The pirates should have a capital ship that turns the shape of the war, it should be that fearsome. Something that would take the combined strength of 3 fleets to take it down.
Well how they get the blueprints for a super ship and how come none of the other races have super ships?? I can see pirates having Caps. Heck we did that for Distant Stars, but in no way should the pirate ships be better than anything you can build.
Pirates would most curtainlly be able to aquire so pretty good hardware and designs. But they are pirates, not engineers & scientists. Haveing something is 1 thing, being able to use it is another.
Also the way pirates are funded by a faction, that faction is wanting (except in 1v1 games) anonymity. If the pirates rock up to attack your world with another factions ships and or technology, really that anonimity is lost. And factions are not likely to want to give pirates some of thier best technology for fear that it would be used against them in future raids.
I'm not against pirates having capitals per- say, and like you say, perhaps haveing them would reduce the number of other smaller craft they need. But they should be somewhat less powerful than what the factions have. More or less with the weapons and abilities they have now.
