Cuttyhunker

I started campaign with spice it up mods pkg. Map is not revealed. I am building up ditchwater and a pirate comes by with a SOL and attacks. As I keep playing, I realize that Steam ships are for sale from the crown and I don't even have any shipyards yet!! By the time I get a shipyard, pirates have multiple SOL's patrolling my area. So is this how it is going to affect the game using mods, where they have distinct advantage over me or did I do something wrong? I was assuming it would be a decent progression in to these things in the game mechanic, not an instant upgrade to AI.