Pirate pains

It's not too difficult to outbid the AI. First keep concentrating with your mouse over the bid button, and second don't stop concentrating until the pirate raid is launched. The clock counts to zero, then there is some extra time to bid, and the AI usually bids after the clock is at zero. So make sure you keep watching until the raid is actually launched.

On the subject of pirates one thing I'd like to be able to do is to have a small panel, that I can keep off to one side that shows the pirate status, and would enable me to bid, so that I don't have to stop watching a critical battle while waiting to increase my bounty.

One other question, does anyone know if you destroy the pirate base, do they still keep coming?

If you destroy the pirate then base players can no longer bid on pirates. Raids still seem to happen though; whether they were just raids which were under way before the pirate base was destroyed or if the pirates which are left will randomly attack people I don't know for sure.

Hi there,

Allthough I am a new pleayer to Sins (a playing a 1v1, medium size random universe with 2 stars, against a easy researcher just to get the hang of the game), somehow and by pure luck I managed to destroy the pirate base quite early in a former game   . That game was also a 2-star game, medium size universe. And guess what...the other universe also has a pirate base, and they WILL travel long ranges to attack your nearest planet to the wormhole. As said, the closest pirate base was destroyed and still they came from the other pirate base in the other universe....what will happen if even that base is blown to smithereens, I don't know, since one destroyed pirate base was a lucky move in itself....

But, the original question of Javaslinger was concerning outbidding the pirates. Strangely, I never have any problemens outbidding the AI. When I hear the notification that "the price on your head has increased" or something, I immediately click the Pirates button and quickly click one or two times on the button next to my AI opponent. In 8 of 10 cases, I am faster than the computer can outbid my proposed bounty....maybe the game speed affects the time in which you need to outbid the opponent??? Haven't tried that, though....

Hope this answers any of your questions?

Greetz,

TheCrow68

Against AI the best ploy is to dump 500 on *two* different opponents. It'll be cheaper for them to get the pirates off themselves by bidding on the other, and so that's who they bid on. No more pirates for you!

(this works on players too... up the bid on one, then wait a few seconds before upping the bid on the other. The second will think the first incorrectly guessed who bid on them. The first will know something screwy is going on, but it's still cheaper for him to bid on the second.)

As soon as you hear that a pirate raid is going to be launched, you have to go to the pirates panel and check the bids adding more cash as appropriate. Do not leave the panel until the raid has been launched against an opponent.

I have a suggestion about the pirates. Pirates are rather dumb. When they come to your planets, they have an odd attack order. Except for the pillagers which will attack your planet first and only your planets, the rest are dumb.

They will attack in this order:

1. Trade Ships (Why, I don't know)
2. Planetary Defenses
3. Your Ships
4. Your logistics buildings

I may have three and 4 reversed, in general I have a fleet there by the time the defenses are gone.

My advice is this. Take advantage of this and exploit pirate weakness. If your opponent is going to bid on pirates, let them. On your planet that is closest to the pirates build defense, probably 1-3 repair bays and about 5-15 turrets. The bigger the raid, the more you should have. The first two levels of raids can seriously be handled by 1 repair bay and 5 turrets provided you put them all very close together and in front of the way the pillagers will head to bombard your planet.

Occasionally, you may have to build defenses on two planets. Unfortunately, this isn't an exact science. They may head to a different planet because it was really quicker to get to that one, but that should only happen once and then you know where to build defenses.

The easiest way by far to outbid someone is to put bids on two people, both higher than your own, and make sure they stay above your own.

Spending on pirates early is a waste though. The first raids are so weak that a fleet of 7-8 lrms and the cap are all a person needs. You won't cripple an opponent with excessive spending on pirate raids so early in a game, you'll cripple yourself.

If you press F8 as soon as you see that you have been outbid, then you will put money on your highest-bid opponent. This is helpful so you don't have to leave battle.