Stellaris III: Shop at the Paradox Megacorp!

[factotum]

I mean, if there were a bunch of self-driving police cars on the roads, I'd still slow down and be extra careful when I see one on the off chance that it's a real cop. That's basically what having a bunch of unarmed corvettes flying around does. Pirates just aren't brave enough to chance a confrontation because they can't tell how much weaponry the ships have until they engage them.

But if that were the logic, why is the piracy suppression value far better (in terms of their cost in fleet power and alloys) for corvettes than for bigger ships? If pirates are figuratively pooping their pants at the sight of a few corvettes, a battleship ought to have them running for the hills!

That's my biggest objection to piracy suppression as it stands--I would rather that my piracy suppression fleets are general-purpose fleets I could theoretically use for home system defence as well, but that's not possible if they consist entirely of corvettes.