A plague of pirates

[QuintusSertorius]

I know pirates are hardcoded, but in two of my recent games, the seas seem to be awash with them. For a time I didn't think they ever blockaded anyone but me, but I did notice them (very occasionally) blockading AI factions.

What's unusual is the sheer number of them, in my Kyrenaian game they've cleared the seas of every other navy, I don't even dare put to sea myself any more.

I also saw some pirates on land, a half-stack of "Listerion" rebel troops who must have come ashore from a ship. Never seen that before.

[Blxz]

It is possible to change the rate they spawn. In one of the files (which i cannot seem to find....I think its descr_strat) you can see the pirate and rebel spawn rate with a number. Higher number is more rare. Put it at about 5000 and you are unlikely to see mass pirate spawn ever. They will be killed off as quickly, if not more quickly than they spawn.

[Arjos]

Either move the pirates, or if you are allied with a faction with a great navy, for example the Ptolemaioi, move their fleets close to the pirates...
As for the Listerion troop, it could be an extinct faction navy...

[QuintusSertorius]

It is possible to change the rate they spawn. In one of the files (which i cannot seem to find....I think its descr_strat) you can see the pirate and rebel spawn rate with a number. Higher number is more rare. Put it at about 5000 and you are unlikely to see mass pirate spawn ever. They will be killed off as quickly, if not more quickly than they spawn.

If it's in descr_strat, then it's not save-game-compatible. I'm not really so worried about it, I just thought it was interesting the way they seem to have recently bloomed like plankton!

Either move the pirates, or if you are allied with a faction with a great navy, for example the Ptolemaioi, move their fleets close to the pirates...
As for the Listerion troop, it could be an extinct faction navy...

I've been doing that sometimes, but there aren't any AI navies left. Not sure whether that's from pirate-hunting or naval battles with other factions.

There are no extinct factions in any of my games, so the Listerion troop can't be from there.

[athanaric]

Those stacks are annoying but you can beat them fairly easily. A group of three to six units of Hellenistic ships (preferrably Triereis or heavier - Trieremiolai are ideal, if you can get them) can usually annihilate a big stack of pirates without breaking sweat. Even a group of six Germanic warship units can destroy a half stack of pirate ships. The only factions facing serious problems wit pirates are the two "Skythian" factions and Pahlava.

[Cambyses]

Well, its a big bother for the non-celtic barbarian factions as they cant get decent ships. It takes a massive investment to get a fleet capable of taking the pirates out. And its such a large investment that it isnt worth doing IMO.

For civilized factions however you just need to recruit some of the higher tier ships and go hunt them down. Once the backlog of pirates has been cleared it is relatively easy to keep the seas clear of them, its just that first push thats daunting. And there are so many probably because they have come down from the Baltic. They seem to spawn there all the time.

[Ibrahim]

I know pirates are hardcoded, but in two of my recent games, the seas seem to be awash with them. For a time I didn't think they ever blockaded anyone but me, but I did notice them (very occasionally) blockading AI factions.

What's unusual is the sheer number of them, in my Kyrenaian game they've cleared the seas of every other navy, I don't even dare put to sea myself any more.

I also saw some pirates on land, a half-stack of "Listerion" rebel troops who must have come ashore from a ship. Never seen that before.

just conquer west country

jokes aside, you're going to need a hell of a navy. I hope you don't have anyone harrasing your borders, because I would recommend cutting the army down, to make room financially for a navy.