Is it possible for sins to have mercenary ships and craft that you could hire when you're in a bit of a bind? Like in Empire at war or the Total War line ?

Not unless you count pirates, which are probably just going to be removed for the first release until we figure out what the hell to do with them.

If you're in a bit of a bind requisition some corvettes at the PDB or summon a fleet at the Comm Center. If you're attacking and in a bit of a bind..well..should have thought before you attacked :p

How come pirates are on the guillotine for first release?

Because they will require lots of art assets and it's unlikely we can think of a way to fit them in. It's likely the Scinfaxi will make an appearance in some form perhaps using the pirate system in later releases but not here.

weren't the pirates just going to be using human ships belonging to the 'big three'?

Local militia do .Pirates would require new stuff or it wouldn't really make sense.

Oh, ok, yeah, probably best to leave pirates till a subsequent release, that way you guys can focus on the big three, and give pirates some different, older designs.