One would think that a pirate would have found some sort of blueprint for shields. I mean, they're pirates. Pirates take hostages, valuable hostages. Why wouldn't they just kidnap some scientists and force them to develop improved shield technology compatible with larger amounts of armor?

Im writing a fan fiction because im a nerd that explains why pirates do not have shield technology. In summary its just whenever the pirates highjack a ship the captains sabotage the shield technology making it inaccessible to them.

Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair. In other words, the user is at fault, not the program or the machine.

AFAIK is As Far As I Know.

Again, the pirates would be able to at least hire a good engineer....And not all of them are imminently retiring either, I'm guessing. Plus, seeing as the pirates would seem to have a goodly amount of money from all the credits people give them through bounty, wouldn't some pirates be able to hire away some of these supremely skilled engineers? And also, come to think of it, how do the normal empires get so many of these engineers? A fleet in one large map can get quite close to the standard 2000 point fleet supply limit, and most of these ships have shields. And that's a heck of a lot of ships. And in only a few star systems, even on a large map. And our galaxy has a lot of stars, and a lot of fighting, and a lot of ships in the universe of Sins. And titans and cap ships would probably require even more of these specialized and brilliant engineers to maintain their larger and more advanced shield systems. Same goes for the Iconus, which can even extend its shields to other ships. So we're discussing a huge number of brilliantly talented individuals here. And I know that there are a lot more individuals in the universe of Sins than there are on the planet Earth right now, hence more smart people. But not all of these smart people are going to become quantum field engineers. In fact, most of them will probably end up in your labs as theorists, not as glorified mechanics with PhD's in shield maintenance. 

Also, if the necessary thing for shields is some sort of valuable crystal thingy, again, why couldn't the pirates just buy some of these, along with an instruction manual?

Why?

Because as it stands now pirates are nothing but a slight bother at times. Ive honestly NEVER run into a gamebreaking issue with pirates. They send a raid and destroy one of your planets. So what its not game over. You let them do their thing and rebuild. Its a hinderance but its what they are designed for. What you are suggesting is making the Pirates less useful in a sabotage sense which would mean theres no need in having them at all. They are a tool for weaker players to use against stronger players when the weaker don't have the ships to back it up.

I wouldnt suggest a definate Novalith but as I said a baby one. Something that does a fraction of the damage but still poses a threat. I ignore pirates for the whole duration of a game unless I see their fleet in one of my systems. I then think 'can I get my fleet there in time to save that planet or do I just let it fall and rebuild'. Its honestly so easy to just let them take out whatever they want and rebuild.

I dont see the hardship with them tbh. Its not like they are running around with fleets of 10+ titans.

These pirates are more like a fully-armed rogue military than terrorists.  They have a permanent well-defended base, fleets of warships, and assuming any of their ships have antimatter reserves, antimatter reactors.  They've also been raiding everyone for years and probably have massive war chests of loot from it.  The pirates at this point are more like Iran or North Korea than Al-Quaeda thanks to their base, fleets, and relative wealth.

They don't have antimatter reactors.

I was talking about the Pirates, not Iran and North Korea.

I can definitely see how certain technologies are off limits to the Pirates. What I don't get is how they manage to field ships with better health, armor and damage than the military.

True. But assuming that we aren't starting at the beginning of the conflict between the races, the pirates have had LOADS of time to stockpile money and upgrade ships. In fact, they've probably been around almost since the start of the Trade Order. Which would give them plenty of time to get money and good ships.

Mind you I like the Pirates just the way they are right now. Waiting for the raid strength fix though...

I've suggested something like this before, but you worded it better.  This just makes all kinds of sense, and elimiates the whole problem of 'last second outbid nets you 100% of the pirate attack'.