Every time I start my first colony it feels like the game ends for me. I cannot explore or trade, because I need to keep guarding my colony. Right after one raid I get another almost instantly. At some point pirates just send fleet so big that I can't withstand the pressure. I lose my fleet or my colony gets raided. Either way it leads to decivilization of colony and me quitting my current game. I used to play with Nexerelin mod, but I've read pirates can be much more aggressive. I've deactivated it, but to my surprise, in my next playthrough it got even worse.
It feels like pirates are the strongest faction, they have bases everywhere, they spawn massive fleets out of nowhere. I destroy hundreds of their ships, but they keep coming back. Other factions seem not to care about me whatsoever, but the moment I settle my first colony pirates just can't give me a break.
It's a shame really, because this games feels so good and so balanced on so many different levels. Getting to the point of colonizing is so much fun, but after that I'm stuck. I don't know, maybe I'm doing something wrong or missing something. I'd love to know, because this game is one of the best games I've played in a while and fact that it is still in development is exciting, since there is more upcoming content. However, for now I can't make myself to start another playthrough, for it is too frustrating.
I grant you pirates can become a problem. However, that usually stops being an issue for me around the time when my colony has the patrol HQ and station up. Normally, I already have a couple million saved up before I get my first colony, so I can afford to sit there and make sure it survives the first 8 or so months until it's defenses are up.
Some of the strongest fleets the hegemony can send my way have a chance at defeating my defense fleets (when you throw 4+ Onslaughts into a fight, it gets kinda hard to stop them). However, they all fail at the ground assault, without question. Especially if you got the planetary shield to help make your ground defenses even better. However, by the time those fleets even start showing up. I'm running around in a Paragon fleet, or something similar, ensuring I can delete any threats that actually require my attention.
The Intel panel shows you the odds of the raiding fleet succeeding. If that says the fleet will be repelled, I don't even bother destroying the base until I'm done with whatever job/quest/idea I'm working on.
Oh, and don't be afraid to slap an Alpha AI chip in the population slot, or even make it the admin of the colony. Helps quite a bit. However, that would trigger the Hegemony AI Inspections, and Luddic Path terrorists,. If your colony is stable enough, you don't have to worry to much about those until they get active. In this current playthrough, I have 6 colonies across 4 systems (for newer players, I seriously advise against this. It compounds the whack-a-mole you have to do with pirates and LP).
If anyone is interested, this is my seed: MN-3049022162577647708 I really recommend not colonizing until you get the quest for the red planet (planetary shield quest). The quest system was of the farthest to the south west, and it had three amazing worlds with a good spread of resources ,including volatiles (1 Terran, 1 Jungle, 1 desert). Honestly, an excellent start in terms of resources, as the colonies could be quite self reliant. downside is you're quite far from most things (About 38 ly from the core.) However, if you have the hyperdrive mod installed, that's no longer an issue as NPC fleets can use it too, making even the longest trip seem quite quick. I settled 4 systems down south that had some nice planets. Again: Not recommended for newer players.
EDIT: Something to be said for the Odyssey line of ships. 2 fighter bays might not seem like much, but that ship can be fitted with terrifying weapons allowing you to have a carrier that is mobile, fast enough to catch shuttles, tanky, and hits like truckules on steroids. Other players have already mentioned it but having a fleet of carriers can make combat much easier on you. My standard formation includes a flotilla of Herons with 2 odysseys in the front line. You want them, plus some ships that can frontline for them (odyssey, Paragon, Onslaught, Conquest ... etc), and the bombers will take care of the rest. Yes, this fleet is expensive, but your colonies will be able to fund it 4 times over when they are built up.