I give up

Um, because we didn't lose our minds when we lost our first game. Also, because most of us play with the pirates off (though they were weak before diplomacy). Just calm down, ask for some advice, and you'll get better. If you just blow the game off after one defeat, then yes, all you will get is a two for your money. If you actually try to figure the game out, realize it is not your average RTS, and learn to play it differently, it is easily the 8 or 9 rated game the reviews say it is.

Or you could turn pirates off. >_>

Then go "ooo" at the green stars. Sure it's not entirely factual, but it's purdy.

There are also mods that address this kind of thing. But turning Pirates off is a good start,

Also talk to some of the modders in the forum, they can show you the ropes on tweaking

the game to get the Pirates where you want. And later if you want to get them closer to normal

or even more (haha, crazy idea now i know, but maybe something for later )

Then once you know how to tweak the settings yourself, then you can bring them back up to

something which will give you a little more of a challenge, but yes, i do understand starting out

getting your head handed to you, it happened to me for a couple of weeks before i tweaked it

so i wasn't dying every game.  :) 

Just maybe one in three or four. 

Also you can ask for a modder (me perhaps this weekend i will have time) and they can perhaps

put something together to weaken or slow down the Pirates so it gives you a little breathing room.

What version of Sins are you running? Diplomacy or Entrenchment or the Original and the version

number if you have it. Its in the bottom right on the menu screen when you start up the game.

p.s   Take a look at this, i forgot i already did this once! 

put the inner folders in the c:/users/appdata/local/ironclad games/sins of a solar empire/mods-diplomacy v1011 folder

(this is for windows 7, if you have xp or vista i think the line is:

c:/users/application data/local/ironclad games/sins of a solar empire/mods-diplomacy v1011 folder

(in the application data folder instead of the appdata folder)

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/378900

Try the weak pirates first and see if it is too easy, if not enjoy, if it is, then bump up to moderate or to

strong, whichever you like, let me know if it helps, i would hate to loose a sins gamer just because the

pirates are a pain in diplomacy. 

Take care,

-Teal

I am a little befuddled at the reports of pirate problems.  Even after diplomacy I've never really had pirate issues.   They destroy a lot of stuff, but not more than the AI does by themselves.   (I mean unless you're playing on easy or something, where the AI just kinda lies down)

But yeah.... easy.   If you don't like it with pirates... turn them off.   Even if I subtracted a whole star for a feature that is easily turned off I'd give this game about a 4 of 5.    (as it stands I give 'about a 5' because I feel 5's should be rare and I have to penalize it for its unresolved story)

Oh, there are times the AI doesn't bother lying down, even on Easy.  I'm playing my first game after a couple-year layoff, so I'm trying to re-learn.

I remember I used to be able to kick the pirates in the teeth with sufficient prep, so when I ran into them on the third planet away from home I started gearing up.  I ended up running the whole tech tree and all but the top notch of Fleet Logistics--I kept trying earlier and getting my head handed to me--before I could get out with even a third of my force, and I lost six level 6-8 capital ships.

That was when the AI showed up at my seemingly well-defended world bordering the pirates, but he brought 11 capital ships and dozens of supporters.  Game pretty quickly over.

Imagine my lack of surprise when my suspicion that pirates had been beefed up severely was confirmed here.

So how do I turn the pirates off? I too am becoming disheartened with the game. I've played "Quick Strike" about 10 times (I picked that scenario because I thought it would be the easiest one - please tell me if I'm wrong about that). I not only have yet to win, but I've yet to take over any other planets. There is inevitably a point, usually around 90 minutes to 2 hours in, where the computer will just descend on my home planet with a ridiculous amount of ships. This seems to happen regardless of what my strategy is or how I prioritize building my people up. Obviously I'm missing something, but there just seem to be so many variables that I have no idea what it could be. Maybe turning the pirates off will help, but I have no idea how to do this.

O_o

Before you start the match, there is a map options button you can select. Among other options there is a toggle pirates button.

By take over other planets, you mean you don't know how to colonize planets or you can't take any from the enemy?

Also while the small maps are the quickest, they aren't always the easiest because the AI seems to work best on a small scale. Thus larger maps will give you more breathing space to get started, though it might become an ridiculously long game for beginners. I would recommend playing a random map with no AI opponents until you are a bit more comfortable with the faction you are playing with and how to build up/manage an empire if you are still having difficulty.

I've been playing for about three hours over the last two days. I worked out how to turn off pirates, add my name etc but I can't understand what the tutorial is telling me to do. Colonize an astroid? Great but how?

My disc came yesterday. It's called Sins of a Solar Empire. Games for Windows. I have no add ons or versions that I know of.

What's proving frustrating is the pdf manual on my disc is just the front cover. I double checked and even downloaded a different pdf reader but still it's just the front cover.

So I have no instructions to read and am lost. It's the same on EVE, I gave up after the trial because the menu doesn't have any real help.

I'll take any advice that's offered and be glad of it.   I started (I think) a friendly small game with no pirates. I can't confirm this as I have no idea how to do that.   I know, what an idiot, right?   Sorry but I'm doing what I can by pressing buttons in the dark.

Build a colony frigate or a capital ship with the colonize ability. The colony frigate is the last one in the frigate build list, right below the scout. The capitalship for the TEC is the Akkan battlecruiser.

Google is your friend. http://issuu.com/pparas/docs/sins_of_a_solar_empire_manual

If 15 minutes later you don't get a "Pirate Raid if forming" warning you're probably good.

Then I guess you're playing 1.0 of the original Sins of a Solar Empire, which is actually about 4 or 5 years old at this point, so just keep in mind the rest of us are playing very different games.

and 1.0 is incredibly, incredibly buggy and unoptomized. how the hell did you managed to get such an old relic?

Thanks for such a speedy reply. Once I've worked out what "the TEC" is I will get right on that!

Thanks for the link. I did hunt round google and it led me here but the posts I read just said "I got the manual with my disc...".

Would that happen with Pirates off? *gulps*

Crikey! Do I need to buy updates or add ons?

Thanks again.

Now all I have to do is work out why the avatar I chose is still not showing up. Ooh might need to be updated by a mod or similar.

Amazon. I think it was £4.75.  :(  What should I buy/download? 

https://www.sinsofasolarempire.com/store

the good news is: if you registister that horrible old thing, you might do a bit better than breaking even due to the discount.

Ooh really? I tried but the only SSE I could find was called Trinity and when I entered my key number it said, not valid. Must be another way to register. I sent an email via website but got another error message. Maybe I'm the only one left here and you're a helpful AI?

Holy cow! Look at the prices. Oh ok those are dollars. I have to go find English sites. I'll head back to amazon as I have an account with them. Thanks for all your help.

nope. Amazon doesnt sell Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion.

You really should buy from https://www.sinsofasolarempire.com/store .

Nope, they don't. But that's not an English site and I only pay for things in my English money with my English credit card that protects me much more than US ones. So looks like I'm stuck. Hmph!

well. you could also buy here: but you wont get the discount: http://store.steampowered.com/app/204880/?snr=1_7_suggest__13

Pirates are a mixed blessing.  They might help you in the short term, but in the long term the other side who manages to survive the raids get better at it.  Higher level cap ships, more money, etc.

Even buying your way out of an attack gets too costly over time.  So I turn them off on 1v1 or 2v2 games.  Bigger games though, they are almost a necessarily:P

I think the only thing that'll take GBP direct would be PayPal.  I don't even think Steam does that.

The game is £24.99 on Steam for Rebellion. Trinity is £12.99. Steam accept GBP.

simplest question to answer in the world. have money pay them off. outcome... NO PIRATES. then when they send half their fleet some where else (or some of it) take the base ergo no pirates and another fort. (with good perks). just to add to bad you cant add at least one frigate constructor to be able to build pirate ships. i like having a few they look kool ^^ or just turn them off. but use the first idea if you want them on.