Ok, I'm a total newb in this game, I'm liking it, mostly, so far but in all my games have run into a problem.

A predictable problem, but I can't seem to find a good counter.

The problem is pirates. Bet you saw that one coming.

I've had the game only a few days and I've tried playing a few small random maps. The problem is the pirates just keep coming. Wave after wave. Each wave gets bigger. I can't do any proper exploration or colinization because I need every ship I build to help combat the next wave. I try to keep research going, hoping to find breakthroughs in weapons that will help, but none are powerful enough.

I manage to totally destroy the fleets the pirates send at me, but of course there's always casualties and eventually the fleets the pirates bring to bear are so large I can't fend them off, I start taking heavier damage until I have nothing left to fight back with.

I figure I must have missed something, some strategy, some research path, that's critical to the start-game scenario to give me a chance at fighting back. Meanwhile, I see in the end-game charts the AI have credits, resources, etc... skyrocketing through the roof.

Any ideas?

Edit: See https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/321028 as well. (note to myself)