Some comments:
Like Thaago says, early game lasts longer.
Shrike (P) is useful for bullying pirates early, if I have Loadout Design 3 to scrap enough OP for something decent, if not great. (Without that perk, it is too OP starved to have a decent loadout.)
My game is at the end of cycle 206, and the majority of the person bounties are in the 80k-100k range, which is doable with my fleet of destroyers and frigates. Last release, almost all of the bounties would be 150k+ by the end of 206, but not now. So far, this is an improvement. I just built a colony on a Terran planet with modest resources. I will see if colony before endgame is a useful option this time.
Noticed some lore NPCs running the capitals of various factions, and some have all three colony skills like an alpha core.
Culann is run by an alpha core, at least according to Luddic Path. Alpha core gives +10 to pather interest. (Did not know that before.) The administrator appears to be a human with all three skills, but Pathers say it is run by AI core.
Noticed sleeper cells appear at 7 interest, and active cells at 8.
Found the pather base bar option. It is a different style than pirates, and it is not free. Makes sense in context.