@ Euphytose: I played some Starsector mods before, years ago. Even many of the so-called balanced (and quality) ones introduce power creep that I am not fond of. I remember Nexerelin fondly.
I am not much into speedruns. I may attempt them if that is a way to unlock features in some games (like DoomRL). I tend to prefer clearing levels for 100%, and I tend to take my time. For StarSector, my endgame goal tends to be "survey ALL planets in the sector and acquire ALL blueprints". I tend to get worn out by endless whack-a-hole pirates and pathers by the time half the sector gets explored. If I manage to explore everything, my next goal probably would be exterminate all factions, although pirates would probably wipe out half the core worlds without my help if I did nothing to stop them.
Destroying everything extremely easily is no fun at all.
I can understand that. Been there before myself, long ago.
I am relatively old, and have played games since the late '70s. I probably was a power-hungry munchkin, then so-called "grew out of it" in (I guess) the '90s, then came full circle back to power-hungry munchkin by about the '00s (after playing much PvP against others more ruthless than I). Now, I do not have much time for games, and I prefer to win (or accomplish the mission) as soon as possible. I prefer to treat games as war. The more efficient and the more lopsided the victory is, the better. The best fight is the one where I win before any actual fighting starts. Failing that, stack the deck so far in your favor that the enemy does not stand a chance. That said, outright cheating (like IDDQD for invulnerability and IDKFA for all weapons) is not allowed because it defeats the point of the game. I think the popular term for this in role-playing games is "Combat As War", which is somewhat opposed to "Combat As Sport", where fair (or balanced), challenging, and dramatic fights are encouraged, not to be avoided.
I can understand some do not want to be ruthless demigods when they play. (I do!)
That said, I do have some playing quirks with Starsector that may result in sub-optimal play, sort of like unofficial conducts. For example, I do not want to accept any commission because doing so will implant that "Commissions" tab on intel, forever branding my character with that scarlet letter. I do not use other resources because I do not want to deal with more headaches, even if the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. For example, cores and inspections. (I use Free Port because it makes no difference if five factions instead of three send invaders that are auto-resolved away.)