Wait, isn't that basically the same thing as hiring mercenaries? Although, I guess mercs would try to keep to a certain standard and maintain their reputation, while pirates would be willing to do anything. (There's a fine line between mercs and pirates/bandits...) And if I remember one of Josh's ol...

How about a slight modification to the "Dead-end node" option? You get a blueprint that you can build, but are not able to research it initially. However, since you already have a working end product, you know the direction you'd have to research to get to the RE'd blueprint. (Maybe have the require...