First I was also annoyed about the pirates, especially one time when they sunk my Lemboi fleet with my newly recruited invincible full stack super elite army on board.

On the other hand seafaring in the ancient world was dangerous and great losses occured frequently. So I take the pirates as the avatars of the danger of the sea itself (cause there are no storms etc. in EB).

And imagine the feeling you get when later your triere fleets wipe the pirates from the sea. Before that time you have to be careful and suffer a bit.

If you cannot afford to loose a fight, use the console (^ button on my board) and type "auto_win defender".


I like very much the posted idea that a small fleet or single ships could be recruited in mercantile ports. That would be great for reconnaissance and patroling alike. Perhaps also naval mercenary ships are possible which could be recruited in sea provinces?