Is there anyway to delay pirates?

[Sokar408]

Like the title askes: Is there a way to delay the pirates from spawning, instead of having them spawn at the start of the game?I think it ruins the game somewhat, that they are there immediately, as I tend to start a pre-warp. Its been a while since I played last, but I'd like to have a game where I have at least a little bit of time, before I have to start paying protection money

[Bingeling]

You can put them weak and distant.

At game start you can go into the editor and remove the spaceport of the nearest crews. I would not recommend using the editor to solve situations that happen in the game, though.

Apart from that, there is nothing that I know of.

[Sokar408]

ORIGINAL: Bingeling

You can put them weak and distant.

At game start you can go into the editor and remove the spaceport of the nearest crews. I would not recommend using the editor to solve situations that happen in the game, though.

Apart from that, there is nothing that I know of.

If I remove the spaceports, will they be able to build a new one at some point?

[Bingeling]

Pirates can build as many as they want using a construction ship. But have a main spaceport that functions pretty much like your capital, it has a huge store of stuff. If they lose this they are crippled.

They may of course survive, the only way to be sure to be rid of them is to destroy all their construction ships. But if a close pirate crew at the start of the game lose its spaceport, they probably lack the resources and economy to build a new one, and even if they do they will be weak for a long time.

Without cheating: When DWU launched I did an AAR here on the forum where I had lots of pirates, nearby. My "starting" pirates were annoying, when I finally managed to destroy their spaceport (using a fleet), I did not meet that crew again until I expanded half way across the galaxy. They set up a new home on the "other side". And that destruction was quite a while into the game, as it took some time to become strong enough to bust a large pirate spaceport.

Btw, the reasons why the pirates are there "right at the start", is due to the story setting. The galaxy was destroyed and the races lost their space travel capabilities. But some crews kept ships and the ability to roam among the starts, and those are the pirates when the game start. When the races rediscover the space travel during pre warp, they get in conflict with the guys that had the stars for themselves for quite some time.

[Hattori Hanzo]

as Bingeling says Pirates are one of the main ingredient of the story of Distant Worlds and although they are pesky you have
to deal with them somewhat.. [:(]

[Retreat1970]

You can pay protection, wait until they leave then cancel protection. If they come back, request protection again and repeat. I consider this as an exploit, but if you're having problems, it works.

[moonraker65]

Settings, settings and settings. If you want just a few pirates in the game then you must change the settings on the first screen or you'll be overwhelmed. Best settings for just a few pirates is few for how many and very weak for strength. I find at that level they are far more manageable with at most 2 or 3 gangs near your starting position

[Lucian]

ORIGINAL: Retreat1970

You can pay protection, wait until they leave then cancel protection. If they come back, request protection again and repeat. I consider this as an exploit, but if you're having problems, it works.

The downside with that strategy is that they become more and more pissed off and increase the frequency of spy sabotage strikes against you. Having your energy research base + scientist blown up by an angry pirate spy in the early game can be rather upsetting.

[Retreat1970]

Pirates annoy, they should never be in a position to threaten your empire. Explore and use agents to find their bases and eliminate them asap. Pirates destroying a mine or base is not a big deal (easy to replace). If you have characters in a small base, and it blows up due to agents, that's your own fault.

[moonraker65]

They can be annoying but if you play it right they can also be an asset especially for smuggling those hard to get resources to finish your bases and ships with

[Blabsawaw22]

I've never had the pirates who "smuggle" resources be a good thing.. every time they come to dock in my spaceport, my game sends me a message telling me they detected contraband or illegal goods or what not..

and then they destroy every single pirate ship trying to smuggle resources to my spaceport.. and nothing gets through..

so..... not helping me as of yet.

[Retreat1970]

Trace scanners will do that you know. I've really never had to use smuggling.

[moonraker65]

I was thinking more early game and expansion. That's when they can be the most useful. Mid - late game pirates can be hunted down and the treasure from their destroyed bases used to top up the empire funds

[Blabsawaw22]

ORIGINAL: Retreat1970

Trace scanners will do that you know. I've really never had to use smuggling.

oh my god.... you just actually gave me the answer and nobody else has ever said that in years of my playing the game...

it is the trace scanners! and I definitely put them on my basses!!! that's what it is!!! god fricken God dangit!! all the time.. it was just that!

[Retreat1970]

lol [:)]

Also, if I remember correctly, smuggling is bugged. I was supposedly paying for the resources brought in, but I never saw my income decrease. It was free stuff. So I added smuggling to my list of "exploits" and I don't use it.

[Lucian]

ORIGINAL: Retreat1970

Pirates annoy, they should never be in a position to threaten your empire. Explore and use agents to find their bases and eliminate them asap. Pirates destroying a mine or base is not a big deal (easy to replace). If you have characters in a small base, and it blows up due to agents, that's your own fault.

When you have only ONE energy research base and ONE scientist at the beginning of the game and it is blown up due to pissed off pirates before you even begin to research FTL, that is most certainly a big deal and a hell of a lot more than merely annoying.

That's why I try to never annoy pirates too much in the very early game with constantly accepting and rejecting protection treaties. The above scenario happened to me too many times for comfort.

[Aeson]

Also, if I remember correctly, smuggling is bugged. I was supposedly paying for the resources brought in, but I never saw my income decrease.

Smuggling bonuses are paid by the private sector, probably because the private sector is the sector which actually buys the resources even though it's the state which offered the bonus. Moreover, since bonuses come out of cash on hand, your income (cashflow) will not be affected no matter how much is being paid in smuggling bonuses. The state's bonus income can, however, be severely adversely affected by smuggling if things get out of hand, as it is actually possible to drive the private sector into bankruptcy if enough smuggling is going on, and a private sector which has no cash on hand cannot buy freighters, mining ships, or passenger ships. This can snowball into more severe issues for the state since insufficient numbers of freighters and mining ships will cause resource issues and low numbers of passenger ships can cause issues for resort base income and migration.

That's basically a nightmare scenario, though. It's not like anyone ever drove their private sector deep into bankruptcy through the payment of huge smuggling bonuses for resources they didn't really need.

When you only have ONE energy research base and ONE scientist at the beginning of the game and it is blown up due to pissed off pirates before you even begin to research FTL, that is most certainly a big deal and a hell of a lot more than merely annoying.

Or it's a reason to ask yourself "why didn't I put my scientist and most of the labs on my significantly less easily destroyed spaceport, and just build a small, cheap Energy Research Base to get the chance of spawning a scientist?" The scientist's research skills work as long as they're somewhere with an appropriate lab type and no other lab has a better overall location + character bonus; they don't have to stay at the rather insecure size-180 Research Station Sharkbait.

[Lucian]

ORIGINAL: Aeson

Or it's a reason to ask yourself "why didn't I put my scientist and most of the labs on my significantly less easily destroyed spaceport, and just build a small, cheap Energy Research Base to get the chance of spawning a scientist?" The scientist's research skills work as long as they're somewhere with an appropriate lab type and no other lab has a better overall location + character bonus; they don't have to stay at the rather insecure size-180 Research Station Sharkbait.

Yep, tried that, and had my entire spaceport blown up too. Several times. Granted I usually start with a small spaceport, probably wouldn't happen with medium or large but I dont really want to outlay those relatively large costs (and maintenance) so early in the game. Honestly I'd much rather not upset the pirates too much at the beginning of the game and then exterminate them later when the loss of any one station is insignificant.

[moonraker65]

Research bases can however with time be turned in to formidable targets once research is sufficient to put some of the better weapons on them. Once you get up to large scale construction it's definitely worth designing research bases which are armed to the teeth. The same goes for mining stations

[HerpInYourDerp]

I think his point is that he doesn't have the time to get those stations up to self-sufficient status or the necessary redundancies if he has to constantly face pirate aggression early on.