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Author Topic: Pirates Ruin the Fun  (Read 5913 times)

Jabroni

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Pirates Ruin the Fun
« on: January 16, 2021, 09:25:25 AM »

Every time I start my first colony it feels like the game ends for me. I cannot explore or trade, because I need to keep guarding my colony. Right after one raid I get another almost instantly. At some point pirates just send fleet so big that I can't withstand the pressure. I lose my fleet or my colony gets raided. Either way it leads to decivilization of colony and me quitting my current game. I used to play with Nexerelin mod, but I've read pirates can be much more aggressive. I've deactivated it, but to my surprise, in my next playthrough it got even worse.

It feels like pirates are the strongest faction, they have bases everywhere, they spawn massive fleets out of nowhere. I destroy hundreds of their ships, but they keep coming back. Other factions seem not to care about me whatsoever, but the moment I settle my first colony pirates just can't give me a break.

It's a shame really, because this games feels so good and so balanced on so many different levels. Getting to the point of colonizing is so much fun, but after that I'm stuck. I don't know, maybe I'm doing something wrong or missing something. I'd love to know, because this game is one of the best games I've played in a while and fact that it is still in development is exciting, since there is more upcoming content. However, for now I can't make myself to start another playthrough, for it is too frustrating.
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IonDragonX

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Re: Pirates Ruin the Fun
« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2021, 11:10:19 AM »

These concerns come up a lot. Allow me to show your some previous responses that are still completely valid:

A lot of your concerns will be taken care of in the next release (should be Soon™-ish). Fleets in general will be smaller, so no more ridiculous pirate armadas with 10 Atlases. Expeditions will also be toned down, since all of these together currently make the whole endgame, they are only placeholder for now. With new enemies and more stuff to do, expect the current "whack-a-mole" gameplay to be drastically reduced. Respec will also be a thing with the new reworked skill system.

And I completely agree with the pirates being super suicidal, it's like they got mixed up with Luddic Path. I mean they're the ones who ask you money before attacking! Bit weird isn't it. Hopefully this gets changed somehow.

Firstly, build a station. As your #1 priority. That will help you to defend the colony.
Then build a patrol HQ, which will create tiny fleets that go out and capture/create infrastructure at stable points.

Your next big priority should be growing your colony to unlock another industry slot, and use that to upgrade your patrol HQ into a military base.
This will create actually useful fleets which will help to defend the colony.
Together with the station this will be able to handle most of the colony's defence needs. For now.

If you keep getting raided, you'll need to find where the raiders are coming from.
Maybe there's some unsavoury types hanging around in dispreputable places on your colony that you can extract information from.
Once you know where they are, go and destroy thier base. That will give you some peace.
For a while anyway...
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Jabroni

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Re: Pirates Ruin the Fun
« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2021, 11:17:11 AM »

Thanks!

I'm glad to see this problem is about to be fixed in the future.
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Megas

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Re: Pirates Ruin the Fun
« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2021, 11:49:50 AM »

Pirates ruin the fun too!  The worst part of their raids is when they target the core worlds because they have terrible defenses.  If I want to preserve income from the core worlds, I spend much time chasing pirates so they do not burn the core worlds to the ground if I ignore them for years instead.  My colonies (eventually) have enough defenses to withstand raids and the like, but the core worlds do not.

If all core worlds are destroyed, then pirates focus all attention on you, and it is impossible to remove pirate activity for more than a day.  (You destroy a base, the next one that respawns immediately targets your system again.)  At that point, better hope pirates are friendly just to stop the raids.
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eidolad

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Re: Pirates Ruin the Fun
« Reply #4 on: January 16, 2021, 02:10:22 PM »

TLDR summary:  ground defense is the key.  Focus on this and worry about orbitals, defense fleets later.  Personally defend the high ground ONLY if you have something in orbit worth defending and that you can use as a defensive anchor/lure during the actual battle.

Incoming wall of words below.  If you want to discover your own recipe for defending your new homeworld, skip the below and just focus entirely on: 

Heavy Batteries that so happens to have supporting it:  a large stable population, no resource deficits, and colony leader with ground defenses and stability skills at max.


________



I play a single game instance until I have a fully kitted out main colony, have several smaller colonies...and usually wander away for another game instance/approach/faction.  So I cannot comment on the "pirate maintenance/response overhead" for multi-planet player empires beyond, say, two or three colonies.

However, emphatically:  I have never had a "meta-level" problem with pirates.  I have had colonies overrun sure but never beaten down or taking permanent negative traits.  I play vanilla, and/or tons of mods, Nexerelin, etc.  I don't make this statement to say "wow I'm great" rather to say that the core game is consistent and doesn't present pirates as any other than a minor game experience/balancing problem of "too many pirate attacks in a few weeks I'm tired of running back to nursemaid" or "is that really two pirate Grand Fleets in my colony star system.  They're worth 100X the booty that the colony could offer sheesh".

Preparation:

a) Money.  No colony establishment until 1 million credits in the bank.  The game of kings requires stellar-class coin.

b) Capital fleet:   Personal command of a powerful, pirate killing capital that can last a long time playing center in a "space football team".  Its firepower should be enough to rip up/destroy most pirate ships from zero flux standing-tart and have great sustain.  The player should be extremely well practiced with that ship loadout and able to dance with large mobs of junk.  Also a must have:  A backup capital, or at least a heavy cruiser than also do the same when the player needs to switch ships due to low Combat Readiness (CR).

c) Nimble Fleet Carriers That Last:  3+ squadrons each.  Perhaps:  four Herons or the equivalent with lots of ridiculously powerful "blue class" fighter-killers and, say, two "Herons" with 100% Atropos launching bomber squadrons.  Bonus:  two extra carriers when CR gets low and fill in holes for the next tactical battle.  The best counter against large pirate junk fleets is an intact carrier force that sustains throughout the engagement and just has to be managed: that is, low CR carriers are swapped out where necessary.  The carriers themselves mount point defense and Salamanders and have no incentive to close and are hard to pin down and kill given the incredibly high priority the AI places on maneuvering to defend engines against this missile.  Late-game bonus:  the interceptor-oriented carriers have mostly zero-crew squadrons to help with sustain.

d) Colony skills:  Max your colony oriented player skills and assign yourself to the priority colony on day one.   Ground defenses and stability bonuses especially.

e) Be Proven in Large-scale Combat:  A good yard stick to tell if the player is ready:  can your fleet take down a middle-weight Luddic Path orbital, with moderate fleet support taken out beforehand, without major losses in the cruiser+ weight class?  Even if it takes two engagements to whittle the thing down?


Colony management:

a) always disrupt planned enemy attacks with cash where possible (that's part of what the million credits is for)
b) destroy pirate bases that are discovered to be threatening
c) same with Luddic Path bases (though this is optional if the player builds farming alone to reduce their attention on the colony)
d) make money and resolve colony shortages and stay within support range (i.e. be a day or two ahead of estimated enemy fleet arrivals).   only engage where you can win and otherwise rely upon your ground pounders.


Phase 1:
a) 1000% highest priority is on ground defenses.  Most of that 1 million credits is going to a full sprint to Heavy Batteries.  No exceptions.  No excuses.  Your people win on the ground not in space.  Sure the pirates can fly in multiple battle fleets and defeat whatever junk boats we might deploy overhead.   But their ground attack force will be very likely be converted to tomato paste and shipped back to them.  Which unfortunately they happily use to make pizza and then come right back.
b) pump the growth incentive and raise stability asap:  we need these modifiers wherever we can get them.  Size 5+
c) along the way, try to build installations that help increase ground defenses (i cannot recall them offhand at the moment)
d) resolve any supply needs:  outright buy the supplies the colony needs in this period


Phase 2:
a) have another million credits or thereabouts (half-million minimum)
b) top priority:   Star Fortress with a unique type of leader found while out exploring.   
c) Always return home to support the fortress until phase three is completed
d) Should be size 7 or more?


Phase 3 (can be worked on in concert with phase 2 if cash is plentiful):
a) sprint to heavy industry etc. to have a large fleet
b) carefully set up the composition to have solid carrier support (you'll want their "sustain" when you engage with them on your side)
c) add quality blueprints to your empire order of battle and get rid of the junk that makes your home fleet quality superior
d) composition:   I like to lean towards quantity over quality somewhat because the blueprints will inherently provide the quality...but always with enough carriers and cruisers to stand fast

Notes:

1) If possible try to time the "Combat Readiness dance":  that is, don't engage on principle unless
a) they've had to full burn into you and are lower on CR
b) you can definitely escape a follow-up attack from another fresh pirate fleet and fully recover CR and do repairs.
c) or they are weak enough to not want to engage or run outright


2) I believe that Nexerelin lets you "buy" a fleet...having the emergency funds to buy a defense fleet at your new homeworld might be clutch.  But I've never tried so I don't know how difficult it is to time its arrival.

3) early on in colony development, I make income with farming alone, high population, and stability and try to keep a low profile from Luddic etc.  My fleet concentrates on bounties or other high-cash activities.

4) a special leader type may be found in exploration, and can be assigned to the orbital base.  This can be the difference between victory and defeat when the player is trying to hold off multiple enemy fleets in a single battle.  This however annoys one of the factions so requires manual intervention to unassign/reassign where necessary (I've had to do this two or three times in game sessions, and yes, it is annoying), whenever it is not possible to disrupt the "inspectors".
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Megas

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Re: Pirates Ruin the Fun
« Reply #5 on: January 16, 2021, 03:50:27 PM »

Taking colony skills hurts too much in the long term.  I got colony skills and regretted it by endgame.  The reason for this is the combination of unlimited Alpha cores (about one for every two full Ordos fleets with Radiants killed), bugged Pather cells, and easy bribes to get inspectors off your back.

Ground defenses is often enough to repel -1/-10% pirate raids.  Still a good idea to get an orbital station up.

Eventually, I want the +3 stability from the Star Fortress (so I have 10 stability after I turn on Free Port), and I do not want to really on ground defenses as my only line of defense.  I want overlapping patrols as the first line of defense, Star Fortress as second line of defense.  Ground defenses is the last reason.

Quote
I have never had a "meta-level" problem with pirates.  I have had colonies overrun sure but never beaten down or taking permanent negative traits.
For me, it is not my colonies, but the core worlds if I want to save them for income.  If I want them dead, then I want to be friendly with pirates to stop the raids.  Permanent pirate activity on your colonies only really happens after all of the core worlds are dead.  While all core worlds are alive, the chances of your system being targeted by a -3/-50% pirate base is low.

Quote
Colony management:

a) always disrupt planned enemy attacks with cash where possible (that's part of what the million credits is for)
b) destroy pirate bases that are discovered to be threatening
c) same with Luddic Path bases (though this is optional if the player builds farming alone to reduce their attention on the colony)
d) make money and resolve colony shortages and stay within support range (i.e. be a day or two ahead of estimated enemy fleet arrivals).   only engage where you can win and otherwise rely upon your ground pounders.
About a), once Free Port gets turned on, expeditions become too frequent to bribe away (I think so with about a million per month income).  Not to mention paying extortion money leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  (I rather wipe the factions' worlds off the map than pay extortion money.  And since all major factions bully, that leads to total core kill.)

c) Pather cells are harmless as long as stability is 2 or more, due to a bug in the current release.  It is more convenient to leave them alone.  Cores can be turned in them to bump up relations in a pinch.  Go nuts with industry and AI, if you can handle grief caused by major factions.
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eidolad

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Re: Pirates Ruin the Fun
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2021, 04:38:19 PM »

i appreciate the perspective of the long game in which there is a focus on "keeping the core alive for the purpose of income" but I never play a session long enough to comment on that.  This sort of reminds me of Drox Operative in level 80+:  the critters and beast factions simply gang up on the other factions to the point of no return and also the planets are too squishy to level up with the threat in the late game.  I look forward to further core game improvements in Starsector before I venture into that time frame of a game session.

However my impression is that the other players who seem to agree that pirates are a pain, are likely not getting to the very late phases.  So I stand by the assertion that ground defenses are the #1, and first, priority.  There is only so much cash available and the orbital and fleets must wait.  A player without full ground defense and high stability and population is just asking for Bad Things to happen.  Once built...then by all means sure, develop the other two asap.

Hmm I wasn't aware of Free Ports making disruption/bribe non-feasible in the late game simply because my role-playing persona rarely would choose that option at the player homeworld or other major colonies.  But a good half-million of my bank account simply exists to spend on bribery in the homeworld phase...so I would really dislike even more pressure there...

edit:   I'm also impressed how advanced players can keep tabs/have vision for what's happening overall in the core in relation to the player empire's industry/economic performance.  I just fly around, blasting bad guys, taxiing Marines to their next fight, make money, loot and tech up, and defend and supply my people, so am blissfully unaware of much of the structural dynamics and am too busy role-playing to care much...
« Last Edit: January 16, 2021, 04:53:59 PM by eidolad »
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Jabroni

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Re: Pirates Ruin the Fun
« Reply #7 on: January 17, 2021, 04:39:40 AM »

Thanks guys for in-depth analysis of the gameplay, I really appreciate this. I often build ground defenses early, but it didn't stop pirates from being able to raid my colony. My biggest mistake so far was engaging their fleets right away after they enter the system, because I was afraid that once they get to the planet they will raid it and lower stability. Usually I don't start colonizing with less that one million credits, but this money evaporates quickly, especially when I can't do anything else than defend. Another thing I got to admin is that I suck at combat, I'm not even trying to lead my ship, I leave it to AI, it's way more better than me. Probably my fleet compositions also requires some enhancements, but there's a lot to learn in this game and I love it.

I've started another playthrough, since pirates are an issue both modded and with Nexerelin mod, I've decided to enable it, because I love the features. This time, though, using procurement missions and improving relations with agents, I've made pirates like me and my colonies are safe, at least for now.

I got to say, I'm in awe of the depth of this game. I purchased it, because I like dealing with economy, finding best trade routes and stuff like this. I didn't expect Starsector to be that good in this regard. I'm still learning new things and I didn't even get to late game. I'm also getting in terms with the fact that pirates are so strong, overall it's semi-post-apocalyptic setting and everything goes south. It takes a lot of effort to keep the status quo and not let anarchy reign.
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Daynen

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Re: Pirates Ruin the Fun
« Reply #8 on: January 17, 2021, 10:15:03 AM »

I've been running mods including Nex for quite some time so I may have gotten used to the more roguelike nature of modded SS; that said, I think of a few things when planning colonies regardless of modding.

Priority 1: Personal fleet strength and player skills. 
Can your fleet stand up to enemy fleets without casualties?  Can you fly your flagship to victory without having to wait two weeks for repairs and CR regen?  Sooner or later you WILL have to enter battle against massive odds; if you're not flying something at least cruiser size you're in for a rough time.  I prefer to make sure I have all the defensive skills and everything that helps sustain PPT and CR so a single, awesome ship can survive extended battles even if my support craft have to bail.  Tailor your combat skills to your preferred flagship and make sure it's as maneuverable as it can be while able to standoff with ships its size or larger.  I find most of the industry skills useless for this purpose, except in the specific case of the "junker" strategy, wherein you make your D-mods work for you instead of against you.  It still limits the potential of your ships, but it does mean you can afford casualties better, since recovering a D-modded ship is no big loss and in fact makes it cheaper to run.  I also nod to the above point about having carriers; they project power at great range and can let you make good use of missiles and torpedoes which would otherwise be very limited AND they're very efficient with their PPT when equipped and captained properly.  Herons and Drovers with Dagger bombers are always a good choice; their atropos torps are a good balance of damage, speed and tracking...and they'll have the ammo to sustain the bombardment.  Your fleet matters more than anything else because you're the one making it all happen; if you lose your fleet, you lose the ability to influence future battles for a long time and your colonies' future becomes a pure dice roll while you rebuild.

Priority 2: System composition.
How many planets are in the system?  A single planet WILL be overrun eventually, no matter how lush it is.  Multiple planets means multiple guard fleets and multiple economies within easy defense distance.  5+ planets are a good start; any system with 10+ planets is to be claimed at the first opportunity.  If any of them have low multipliers, start there.  If you have several small planets orbiting a larger one, even better; they'll all be right next door to each other, letting friendly fleets swarm anything that gets within spitting distance.  Don't scoff at a system with only high % worlds; with persistence even a system full of lava planets will become quite lucrative and having that many different fleets scouring the system can make it a nightmare for any invaders, buying you AGES of time to get there and get in on the action, duck out of a big battle for repairs and come back swinging.  Stable points are a secondary but still significant factor: are there any?  If a system has 2 or more it's quite compelling because you can get extra stability for ALL colonies in system and speed for you and your future friendly fleets.  Never take a system JUST because it has stable points, but consider them a valuable multiplier in the value of a well populated system.

Priority 3: System location.
Is your starting system near enough to friendly factions that you can go shopping and take care of your business? It really helps to claim a system a short hop away from the core, preferably to the east or west of it; this means that any factions near you have a short trip, but any pirate bases that spawn on the other side of the map have a rough time getting to you, since they'll be harassed by various factions on the way.  If you plan to stay on bad terms with a certain faction (coughhegemonycough,) it behooves you to settle on the opposite end of the core from them so you have more time to respond to their hostilities.  Slag any pirate bases that spawn near you but ignore the ones on the other end of the sector; their fleets will often get strung out from the long trip at differing speeds and lose a few ships from random clashes, allowing your patrols to hammer them down before you swoop in and annihilate them.

Priority 4: Administrators.
The stability bonus of having admins run your planets is not to be ignored since it affects ALL your colonies.  Player skills may allow you to provide more bonuses to a planet than your admins...but then you're passing up combat skills that would let your ship/fleet kick a WHOLE lot more ass.  Go hunting for good freelance administrators before you pick a system; if you're not yet ready to settle your colonies, then just make a note of where the admins are so you can rush out and grab them the moment you need them.  Stability is a major factor in the prosperity and survival of your colonies and good administrators mean you don't have to burn skill points to make your colonies function.

Priority 5: Starting capital and where to spend it.
Yes, it takes a lot of cash to build up a colony but even without a huge initial investment your colony can thrive.  Just pumping that initial growth incentive to 100k gives you a huge head start; better now than later, since bigger colonies cost commensurately more to feed this way.  If you DO have some starting cash to burn, I think getting a patrol HQ and your first industry up and running is always good; having SOME kind of friendly ships in system is infinitely better than not.  Ground defenses may thwart raids and invasions but having friendly fleets means you have reinforcements in battle, which means more victories and more salvage ops.  If an enemy fleet rolls in unopposed, raids and fails, they leave and you get nothing.  If your patrols pummel them to scrap, you at least get some free resources and XP for salvaging, if not for fighting.  Also, patrols help maintain your control of any sensor arrays, comms units and nav buoys in the system; with no patrols, every intruder and his dog will be flipping control away from you uncontested.

Dealing with pirates, like any part of colony management, is all a matter of proper priorities.  Set yourself up for success and enjoy the kessler syndrome as idiot pirates fill your home system with valuable debris.
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sector_terror

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Re: Pirates Ruin the Fun
« Reply #9 on: January 18, 2021, 06:23:09 AM »

I have to admit. I'm impressed the sheer depth of information I'm seeing here. It's kind of amazing. I can't even add much because of how much is here. There's not a lot advice I can give out. Props to everyone for the sheer amazing standard of aid here. Man am I looking forward to the update. I hope I'm right in guessing february-april(estimate using previous patch timing)

I ca also add a successful(if not cheating, but w/e) solution for me. Go to setting.jsom and find the "minpiratebase" line, and change the minimum number of pirates to zero(so they dont instant respawn) and the time to upgrade between 'levels' to 24 months. suddenly 1/5th the number and size of pirates. I've run into maybe 2 severe armadas? And I let the pirates go on purpose for those out of lazyness.
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IraqiWalker

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Re: Pirates Ruin the Fun
« Reply #10 on: January 19, 2021, 12:56:55 PM »

Every time I start my first colony it feels like the game ends for me. I cannot explore or trade, because I need to keep guarding my colony. Right after one raid I get another almost instantly. At some point pirates just send fleet so big that I can't withstand the pressure. I lose my fleet or my colony gets raided. Either way it leads to decivilization of colony and me quitting my current game. I used to play with Nexerelin mod, but I've read pirates can be much more aggressive. I've deactivated it, but to my surprise, in my next playthrough it got even worse.

It feels like pirates are the strongest faction, they have bases everywhere, they spawn massive fleets out of nowhere. I destroy hundreds of their ships, but they keep coming back. Other factions seem not to care about me whatsoever, but the moment I settle my first colony pirates just can't give me a break.

It's a shame really, because this games feels so good and so balanced on so many different levels. Getting to the point of colonizing is so much fun, but after that I'm stuck. I don't know, maybe I'm doing something wrong or missing something. I'd love to know, because this game is one of the best games I've played in a while and fact that it is still in development is exciting, since there is more upcoming content. However, for now I can't make myself to start another playthrough, for it is too frustrating.

I grant you pirates can become a problem. However, that usually stops being an issue for me around the time when my colony has the patrol HQ and station up. Normally, I already have a couple million saved up before I get my first colony, so I can afford to sit there and make sure it survives the first 8 or so months until it's defenses are up.
Some of the strongest fleets the hegemony can send my way have a chance at defeating my defense fleets (when you throw 4+ Onslaughts into a fight, it gets kinda hard to stop them). However, they all fail at the ground assault, without question. Especially if you got the planetary shield to help make your ground defenses even better. However, by the time those fleets even start showing up. I'm running around in a Paragon fleet, or something similar, ensuring I can delete any threats that actually require my attention.

The Intel panel shows you the odds of the raiding fleet succeeding. If that says the fleet will be repelled, I don't even bother destroying the base until I'm done with whatever job/quest/idea I'm working on.

Oh, and don't be afraid to slap an Alpha AI chip in the population slot, or even make it the admin of the colony. Helps quite a bit. However, that would trigger the Hegemony AI Inspections, and Luddic Path terrorists,. If your colony is stable enough, you don't have to worry to much about those until they get active. In this current playthrough, I have 6 colonies across 4 systems (for newer players, I seriously advise against this. It compounds the whack-a-mole you have to do with pirates and LP).

If anyone is interested, this is my seed: MN-3049022162577647708 I really recommend not colonizing until you get the quest for the red planet (planetary shield quest). The quest system was of the farthest to the south west, and it had three amazing worlds with a good spread of resources ,including volatiles (1 Terran, 1 Jungle, 1 desert). Honestly, an excellent start in terms of resources, as the colonies could be quite self reliant. downside is you're quite far from most things (About 38 ly from the core.) However, if you have the hyperdrive mod installed, that's no longer an issue as NPC fleets can use it too, making even the longest trip seem quite quick. I settled 4 systems down south that had some nice planets. Again: Not recommended for newer players.

EDIT: Something to be said for the Odyssey line of ships. 2 fighter bays might not seem like much, but that ship can be fitted with terrifying weapons allowing you to have a  carrier that is mobile, fast enough to catch shuttles, tanky, and hits like truckules on steroids. Other players have already mentioned it but having a fleet of carriers can make combat much easier on you. My standard formation includes a flotilla of Herons with 2 odysseys in the front line. You want them, plus some ships that can frontline for them (odyssey, Paragon, Onslaught, Conquest ... etc), and the bombers will take care of the rest. Yes, this fleet is expensive, but your colonies will be able to fund it 4 times over when they are built up.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2021, 01:31:00 PM by IraqiWalker »
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Dab

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Re: Pirates Ruin the Fun
« Reply #11 on: January 22, 2021, 10:02:34 AM »

If you are having this much trouble with pirates, you are probably starting your colony too early. Couple of things; Destroying pirate bases for faction bounties is pretty lucrative at the stage of the game in which you can start to do it. If you cannot take out a pirate base with the fleet you currently possess, you have no business creating a colony. If you CAN take out a pirate base, make sure you have the funds to at least build a first level (personally I recommend up to 2nd level) space station in orbit and a patrol base. I know multiple people in this thread have already suggested doing that, and it's absolutely correct.

I would actually recommend you keep Nexerelin on if you are annoyed by dealing with pirates, as there is one particular feature that is very helpful and saves a ton of time - Agents. Keep an agent at your colony, and anytime you have pirate activity, use your agent to find the pirate base. It's fairly cheap and you don't have to physically fly home to go to the bar just to find the pirate base, something that should be in the base game imo, as it's a bit ridiculous that a man who commands a fleet of spaceships and controls a colony of hundreds of thousands of people would need to PERSONALLY go bar hopping to find a random person who will tell him where to find the nearby pirate base.

Once you know where the pirate base is, GO BLOW IT UP. Yes, it's annoying, but it buys you, IIRC (I haven't played in a few months), either 90 or 180 days of peace from pirate raids and activity. If you get a notice about a raid, save yourself some trouble and find the base and blow it up before or shortly after the raid launches. In so doing you can deal with the main fleet of the raid either on your way or on arrival at their base, then blow up the base as well, and you'll have some breathing room to go do whatever it is you actually want to do. Also keep note of WHERE the pirate base is. In my experience, when setting up a colony outside the core worlds, the pirate bases (and luddic bases for that matter) tend to keep respawning in the same 2 systems. If you notice them spawning in the same system or same two systems, you can just head right there as soon as pirate activity begins, without having to bother with finding the exact location.

This way you trade whack-a-fleet-mole for occasionally-whack-a-station-mole. Nexerelin also gives the option to pay to launch an own-faction fleet to strike the base without you yourself having to deal with it. This is especially useful for late-game playthroughs on Nexerelin, when your time is worth more than the cost of the strike fleet. (Again, I haven't played a few months and Nexerelin might have updated with some changes to these features, but I would doubt it.)

So yeah, if pirates annoy you, play WITH Nexerelin, and make use of the mod's features to save yourself a lot of headache. Normally I spend only about 20% of my time dealing with colony maintenance when playing Nexerelin, and that is with 3 or more colonies, and 20% is pretty reasonable to the benefits.
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