Pirates attack me instead of The highest bounty

I've searched all across the forums, and I haven't come across a post with this kinda dilemma.

This has happened to me several games. I'll have up a moderate bounty of 2000 credits to one of the opposing AI;

Then BAM! they seem to target me. I think there traveling Through my territory, to reach the person with the bounty?

But even so, why wouldn't they just continue on, and move through (yes even though my defenses are attacking them) to attack the target I'M PAYING THEM to go after?

I love the pirates option, but why should I invest in such a high amount of credits for them to go after someone else, if there's a slight chance, my worlds are along the way, just for them to stop, attack me and stay, basically plowing through my world, destroying everything, and not the target with the highest bounty?

I could just easily invest the 2k+ on a larger fleet, defenses and just deal with the idiot AI pirates.

Does basically everyone just ignore the bounty? or just take a chance?

Sorry, for all the questions and comments, But I'm still a bit of a newb. I just would like I hear everyone's opinion on this.

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There are three ways this can happen. If they're just trekking through your territory, they should just pass through, but to be honest it's a long time since I've played with pirates enabled so this could have been changed in a patch. This is indeed a possibility, and if it's the case you may not be able to avoid being the pirate raid target.

A second possibility is that someone sniped your bid at the last second. The ebay bidding system is a bit annoying this way; whoever has the highest bounty at the exact millisecond of the pirate raid launch is the target, meaning that winning the bid basically comes down to correctly guessing the instant the pirates deploy and bidding a split-second earlier.

A third and remote possibility is that you captured an enemy planet after the pirate raid was dispatched. The pirate raid target will not change, so they may attack your newly acquired planet, even though the owner has changed.

I could just easily invest the 2k+ on a larger fleet, defenses and just deal with the idiot AI pirates.

Does basically everyone just ignore the bounty? or just take a chance?

In vanilla and Entrenchment, yes. Pirates are an utter joke and easily beaten by even a modicum of defense. If anything, being attacked by pirates is a benefit since it will help level up your capital ship. No one bids on pirates in these versions of the game. In Diplomacy, pirates are considerably more powerful and people will often bid on pirates, but they are by no means an end-all. You could play it either way depending on how the map is laid out.

This discussion is moot, though, since most veterans play with pirates disabled. Pirates in multiplayer is virtually unheard of.

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Darvin3 is right.

I would say most likely you where outbid at the last second which can happen a lot.

Or they where already on thier way to attack that planet before you aquired it.

But if they are just passing through then they should keep going even if you defenses kick in and attack them.

Personally I have never noticed them stopping to engage if they are just passing through.

I play with pirates on about 90% of the time but i must admit about 90% of the time i wish i had them turned off as they are a major pain in the butt.

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If I had to guess, I'd say that you were simply in their way. I've had pirates attack me even if I wasn't the target. Although I haven't played in a while, and not since the newest beta, so their AI may have changed.

Bid sniping is pretty common, but that's easy to rule out if you keep an eye on the meter. Keep in mind though, that if you are actively fighting when the pirates launch, then some of the bounty may disappear before you can see it due to your ships and/or planets being damaged.

I'll have to play some, see what happens to me. I'll letcha know if I find anything of interest.

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Thanks for your input Much Appreciated.

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