In new 1.1 game i encountered couple of pirate shipyards and they all build nothing - they gust hang there with usual defence of one or two tiny ships... didn't now the recession hit pirates so hard 
I do use mods:
All Starbases Mine
Faction Wide Hyperion Logistics+Supply
Longer AoE
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But this is not my first game with those mods so...
Pirate option is set on common