Newb question - are pirates ignoring the AI player?

(SoaSE base game)

I've only played one "real" game so far, so I hope this isn't a dumb question. But looking at the graphs after I surrendered to the computer (2 hours in), the "Marauding Pirate target" chart has my line going up at a steady rate and the enemy AI's line is flat along the bottom of the graph at zero. The "Pirates Destroyed" graph looks similar.

Does this indicate that the pirates never attacked the other main player?

I may not have been as steady at offering bounties, but I did offer them intermittently throughout the game and at about the 90 minute mark I upped it pretty high to see if that would help.

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GoaFan77

Join Date 10/2008

+629

First of all, which version of Sins do you have? Pirates attack the player with the highest bounty at the exact moment the raid is launched. Unfortunately unless you are really paying attention, the AI has a habit of raising your bounty just enough so that they target you instead, effectively wasting all the money you placed on them (though it might still be there for the next raid). Thus its quite possible for you to place a lot of bounty on the AI but never get a pirate raid to attack them. If you have at least Entrenchment the "underground" miniwindow helps with putting bounty while still managing your Empire, though even then its probably best to just turn the pirates off. The only case they really work well is in the most recent version of Diplomacy with multiple players, as the AI will issue bounties based on relations.

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Sinperium

Join Date 02/2010

+219

The Diplomacy 1.2 version is the most "level" when it comes to pirate bounties and actions. Here's what the AI does seem to tend to do though:

If there is an equal chance with no clear advantage of the pirates attacking any player, there's a slightly better than average chance it will be you.

If the AI decides to meet and raise your bounty to get the pirates to head your way, the decisive bribe will happen 1/10th of a second before the raiders launch.

When pirates do attack you, it is almost a certainty that any AI "players" near you with no other groups between them and yourself and who are close to or superior in strength to youwill attack you at pretty much exactly the same time as the pirate raid.

Aside from that, it's pretty random and balanced now.

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Ahh ok, thanks for the answers! I didn't realize I could the pirates off, which might be a good idea for me as I learn the ropes. I'll turn them back on when I'm more proficient.

Another question:

If I'm in the mood for a faster/shorter game, does it make sense to switch all the income, build, research, etc rates to "fast"? Or would that just give the AI a bigger advantage over me since I'm still a newb?

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GoaFan77

Join Date 10/2008

+629

I always play with the fastest setting except for things like diplomatic points. I honestly don't notice much of a difference, unless you seriously find yourself in the situation where you have more resources than you know what to do with.

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