Heya!
So, after trying my hand at colony making, ive started to know how and when to build colonies, how to build them to avoid dying early, etc.
Something that doesn't make sense to me, however, is the consequences and rewards, and the lore behind raids.
I might be rambling but why do PIRATES, of all things, create mega deathballs to attack colonies? Pirates, in my view, are mostly desperate people with no where to turn; much like in the tutorial, they are miners down on their luck, mercs with outstanding debts that turn to banditry to resolve it, or done by opportunistic criminals who think they can get away with it. These type of people do not tend to field large fleets or have the resources for such fleets, nor do they have the industry to sustain it.
Yet the pirates that attack me after a few months are just as bad if not WORSE than expeditions (which ill get back to soon). Not only does this not make sense lore wise (why are pirates even better military than age old factions?), how are they SUPPORTING these fleets? None of these pirate bases have an inkling of good industry, and most of them would take heavy losses attacking core worlds as core worlds are CORE for a reason; they are controlled by large factions with heavy pockets and massive fleets.
I understand pirates attacking me when im a puny 3 colony, maybe up to 4, but why are they attacking me when I have HEAVY BATTERIES, HIGH COMMAND, level 6 colony, and a massive fleet? They should be looking for other tactics. I know the excuse for this is "colonies are there for combat" but I have a solution that both makes sense AND is more fun to fight, but ill get to this soon.
Now to continue my rant, why do expeditions travel HUNDREDS of light years in MASSIVE fleets just to attack me, a guy minding his own business? Id understand if the expeditions were a) small, or b) because I have hostilities with them, but I am neutral if not IN GOOD STANDING with the HEGEMONY and they keep sending fleets against me. And there is no way to stop them unless I download mods like Nexer that lets me do a cease fire / alliance.
Not only should core factions not be sending expeditions (especially when they are at war against someone else) against the player unless they are hostile to said faction, the expeditions need to be drastically cut down to be more reasonable and realistic, with actual supply routes / ships factored in.
Now, my solution to the "colonies are there for you to be forced to fight" problem while fixing the "pirates are unrealistically powerful and sometimes even better than core factions if left alone" problem.
Once you get level 6 colony, you will be warned by a "cryptic warning beacon" or by a "shady man at the bar" of a "possible alien incursion" in 120 days. After 120 days, you will be invaded... by the Remnants!
You will get raided by them more, and faster, the farther you are away from the core worlds (which gives a in-universe reason as to why most of the major factions are in fighting instead of colonizing like you; because they know this hidden but open secret about the Remnants. This also explains all the ruins out in space and why you constantly get survey missions; you are fodder to detect if Remnant fleets are getting closer or farther from the Core Worlds and how powerful they are, and also explains how Warning Beacons became a thing.)
This gives a decent window (4-6 level) in your colony size for you to make cash, get a pristine nanoforge on a orbital works so you can build decent ships and weapons, and be prepared for the "threat".
This also gives a plausible and actual consequence to using AI cores; the more AI cores you use, the faster the Remnants locate and attack you. I don't consider Pathers or Hegemony inspections an actual threat to AI use, since one of them can be waited out, the other can be bribed.
Remnant expeditions will not appear from a pre-made base; they will only happen from medium beacon systems (colony 6-8 level) and red beacon systems (colony 9-10 level). This also lets you end the threat of the Remnants by wiping out their bases; but be careful, this might trigger "unexpected consequences".
Spoiler
If you have an AI core as an admin in any of your colonies, they will "rebel" out of fear that you will destroy them next out of your hatred of the Remnants, which will automatically convert your colony into a red level remnant fortress. Another possible consequence of using an Alpha AI core.
While we are on this topic, maybe one of the consequences of trying to remove your Alpha AI core as a admin is they'll send a special distress signal out into space, much like a Distress Signal, except it can only be heard by Remnant forces. This only happens if you continue to remove the core even after its attempts at black mailing you.
Anyway, im done rambling, I kinda just had random ideas pop up as I was ranting about inconsistent raids and lore. Thanks if you read this far.
) that I learned after playing the game for a while.