So I've been playing the new alpha and ignoring the build-up of pirate fleets over my worlds as I extended my domain, when suddenly the population on the blockaded planets vanished. They are still considered 'colonized', and if I send a ship to retake the planets I can repopulate them, but I was wondering how exactly this happened, as it certainly wasn't clear to me. Did the pirates invade me, or was it a matter of being starved out?



Also, on several of my systems there are now huge pirate fleets that are bizarrely empty. There command points say things like 0/7 or 0/12, and they cannot be attacked, but they are still somehow effectively blockading my planets.



Anyway, wondering if anyone could shed some light on either of these issues for me. Thanks.

On the first point, Pirates take over planets just like any other race. They convert the system to Pirates. The black coloring is unfortunate, because it's really hard to tell what's going on. But as you have discovered, you can go back and retake the system from the pirates.



As a side note, I had ships in the hanger when this happened to me, and when I eventually retook the system, those ships were gone. So if you are about to lose a system, launch everything you've got.



On the second point, this is new. A screenshot and bug report seems appropriate.

Ah, thanks.



As for the 'ghost' blockades, they were gone when I loaded up the game today. If it happens again, I'll try and post it.