yell ARRRRGH really loud at the screen.

Seems to help deter them until my secondary fleet arrives.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
This is one of those things that a lot of us have already gotten used to. So, it's not really new to us. The pirates aren't a true faction. Just the way it is. IC might change that later and make the pirates a true faction, but at the moment, they are a respawning raid force/planetary garrison from hell.
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
I thought pirates where just another AI with some limitations in expansion and research.
They're not. They're actually just a very simple loaded gun that gets pulled out of a concealed pocket and shot at a player or AI on a periodic basis. Pirates don't have manufacturing or resource handling capability, and so their forces just materialize.

If you need a rationalization, just pretend that pirates purchase a fleet of ships from a third party who has unique phase lane creation capability and drops them off at the pirate base every so often.

-- Retro
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
They're actually just a very simple loaded gun that gets pulled out of a concealed pocket and shot at a player or AI on a periodic basis. Pirates don't have manufacturing or resource handling capability, and so their forces just materialize.
Precisely. For them to operate in the manner you (and many others) would want them to, you'd have seen some civilian infrastructure around the pirate base (shipyards, for one), and not just a ring of cannons. Compounding to that, it'd be quite hard to crank out any sizeable fleet (any fleet at all) with no resource income.

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
Pirate raids dont use any ships found in the pirate base.
everytime a raid is launched seperate ships are spawned for the raid.

Hence why there is no shipyards at the base yet they raid all the time :)