How scary are the pirate invasions?

[lumpthing]

I heard someone imply that pirate invasions "collapse civilizations"? Are they really that bad? I'm trying to decide whether to allow that game option, but I'm not sure I want to if they're that powerful.

 

[Fafnir13]

6 boarding parties come ashore quite frequently around turn 150 in one game. If I hadn't been running iron axemen via the mines I don't know what I would have done.

On the subject of pirates:
If you start near the Lanun and like your fishing villages/boats, kill the Lanun asap. Pirates seem to spawn at an unreasonable rate from those pirate coves.

 

[lumpthing]

Ok thanks for the tip. Is the AI able to deal with pirate invasions?

 

[Goodgimp]

They can be quite nasty depending on the circumstances Unsure on how the AI handles them. I watched one pirate landing occur right by an AI city but they marched straight to my own. I don't know if this means:

1. The Pirate Invasions target players only

-or-

2. The player was Lanun, and maybe they have an agreement?

 

[Fafnir13]

The Lanun are at peace (by default) with the pirate faction.

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

The Lanun are at peace (by default) with the pirate faction.

doesn't seem like it, they're pillaging me

 

[Monkeyfinger]

It's probably tied to score like barb peace is. Lanun tend to own the scoreboard, which would shatter that kind of peace.

 

[[to_xp]Gekko]

any confirmation? that would make sense as my score was definitely number 1. doesn't seem right though... and the 1.5 treshold is way too low, 2 would be a lot better imho.

actually, I'd just get rid of that damn "you get DOWed by barbs if you get too powerful" altogether. hate it. takes all the fun out of it when you have to manage to have a low score. completely counterintuitive.