On general terms, its always better to report in something, then not to, if you are somehow uncertain about something or you find something that strikes you as odd or strange - report it in (your apology on this note is still much appreciated). That is, after you have first checked that someone else has not beaten you to it already. If nothing else, you will that way always get more clarity about it, due to reporting it in - if it is not a valid bug/error or something like that - I will probably post up some explanatory remark about it. Having said that...

It is not uncommon that England and the Norse get completely destroyed by the rebels initially in RXB1005 - they can survive too, so it can go either way for both factions. Each campaign varies, as you well know. The pirate presence on the high-seas are rather common (but not certain) initially, usually they slowly disappear after some 100-120 turns as their ports are lost and their capacity to replenish their numbers disappears - and ordinary factions want to claim the seas. The are there to ensure that trade routs and sea-lanes will have too be conquered/secured, and then defended - much in the same way as it is for lands. The player are free to trade, but in Redux he must fight for it - unlike the raw game (or basically anything else ever made for MTW). Pirates is a distinct redux-trait that I don't think you will find elsewhere, and in some RX-campaigns it can end up to being very hard simply because of unchecked pirates has been allowed to roam too freely, for too long.

I have commented on this stuff before and most of it still holds true... Here for instance... In post: 461, (the general thread) I wrote...

Quote Originally Posted by Axalon View Post
Rebels & pirates
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Personally, I think that one should contain the rebels as soon as possible or when one can afford it. At least in the relevant region of interest - before they get too dangerous and strong there – as they can at times. If rebels are left alone for too long in provinces with ports and castles they will obviously grow stronger, with more troops and ships, eventually becoming truly dangerous as long as they stay there… We are more or less forced to actively fight them in Redux - sooner or later – or there might be chaos all over the map. Still, I have seen plenty of campaigns were it never comes to that as they are pretty fast reduced to obscurity in some corner. This is Redux, so it can go either way, depending on what happens in game. Anyway, allowing the rebels/pirates too many functional ports and wharfs is never a good idea in the long run….
I checked your save, and yup the pirates are pretty strong there at the moment - but I see no direct or obvious errors. I also see plenty of functional ports held by rebels, and that explains and the cause for it. If they lose their ports, they will eventually get weaker (but all the existing ships will have too be destroyed, ordinary factions will help with that). If you allow them to keep their ports, they will probably get even stronger before they get any weaker... Basically, you must typically actively fight rebels in Redux, or they can potentially become a serious problem...

- A