I'm enjoying the new AI. The pirates are supposed to be much tougher, so I've been playing FFA, vs unfairs, with pirates on. But I'm about ready to turn them off again. Why? Because I'm the DEFAULT receiver of pirate attacks. I get an attack if no bounty has been placed on anyone. Furthermore, the AI never tries to outbid each other, only increase the bounty on me. Basically, unless I micro the bounty (and spend loads of cash), I will get an attack. And because FFA AI's (whom are not allied in any way) seem to love unloading the bounty on me, I have the first 15 minutes of the game to get up a starbase, or else use my fleet's precious time (while it should be expanding) to drive off the obligatory pirate raid.
I am the only one who get bounty placed on me, EVERY SINGLE TIME. The pirates kill repair platforms like they're dust (and always targets them first), so unless I have a starbase, I have to use my fleet. And if I've been expanding rapidly during this time, then it isn't even that big. If I try to place bounty on another AI defensively, then the AI's seem to collectively outbid me (again, this is FFA), making the pirate raid even bigger, taking that much longer to kill. 
