Well that's the point.
I searched for his opinion on the topics I introduced, but I've found nothing definitive.
I really tried to find out what he thinks about the points I discussed in the OP.
There is one thread where he seems permissive to the idea of factions rising, declining, expanding etc.
There are also people that don't want such mechanics in the game.
In the case of major factions just getting slapped around by pirates, then that's partly an acknowledged issue (of there not being any endgame at all) and (in my opinion) design issues that prevent mechanics from working as they seem to be in lore (mostly a major disconnect between a faction overall and its military). And I'm disappointed by the fact that there's no reason to siege any system, too, but I see it as something akin to campaign before hyperspace: fuel was vendor trash, because with no hyperspace, fuel is of no use.
It's how I view current issues with progression, really. It's incomplete. The most common hypothesis is that Alex's plan is to oppose the player with another dynamic, expanding antagonistic force. We might not have the time to colonise the entire sector or decide who does it. It would arguably not fit with the lore, but lore and theming has been all over the place as of late...
I also just realised that saying "Alex said X" without quoting him sounds unfortunately dogmatic. Considering there's no response from him in this thread, either he doesn't think there needs to be one, or, more realistically, he's busy and this subforum is low on his priority list.
"Alex has said in the past that if (and that's a big if) factions will expand, they will do so in a limited manner, presumably one that allows the player to get involved.
You might want to check out Vayra's Sector or Nexerelin mods, which make the factions (currently only vanilla) expand by colonising more planets, though to my knowledge it's completely divorced from player activity."
In an earlier commentyou said something like this.
I can totally accept that a bunch of people want these mechanics but others not.
But there is a solution.
You can make it optional.
And again, I'm not for a quickly expanding Hegemony (or anything else in particular) which by the time you could build your first colony controls everything. I'm not even for a fair race between NPC empires and the players. Just make them look like they are at least trying.
It's ridiculous that if you are fed up with hegemony inspections you can just KILL THE ALL.
These inspections and expeditions btw look like some tower defense game meta. That's very stupid too.
If you destroy a small fleet of the US Navy, they wouldn't send another small fleet. They would send 2-3 CSGs.