Better Pirate Ship Designs V1.2 (Outdated?)
Version 1.2: Reduced the number of Nuclear Bombs carried by Marauders and Ravagers from 2 and 4 respectively to 1 and 2 respectively, so that they’ll have more space to mount weapons. Also reduced the number of Anti-Missile Rockets on Ravagers from 8 to 4, again, so that they’ll have more space to mount weapons. (Previously, their designs, while overly-protected, were broken, as they didn’t have enough room for weapons.)
Version 1.1: Fixed broken pirate raiders, which were mistakenly armed with only point-defense missiles.
Do the pirates seem like total pushovers, even in large numbers? Well hopefully, now their ships should provide you with a decent challenge in the early-game.
All ships come equipped with Battle Pods, so that they may carry a little extra weaponry.
Raiders: They’re now armed with Stingray Missiles instead of their beam weapons. They also carry a single Nuclear Bomb, so that they can destroy unprotected structures and colonies.
Marauders: They now carry Class-I Shields, and Anti-Missile Rockets to provide some protection against enemy missiles, but are still easy to overwhelm with decent numbers of frigates.
Ravagers: They’re now a very serious threat towards poorly-defended fringe colonies, since they now sport Class-III Shields, some pretty solid anti-missile defenses, and enough Stingray Missiles to easily destroy any frigate they happen to target. Unless you don’t mind losing one or more of whatever frigates you decide to send against them, I’d recommend bringing a few Destroyers, or even one or two Cruisers, to deal with them.
Another mod to consider if you want the pirates to be an even more persistent threat in the early-game: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=803599069
A mod to consider if you feel as if the AI players are getting overwhelmed by these pirates too easily: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=804030695
A mod to consider if you feel as if your defenses are unable to stand up to these more powerful pirate fleets: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=804032754
