Pirate stations shouldnt be as strong and large as faction stations, thus
- Pirate stations need to be smaller
- focus on weaponry than anything else
- Should be weaker, with only ships for defense
- they should have stations inside asteroids with weapons poking out, once all weapons are gone, they abandon station.
- shouldnt use projectile weapons as they need ammo. if they do, they should have a factory inside the asteroid
I would suggest to take inspiration from Stellaris to see how those the pirate stations in that game are different and smaller and such, they feel like pirates not organised like factions
I understand that a large part of this will require a complete new and separate system to make stations and i feel the game can afford that for the numerous benefits it gives. this would apply to the factions too