I'm sure you're already familiar with this feedback, but still, I had to share:



I have some issues with the way pirates are implemented - they appear out of nowhere, even in the middle of my vast empire, sack entire stars and leave nothing behind by the time I reach my besieged colonies. I lose quite a few colonies to them. In my recent game I had to rage-quit due to the fact that they started appearing all over the place like whack-a-moles, and simply destroyed newly created and developing colonies in 1 or 2 turns upon arrival, sometimes before I even got to see them.



Other than the fact that this is extremely annoying, I also don't think this is very pirate-y of them. Pirates don't conquer, they don't exterminate, they plunder the spoils.



I know I can simply disable pirates altogether, but where is the fun in that? I like them as a feature to keep me on my toes, but in my opinion the pirates should be more of a nuisance that costs our empire money until we get rid of them, rather than a threat worse than the other enemy empires. Either that, or if you want to keep them as threatening as they are, don't allow them to just pop-up out of nowhere so I can stop them via chokepoints, or at least add a warning that a pirate fleet is approaching our colonies.



Which brings me to the second feedback: there is no way to defend a colony. I'm sure this is because the game is in Alpha state, but I wanted to know if others feel the same way - if I don't build costly fleets all over the place, the enemy (be it other empires or the already mentioned pirates) simply plucks my colonies like ripe berries. There should be a way to defend my colonies even before the ground combat stage, such as building a planetary shield, planetary missile/laser batteries or even mighty space stations.



Other than that - great game! Keep up the good work!

I agree with you completely, amir. Both regarding the pirates and colony defense.



There have been a few threads about those two ideas, and the sentiment expressed is similar to yours.



I like where the game is so far, but of the things that could be improved, pirates and colony defense need some love I think.

Yeah I agree on the stationary defences, Starbases and the like which you can customize like the ships would be pretty cool.

I'd like to see pirate hangouts, maybe like an asteroid field fortress or something.

Maybe have the pirates like a merc force so you can leverage them to attack one empire over another? (Sins of a Solar Empire style)

Probably do the same to smaller independent factions if they're introduced...

Yeah, the game sure need more system defence options.

Star bases would work well, or perhaps a system patrol craft (no option for travel between stars (speed = 0) but better armor for the same price).

Also, interaction with the pirates cold be fun.

you can disable pirates when you start a game...

QcNoodle wrote:
you can disable pirates when you start a game...

You sure can. But have pirates in a game could be fun. Personally, I prefer to have pirates in a game. Great way to train combat against low lvl ships. But when they suddenly upgrade their ships.. Damn them to hell.

QcNoodle, please read my post, I already mentioned it

amirfoox wrote:
I'm sure you're already familiar with this feedback, but still, I had to share:



I have some issues with the way pirates are implemented - they appear out of nowhere, even in the middle of my vast empire, sack entire stars and leave nothing behind by the time I reach my besieged colonies. I lose quite a few colonies to them. In my recent game I had to rage-quit due to the fact that they started appearing all over the place like whack-a-moles, and simply destroyed newly created and developing colonies in 1 or 2 turns upon arrival, sometimes before I even got to see them.



Other than the fact that this is extremely annoying, I also don't think this is very pirate-y of them. Pirates don't conquer, they don't exterminate, they plunder the spoils.



I know I can simply disable pirates altogether, but where is the fun in that? I like them as a feature to keep me on my toes, but in my opinion the pirates should be more of a nuisance that costs our empire money until we get rid of them, rather than a threat worse than the other enemy empires. Either that, or if you want to keep them as threatening as they are, don't allow them to just pop-up out of nowhere so I can stop them via chokepoints, or at least add a warning that a pirate fleet is approaching our colonies.



Which brings me to the second feedback: there is no way to defend a colony. I'm sure this is because the game is in Alpha state, but I wanted to know if others feel the same way - if I don't build costly fleets all over the place, the enemy (be it other empires or the already mentioned pirates) simply plucks my colonies like ripe berries. There should be a way to defend my colonies even before the ground combat stage, such as building a planetary shield, planetary missile/laser batteries or even mighty space stations.



Other than that - great game! Keep up the good work!

I agree with all of this!