Pirates: Espionage and Economic Warfare.

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EDIT #5: ORIGINAL IDEA OVERHAULED DUE TO CHANGES TO PIRATES IN THE PENUMBRA DLC
Once again, many (almost all) changes the community were calling for were implemented, which is AWESOME. 
Implemented ideas were removed and remaining ideas were re-worked to mesh with the current system.

Some changes listed will assume integration in a future dlc, for which the mechanics are obviously unknown.

The ideas listed will assume a player is playing with ALL DLC installed, relying most heavily on the Vaulters and Penumbra DLC.

This idea will be updated once details concerning the next dlc(s) are released.

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I've always thought of Pirate/Barbarian systems within 4x games as an opportunity for the devs to make the "world" of the game an unspoken extra player, everpresent in the game. More than just an early game rush blocker. To that end, I suggest the following:

1. Economic Warfare: Late Game Pirates

1. New Pirate bases should spawn, if possible, for every X trading companies created in the galaxy.
   • Allows for the possibility of Pirates still being present well into the late game.
   • As expansion continues, It's more likely that pirate bases will spawn on systems outside of star-lanes or on unreached anomolies.
     • Pirate Bases should spawn outside of starlanes more often anyways...
2. Pirate fleets should be equipped near exclusively with boarding pods
   • It's thematically appropriate
   • It's interesting and adds longevity to spawned pirate fleets.
   • It makes player controlled privateer fleets less conspicuous.
3. Bases can level up past lvl 5 IF and ONLY IF they are boosted by an empire.
   • Max at lvl 10.
   • Makes boosting a base in enemy territory a viable harrasment mechanic
   • Obviously, destroying their bases offers increased rewards
4. Design faction neutral, weaker, Carrier class ships for pirates to use. (As suggested hereby Suis3i)
   • Max level pirate fleets would contain fully equipped carriers with support ships, all with varied module designs centered around invasion and ship theft
   • Gives Pirates a lasting presence
   • Allows for potential implementation in minor faction fleets, making them stronger should they survive to late game
5. Allow Pirates to use thier own portals as introduced in the Vaulters DLC
6. Pirates can teleport their own fleets between pirate bases
   • Somewhat like what CP suggests herein this older idea, but with the game's current mechanics.
     • Pirates have portals which the vaulters can use if allied. Let the Pirates use those portals themselves
   • Buffs pirate marks, making pirates more threatening if utilized
   • If necessary, make portal use rely on the purchase of a more expensive 2nd tier pirate mark
7. Pirate ships not by pirate bases are cloaked in transit or otherwise "defending" a system
   • because, ambushes
8. Have the Pirate Hero lead various fleets throughout the galaxy (like what GrigoriyGray suggests here)
   • Makes things interesting, giving some flavor to the gameboard
   • hero can be killed in combat, only to be revived stronger later
   • levelups carry over to when the pirate bases are destroyed and the hero is capturable through the pirate end quest.

2. Improvements to Pirate Negotiation and Relations. 

1. Only one empire can have a non-agression pact with the pirates and it is known how much it will cost to "buy out" that non-aggression pact.
   • This is really just a UI improvement. Explicitly stating who has the most pirate favor and by how much is a good thing which encourages economic competition between factions
   • pirate bribes should improve stations
2. More options for Improving relations with pirates
   • Donating ships and fleets to the pirates
     • Less noticable if pirates tend to capture ships with boarding pods
   • Giving in to occasional demands for some luxury resources
   • Attacking non-pirate fleets orbiting pirate bases (even if using privateers)
   • Choosing pirate friendly options in random quests somewhat like those suggested here and here
3. Pirates can be bribed to reveal who has placed a mark on you (low level espionage)
4. Pirates can be bribed to give vision on all pirate bases in the galaxy
5. Players with positive relations can teleport their fleets from pirate base to pirate base, kindof like a downgraded version of what the vaulters can do with them
6. Pirates can be bribed to hack a specific enemy system
   • or just hack any system with a mark on them.

3. Pirates run a Black Market 
(To add a little more depth to galaxy gen and the marketplace)

1. Greensmokie's idea, ShadowMarket,was deemed out of vision due to adding more complexity than the devs desired. By HEAVILY simplifying things and tying it into the pirate system, I think that problem can be overcome.
   • Basically, all of his shadowmarket factions are now 1: the Pirates.
   • All buildings and improvements and quests in his idea have been removed for the sake of simplicity
   • All interactions he suggests have been reduced to whatever could be done in a market setting.
   • Remove the slavery mechanic for balancing reasons
2. Black Market sells resources that have been depleted in the main market at a marked up price.
3. Black Market sells any resource that is unavailable in the galaxy. (low luxury universe loophole)
4. All dust given to pirates contributes to pirate base/fleet upgrades and rewards for destroying pirate bases.
5. Buying from the black market improves pirate relations slightly.
6. Having good relations with pirates gives discounts on the Black Market (closer to actual market price)
7. Having VERY BAD relations with pirates bars you from buying from the Black Market.
8. Destroying all pirate bases removes access to the Black Market.
   • If a player is upgrading their home planets using black market resources, destroying pirates becomes a viable way to cripple them.

4. Future DLC Dependant Changes

• The Forgotten from EL are brought back in ES2, but not as a playable race.
  • Gives a familiar face to the now more involved pirates and highlights the now more often cloaked ships.
• Have Pirates generate a unique resource used in a dlc
  • Empires with positive relations with the pirates generate some of this resource.
  • Destroying higher level bases rewards a large chunk of the resource
    • Gives players additional reasons to both keep pirates around and destroy them.
      • without pirates in game there's no way of getting this resource.

I'm not saying ALL of these changes should be made, but I'd like to see somthing like this implemented and I think these all play nicely off of eachother and the mechanics already in the game. 

What do you think?