Pirates

Pirates
General Information
Starting attitude Hostile (-65) Allies none Enemies Everyone except Luddic Path, Hostile (-50) Illegal goods none

	Not technically a unified faction but more a loose category of bandits, brigands, deserters, looters, soldiers of fortune, mercenaries, and free captains that share a common belligerence with the established powers of the Sector. Many pirates are runaways from the mainstream Sector society - usually oppressed by the status quo, stowaways from core worlds. Most pirate captains would hardly call themselves such, rather seeing themselves as challengers to the inept rule of the Hegemony or the League, seeking vengeance for the wrongs caused by such a misled society and taking what they can take through their cleverness and audacity. These captains can be characterized by their insatiable thirst for freedom and glory. Naturally, they give little thought to those that carry an official identification beacon, reserving their magnanimity for their fellow-travelers - other pirates.
–In-Game Faction Description

The Pirates are a widespread major faction in the Sector.

The pirates have markets in many systems, and can build Pirate Bases in uninhabited star systems. These bases can cause Pirate Activity in a star system, which disrupts normal commerce and growth in the affected system, and can launch Pirate Raids on said systems.

Other factions will sometimes post specific bounties on "named" Pirate fleets loitering in uninhabited areas, offering lucrative credits rewards. These fleets can be quite large and/or have highly skilled flagship captains.

Pirates ships are low quality, but they are still of better quality than those of the Luddic Path as Pirates have their Orbital Works in Kapteyn Starworks. Disrupting their only Orbital Works will significantly reduce their ship quality for a period of time.

Lore

	"Technically not a faction in itself, many soldiers of fortune, mercenaries and free captains share the same basic beliefs and ideas. Many are runaways from the mainstream Sector society - usually oppressed by the status quo, stowaways from core worlds. Most pirate captains would hardly call themselves such, rather seeing themselves as challengers to the inept rule of the Hegemony or the League, seeking vengeance for the wrongs caused by such a misled society. These captains are all characterized by their insatiable thirst for freedom, autonomy and self-protection. Naturally, they give little thought to those that carry an official Hegemony or League identification beacon, reserving their magnanimity for those they would call their equals - other pirates."
–Faction Folder

Warlord Leonis

The first major Pirate Warlord is Leonis, who led a conquest against the Core Worlds in c+47, most notably taking the Isirah Star System. They were defeated by the newly arrived Fourteeth Battlegroup in c+48, his defeat legitimized their power.

Warlord Onesimos Loke

Main article: Onesimos Loke

The second major Pirate Warlord is Onesimos Loke, a former Domain officer that invaded the Persean Sector, conducting raids against fringe worlds and achieving a major victory over the Hegemony when he was able to catch a taskforce unaware in Penelope's Star.

However, he was defeated by the young Hegemony officer Philip Andrada at the Battle of Magec, an achievement that brought Philip great renown.

Pirate Queen Jorien Kanta

Main article: Jorien Kanta

The third major Pirate Warlord and the current ruler, Jorien Kanta.

Originally a Domain officer who took over the station now known as Kanta's Den to operate as a Pirate base, before joining the Hegemony after their arrival in the Persean Sector.

Then betrayed the Hegemony to throw her lot with the aforementioned Onesimos Loke, before betraying the remaining elements loyal to him shortly after his defeat to establish her own dynasty that still exists today.

Fleet Doctrine

Ships

Pirates have a unique mechanic where any Blueprints sold on the black market will inevitably make their way to the fleets themselves, so be careful when selling Blueprints.

Generally, Pirates use Pirates variants ships instead of the normal variants. Some of these variants are only cosmetic differences, while others have more significant modifications, such as removed or changed Weapon Mounts. Besides these variants, they would also use "Technicals" based on Freighter ships, improvised combat ships that are generally a lot weaker than proper combat ships.

Frigates
Ship	Tech	Role	Credits	Military only?
Afflictor (P)	Pirates	Phase Frigate	33,000¢	No
Cerberus (P)	Pirates	Combat Freighter	10,000¢	No
Dram	Low Tech	Tanker	9,000¢	No
Gremlin (P)	Pirates	Phase Frigate	26,000¢	No
Hermes	Midline	Shuttle	5,000¢	No
Hound	Pirates	Combat Freighter	8,500¢	No
Kite (P)	Pirates	Shuttle	5,000¢	No
Lasher	Low Tech	Frigate	10,000¢	No
Mudskipper	Low Tech	Civilian Transport	5,000¢	No
Mudskipper Mk.II	Pirates	Frigate	6,000¢	No
Shade (P)	Pirates	Phase Frigate	32,000¢	No
Shepherd	Low Tech	Drone Tender	11,000¢	No
Wayfarer	Midline	Combat Freighter	15,000¢	No
Wolf (P)	Pirates	Frigate	10,600¢	No
Vanguard (P)	Pirates	Phase Frigate	30,000¢	No

Destroyers
Ship	Tech	Role	Credits	Military only?
Buffalo (P)	Pirates	Freighter	20,000¢	No
Buffalo Mk.II	Low Tech	Destroyer	19,000¢	No
Condor	Low Tech	Light Carrier	32,000¢	Yes
Enforcer (P)	Pirates	Destroyer	38,000¢	Yes
Manticore (P)	Pirates	Destroyer	45,000¢	Yes
Mule (P)	Pirates	Combat Freighter	40,800¢	No
Nebula	Midline	Civilian Transport	20,000¢	No
Phaeton	Low Tech	Tanker	22,000¢	No
Shrike (P)	Pirates	Light Destroyer	20,000¢	No
Tarsus	Low Tech	Freighter	19,000¢	No
Valkyrie	Midline	Troop Transport	20,000¢	No

Cruisers
Ship	Tech	Role	Credits	Military only?
Colossus Mk.III	Pirates	Modified Freighter	50,000¢	No
Eradicator (P)	Pirates	Fast Cruiser	75,000¢	Yes
Falcon (P)	Pirates	Light Cruiser	100,000¢	Yes
Venture Mk.II	Pirates	Cruiser	70,000¢	Yes

Capitals
Ship	Tech	Role	Credits	Military only?
Atlas Mk.II	Pirates	Modified Superfreighter	150,000¢	No

Wings

Table of Fighters
Image	Fighter	Designation	Design Type	OP	Wing Size	Base Value
	Talon	Interceptor	Low Tech	2	4	2,000¢
	Broadsword	Heavy Fighter	Low Tech	8	3	6,000¢
	Piranha	Bomber	Low Tech	10	3	6,000¢

Colony Crisis

Main article: Colony_Crises#Pirates

The moment the player establishes a colony, Pirates will start to take notice and raiding fleets will start to appear, which can be exacerbated by the presence of a nearby Pirate Base. Eventually, the Pirates will organize a massive raid targeting one of the player's system. This can be fought off or a deal can be made with Jorien Kanta to (mostly) prevent raiding, both of which will give all the player colonies an accessibility bonus.

Relationship Tier Flavour Text

Tier	Description
Cooperative	Your exploits are legendary and inspire scores of imitators. Your underworld connections and influence are enviable, giving access to black markets and hired guns; a river of hot goods, drugs and armaments are available at your whim.
Friendly	You've proven useful to some of the leaders of the various criminal enterprises in ther Sector. Harassing you may be more trouble than it's worth to a pirate who wants to breathe something more substantial than vacuum.
Welcoming	Pirates respect your swagger, and are inclilned to respect the notoriety you've gained in the underworld that allows you to throw your weight around a little to get what you want.
Favourable	You've been around pirates, smugglers, and other criminals often enough, and know how to act so they treat you as one of their own. This benefits of this comradeliness are dubious at best, of course, because they're known to gun one another down if enough credits are on the line.
Neutral	You've been around pirates, smugglers, and criminals long enough to know how to conduct business with them. That doesn't mean they won't attack if the opportunity presents itself, of course.
Suspicious	Pirates are generally only suspicious towards you, which is far sight better than the loathing they hold for most 'legitimate' space-captains. This doesn't mean they won't attack you if the credits are good, of course. Pirates are pirates, after all.
Inhospitable	Pirates will keep their weapons warm around your fleet, and view you with distrust. This is more than can be said for how they view their fellows much of the time. so it's not as if hostility is insurmountable if a large number of credits or sufficient intimidation is in play.
Hostile Player Fleet Points < 120	Although you are not utterly despised, pirates are more than willing to attack if they believe you have credits or cargo to plunder. Or if they're bored.
Hostile Player Fleet Points >= 120	Many pirates fear you, but few respect anything but your powerful fleet. Pirate bases are not willing to trade openly with you to avoid being seen as 'collaborators'. Pirates will attack you if they catch you in a moment of weakness.
Vengeful Player Fleet Points < 120	You are scorned as mere prey and despised as a lackey serving the fat, rich factions of the Persean Sector
Vengeful Player Fleet Points >= 120	You are hated by Pirates; they use a holo of your face for target-practice. No doubt there is a brash young pirate assembling a kill-fleet to ambush you to secure the immortality of their name, if not person, in the lawless shadows of the Persean Sector.

	You have paid off Warlord Kanta to ensure that pirates - mostly - don't attack your colonies.
–Additional Description after making a deal with Jorien Kanta

	You had, and lost, Warlord Kanta's protection over your holdings.
–Additional Description is the deal with Jorien Kanta is broken

	You are the one who spaced Kanta's clone of Loke.
–If the player spaced Loke during the events of At The Gates

Markets

Askonia	Corvus	Galatia	Hybrasil
Umbra, size 5	Garnir, size 3	Derinkuyu Mining Station*, size 4	Donn, size 3
Isirah	Kumari Kandam	Magec	Mayasura
Kapteyn Starworks, size 4,	Kanni, size 3,	Kanta's Den, size 3,	Lost Astropolis, size 4,
Thule	Yma
Thulian Raider Base, size 4	Qaras, size 5

NOTE: Derinkuyu changes to an Independent market after ??? some time.

Up to date for latest version, 0.97a.