Interesting.

Will the general difficulty level have other effect on this minigame beside the battle difficulty? Say, will they inflict more damage on your ship quicker on NM and will the player's long-range attacks be weaker against them?
(Minor typo in the last sentence, I don't think "conditions" should be in plural.)
Those of you who hate bad puns, look elsewhere....
Are those pirates rowmanceable or shall we just ship them elsewhere? :D