Yeah I guess it's worth installing it even if it pollutes if that means much better ships!
Knowing my luck I probably won't find a pristine one. Although before I can raid the big guys, it'll take a lot of time. I still struggle against very large pirates fleets so... Yeah.
Took out a few REDACTED but they didn't have *that* ship with them so it wasn't that complicated.
I've been exploring for 9 some cycles - I'm not nearly as powerful as you are (can't beat REDACTED, raiding a major faction is a funny joke) but I've dug out a lot of stations and ruins. Results have been:
5x corrupted nanoforge
2x catalytic core
2x fullerene spool
2x cryoarithmetic engine
2x plasma dynamo
1x orbital fusion lamp
1x autonomous mantle bore
1x fusion lamp
I'm using one corrupted forge and a spool. More seems to be a very bad idea - disappointing!
Well you have much more stuff than me!
You're set to have a nice production with all that.
I still need to explore more. Mostly what I'm doing right now is, I explore systems I reach through bounties, or through the "blueprint location" NPC givers, where you spend a story point for some juicy blueprint.
Edit: I also explored around my two colonies. But yeah, mostly what I did was "shop around" for ships, weapons, etc... That's my favourite part of the game I think lol.