I have no problem with the idea of a threat that requires the player to actively patrol systems. However, there needs to be an in-game rationale and capability for that threat to exist. For 'pirates' to exist they need:
1) A shipyard to build their ships
2) Maintenance facilities to support them
3) Fuel Production facilities
4) Ordnance factories if they are missile-armed
5) Some way of building or acquiring all of the above and transporting/towing them to their destination
6) Population to man all of the above.
7) An economic rationale for their activity - why not use their ships for trade instead? Why is piracy more profitable or desirable when the potential (and likely) downside is destruction of their ships and loss of their lives?
It will be easier in C# Aurora to hide such facilities (due to reduced sensor ranges), but they still need to be created and moved to their destination. Also, the easiest way to destroy the 'pirates' would be to locate and destroy their support infrastructure so they would need defences for that too. I know 'Civilians' have support infrastructure we don't see but that infrastructure is not an active threat (and could be logically added if really needed).
BTW we aren't talking about a few guys in a skiff using RPGs to threaten a tanker. The 'pirates' in Aurora would be operating in deep space within the constraints of the Aurora economic model. Also, even if we draw parallels with Somali pirates, in the Aurora-verse the Western Powers would likely solve the problem by nuking the entire Somali coast.
I do have some ideas about spoilers or NPRs that will fulfill a 'raiding' function, using a logical rationale for their behaviour and with an economic support structure. However, having pirates in the classical sense is difficult to envision within the logical constraints of the game.
I totally agree that for piracy to make any sort of sense there are alot more other features that need to be in place first.
- Expanded Civilian trade, instead of a few large shipping companies that move bulk trade we need to have smaller civilian traffic that pirates can "hide" in or start small to take over smaller spaceships, which can be retrofitted to military
- Blurred lines betwen Civilian and Military ships, or at least the ability to convert between them.
- Expanded Civilian Economy, where flow of goods, people, wealth and raw materials as well as creation and consumption of goods/materials outside government control is better modeled.
--- ( part of above ) Civilian shipyards, so that pirates can buy or upgrade civilian ships into smaller military ships.
--- ( part of above ) Civilians that consume fuel and fuel trade, so that pirates can buy fuel outside of government control.
--- ( part of above ) Civilians that consume arms and arms trade, so that pirates can buy arms outside of government control.
--- ( part of above ) Civilians that need maintenance, so that pirates can buy maintenance services outside of government control.
--- ( part of above ) Civilian land combat units, so that pirates can recruit/gain control of such in use of boarding. ( Could also be very nice to have for uprisings )
- Colonies outside of government control, and the whole spectrum from lawful heavily protected core worlds to "wild west" fringe colony worlds where little to no government presence and control exists outside the main strategic mining operations.
- A way to raid and get past jump point blockades. If pirates are limited to a single system it won't be hard for a large Empire to flush them out. This is also needed if you want government raiding with "submarine style" military ships that can operate behind enemy lines and sap their supply-lines.
- A way for pirates to board Civilian freighters that is less risky and safe enough that they can be mostly guaranteed to be able to secure it's cargo.
The conclusion I draw is that the game needs to develop into a very performance heavy and likely micromanage heavy direction with a lot of civilian more activities modeled that might not be desirable for the playability of the game, if we want it to support a universe where piracy can happen. I see uprisings from unrest and long distance to capital / minimal government military presence as more realistic and fun and achievable goals on the road in this direction.
Ofcourse you can also just fudge it all and spawn free military ships for pirates, but I don't think that's a solution Steve or many of the fans of Aurora would like.