@ lethargie: No single event burns down a world, but several in a row can. I have ignored pirates for a year or more, and watch raids against core worlds succeed repeatedly time after time because core worlds seem helpless against them. As a result, Asharu decivilized in one game. After that experience, I am very paranoid over pirate raids. Other games, some worlds got uncomfortably low stability after two or more successful raids. That is no good if I want core to live. Am I expected to play space cop with not enough time to travel to search for loot I should get (like blueprint packs or nanoforges), missions I want to do (especially special ones), or possible colony locations? Traveling takes time, especially if player does not have Navigation. Traveling without Navigation is miserable enough that I now think it is must-have.
I live with expeditions or other so-called "choices", but that does not mean I have to like it, especially if the choices seem forced, that is the alternative is bad enough that it is not really a (good) choice. I do not want to spend nearly every moment babysitting a colony, whether mine or a core world.
I think there are too many battles forced on you if you do not want bad things happen to you (directly or indirectly). Much of it is pirates breaking the core worlds non-stop. (There needs to be a delay before bases respawn to attack core worlds again so player can have a breather.) Expeditions is probably the least annoying after I have colony defenses that can crush them automatically, but the rep hit means I need to take time off to rebuild rep. Last release, it did not cost rep (unless you fought personally), and they could be completely ignored.
I do not like that cores are so safe to use that taking colony skills yourself is a very stupid "choice". The worst they do is possible gotcha through a possible UI fault.
I do not want to play a mod that makes the game easier. I can cut out the middleman (mod) and just say "I WIN".