Seriously I can't play this game anymore without being attacked by these little buggers. Not only do they churn out more ships than a cruel AI, they can spawn a vasari titan 10 minutes into the game. How the hell is that not overpowered? These stupid pirates can singlehandedly solo 3 human players at once... Believe me I've seen it happen. 

Now some morons might claim you can just turn off pirates, but that isn't really a solution. Using the "turn off" feature doesn't get rid of the pirate gravwell. So the pirates can still launch raids against your planets, but won't get any of the bounty laid by players.

I suggest Stardock completely remove pirates in order to achieve a more balanced game.