Have you fixed that Pirates will linger in a Gravity Well if there are mines because they think there is still stuff left to kill but don't know how to?
This is serious one. I can live with strong pirates late game, but this issue causes them to pretty much take over the galaxy late game. I also think the timer on player issued pirate missions needs to be longer. Late game I don't need to make ships anymore, as the pirates I can throw at people are many times stronger than anything I can make myself. Allowing it once every 15 minutes or so would be more reasonable IMO.
Am I just tired and missed something? Those changes doesn't sound like they'll do anything much to make the pirates weaker. Not as good in the beginning yea, but in late game when I feel I wanna take them down and send in my whole maxed out fleet I don't wanna get run over like a baby in the olympic marathon like last time.
They nerfed pirate weapons a bit too. If the above issues are fixed, I don't have any problem with it IMO. Pirates are now great at breaking late game stalemates, and forcing an end to the game. After all, Sins is a RTS not a turn based strategy game. If you don't like them being strong, you can just turn them off or use Entrenchment. I for one would like to continue to see them be a factor late game.