Dealing with pirates

from GalCiv2 Forums

I just resigned another game where I was pummeling the AI with 400+ military rating (normal difficulty) when the pirate event showed up.  Within 20 turns all my ships, starbases and resources were toast.  Of course the AI was faring even worse, but it was obvious that I would never win unless the pirates eventually just went away, as they became experienced faster than I could research better tech to kill them.

I read another post that said they wouldn't attack ships without weapons, but the poster may have been talking about peackeepers, it wasn't clear from the context.  Is this true?

Otherwise, what is the best way to deal with them? I'm tempted to deliberately max out trade and expansion as this kind of event seems to show up a lot more often when I have a substantial military lead.  Unfortunately the best counter for my relatively small number of powerful ships is for 10 fleets of smaller ships to magically warp in right next to my economic base, whichi s exactly what this event does.

strategies
7,961 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I read another post that said they wouldn't attack ships without weapons, but the poster may have been talking about peackeepers, it wasn't clear from the context. Is this true?

That would be the Peacekeepers, yes.

And they only don't attack ships without weapons until you attack them to destroy them-at that point they'll attack anything and everything they own.

Yet another reason not to arm your starbases, though.

You don't state specifically, but from your comment on 10 fleets, I assume this is the mega pirate event.

You might try turning mega events off.  The normal "random" pirate event can be cleaned up by 4 or 5 ships, max.  (Okay, maybe 10, spread out through the entire galaxy, if you're playing a gigantic.)

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Thanks for the reply Sole Soul... yes, this was probably the mega event as it was at least 6-8 fleets of 3 frigates each on a small map, normal difficulty.  I won the next game easily - not a single mega event showed up.  Things seem to go better when I declare war more often and dont build up such a huge military lead, but it could just be my imagination.  I've actually never seen the peacekeepers at all.

Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I haven't come across them either.

It is easier to get the Dread Lords event than Peacekeepers.

When the Mega Pirate event happened to me, I didn't really have any ships going anywhere at all (except colony ships, this happened like 15 turns into the game on a gigantic). By that time however, the Drengins had already declared war on me with about 5 transports and 10 defenders (Suicidal difficulty btw), they were literally right next to my only 7 planets and were about to invade, when the pirates showed up, and completely decimated them.

They were begging for peace the next turn (I managed to get Laser I and Planetary Invasion from them, just by going to war with the pirates). Of course a significant amout of other Civs had also declared war on them, and just gifted me a bunch of really helpful techs in the process, so I got into the lead fairly early in that game, and from there on it was an easier win than most.

Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Very nice, it's not often that someone can turn this event to their advantage :)

By the way, getting one event or the other also depends on your playstyle and how that causes the galaxy to evolve. For example if you tend to cause a lot of wars, chances of getting the peacekeepers are higher. There are other circumstances that tend to trigger the Dreadlords or similar events. Which reminds me I should play a few games where I go for the aggressive war-mongering route...

Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

In my games....

I   am the peacekeepers.

I literraly go about, buying every single one of the galaxie's warships (transports, defenders, you name it, I buy it from them).

AND, I do all this without going into bankruptcy. LOL!!!

I also bribe other civs into signing peace treaties with other civs.

It's a waste of money, but it helps me develop better in the long run.

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I might actually start doing my best to get the Peacekeepers event.

Start a war with every single civ, check!!!

Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Isn't buying transports terribly expensive? I've always found that while I can swindle the AI out of a decent part of their warships, buying their transports is even more expensive and often not worth the cost.

Also, you typically end up paying several times more than such warships are worth (compared to producing one yourself and rush-buying it); on the other hand if you sell it to another AI even if it is in dire need of more military and your diplomacy is really high, you'll only get a pittance in return (perhaps 50 times less than what you bought the ship for).

Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

It doesn't really make any differance to me.

My treasury is usually in the Trillions, and I'm making Millions of BC's per turn.

Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

In my most recent game with the Yor.  The Pirates came and destroyed everyone's ships.  2 of the ai's then surrendered to me.  I then went for research victory while the pirates patroled th space lanes.

Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting Extant, reply 8
It doesn't really make any differance to me.

My treasury is usually in the Trillions, and I'm making Millions of BC's per turn.

Talk about stroking your e-peen.

Anyway, dealing with pirates - if you can build ultra-fast troop transports, then you can conquer a galaxy with pirates in it in no time at all. The pirate ships usually are pretty slow, and once they've destroyed everything in space, you can just dick around and capture planets with transports at your leisure.

Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Isn't this kinda silly, though? I mean, pirates appearing out of nowhere with power and technology that far exceeds what all civilizations can muster together? Why would anyone design such a thing into the game?