Like pirates, but they only seem to work well on small maps. Where there just you and the other guy. There is no point in put a bounty on some one, if there only you, to attack them.

When I first started, I hated them. Random attacks forced me to keep reserve units to beat back another invasion. It seemed kind of stupid to have some chaotic force attacking me at timed intervals. I was constantly fighting one more faction besides the one(s) I signed up for !

Now I look at them more as a mercenary force to be utilized if I have the cash ( which I usually do as TEC ). They harrass my enemies on a constant basis, and pirates work very well with insurgency. Two or three harrasssing fleets inside enemy territory that I don't have to balance against my fleet cap is sweet. Individually they aren't much, but it's constant grind when used with Insurgency, and forces my opponents to adjust. I'll also follow the invading Pirate fleet to an enemy planet, letting them soften it up. They also make a nice counter to RA. I will hold off on spending before an impending raid is announced, and horde some cash. If I can bid low and still get an attack on my enemy, I have extra cash to spend on my fleets or tech's. If I have to bid high, credits are easier to come by as TEC, which also hurts my Vasari/Advent opponents who had to spend at least close to what I did. Unless you're grossly mis-managed as TEC, you'll never suffer an attack.

Mid game, even being attacked by them isn't that bad. It's cheap experience for my cap ships. They're even nice enough to announce when they're coming to be slaughtered! I think most people who hate them are new players who haven't figured out how to manipulate them yet.

Late game, two Novaliths solves the pirate problem if I want them gone. But usually my economy is so big even spending 20k credits to buy an attack isn't a big deal.

Like them.

They can be interesting in many games, and there's nothing more fun than in a map like Maelstrom seeing one of your enemies move their fleet away to help an ally, and then calling in the Pirates on them and watch their fleet scurry back. They're probably most useful in early games though where a player has to halt their expansion to ward off the attack, which sets them back by several minutes often.

One of the most amusing things I've seen about them is how they can be a double edged sword, even when you win the bidding. Pirates can be used by a defensive player as a great form of experience (I played a game once who the easy pirate target eventually busted out with like 4 capitals all above level 7 and started a little rampage). So it's always worth scouting the player to see if the Pirates are walking into a trap to be experience food.

So I'm all for Pirates. Fun aspect of the game.

I started out liking them, but have grown to dislike them. Their primary role seems to be as an annoyance. They don't seem to be cost effective. Plus the fact that they are magically generated doesn't help their case.

I like them

When I use a frigate approach I use them to harass my opponents...if I want to do a capital ship approach then I do like above I bid just enough to make my opponent spend money and let the cap ships expience up. Does require a longer game, though.

They're a good thing, and keeps the game exciting. However, the fact that they don't stop before they reach the target planet is, like said before, very annoying.

I enjoy pirates. Ideally there would also be space-vikings. Yarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I like pirates and how they are put into the game it could be better but its better than nothing.

I like the idea of pirates but I think the current implementation is annoying. As someone else said they aren't pirates they are mercenaries. The main thing I hate though is having to basically stop playing and stare at the bidding screen knowing that the AI will always bid at the last minute. I can't stand that. Plus the other things people have said annoy me too; ingnoring the fleet, attacking when you are engaged with who you are paying them to attack. Stuff like that.

Imo right now the only thing good about the pirates is that they have a really cool character portrait and a really cool base.  

Obviously I play with them off.

I love them; when they are attacking someone else. I hate them when I forget about the bounty, and see they are attacking me. There needs to be a patch-fix: "Toggle, Pirates attack someone else when you forget about bounty".

What I find interesting is that people who want the game sped up as fast as possible seem to like pirates the most which is kind of strange because they can take huge credits out of everyones hands and moves that money away from inrfa and fleet building and basically slows the game down. Their a massive credit dump, other than that there an interesting component in some games. You can deal with them through pure defenses and once you get heavy cruisers a rear fleet of cruisers can take them out easy enough.

The huge downside to pirates is your forcing you opponent to build defenses, build fleet, and giving their caps xp, and losing alot of creds all in exchange for time. And most players dont even seem to ask themselves if its worth it. It's not always the best move. I've been hit with insurgency and pirates and in the end i have higher level caps, defenses all over the place and a very large fleet.

basically watched against one each hard tec type of ai on the (fulcrum map)? just to compare the various ais, and I saw something interesting.. even when the ai is tough as hell and built to the 9's it won't attack the pirate base..
ps. I had pirate attacks off

Not a big fan of the pirates. They can add an interesting element to some games, but I generally keep them off. Straight up pvp without the annoyance of pirate intervention.