The pirates are totally worthless right now, out of the free XP they might provide. Basic "diplomaty" would be nice... To send them in other player's direction would be a start but I guess they could also ask for dust before attacking you, or offer some to keep you out a certain neutral system. I would definetly make them more enjoyable.

Or you could perhaps show up in force, intimidating them to leave your systems alone. That would be cool.

I didn't like the pirates in Sins. But just a way to keep them somewhere else (they can chose wherever they want to go).

This concept has been implemented with mixed results in the Sins of a Solar Empire series. In the first rendition of the game they were just an annoyance that many gamers turned of in the options menu. Then with each expansion they were refined until in the Diplomacy expansion you could bribe them to act other factions and send them on missions. This really opened up the AI side of the game and you saw the Pirates pop up in more and more MP games. BTW - the Pirates had a home system that you could raid and destroy and it was easily the hardest system to capture mid-game.



Personally, I love having a rouge AI factions that can be worked with directly though bribes. It opens up a fun cash vacuum and black market system. As a note, in the upcoming SoaSE: Rebellion release one of the factions (TEC Rebellion) has the ability to forge an alliance with the Pirates. With this you have the ability to send them missions to attack factions, but the best part is that when you attack a system they will send backup to the fight. It is absolutely awesome. One of the core reasons I play as them in the Beta.



Long post short, +1. I want to see this idea implemented.

Thus, the bribe.

What I'd like is the ability to ask them to target someone else.