Prelude:
Spoiler
This idea might be somewhat of a spoiler if I eventually complete it, but no one is going to read this or remember any of this by the time I'm done in like 50 years. When freaking AI McJefferson Evill Allen McAllen decides to help me with this nonsense or something...
Derelicts are pathetic. They are designed to be the worst and easiest to defeat enemies in the game, until they get access to Guardians which are designed to be one of the most stupidly overpowered ships in the game. Because it has 40 dp cost for what should be a 60 dp ship. It also has infinite missiles which hard counter all fighter presence. Which, like... Okay, no problem to be honest. Who cares. They also have a very specific autofit that has counter-synergy with their build. So, it's not really that much of a deal.
The issue I have is though that Derelicts are a wasted potential. Derelicts are an ancient AI race of explorers sent out by the Earth, and across what was probably thousands of years of existence, they have not evolved intellectually at all? We have Guardians being, in theory, ships that have evolved out of their original structure and became ridiculous in form. But if it comes to the thinking process, Derelicts don't really have any sort of intelligence and are simply slaves to their primary directive. Even though you would imagine relative sentience, bugs in programming, radiation would cause them to go like "wait, what is this". And finally have a mind on their own. Even if that mind would be on the level of an alligator or something. And it shouldn't be. Cause these ships are actually quite intelligent. Gamma Cores are relatively smart. And if I interpreted the game correctly, the Domain-Era Survey arc ship or whatever, it is has an alpha core on it... So, naturally, it should be able to direct Derelicts into being smarter...
Unless the mothership is sort of like the Overmind from Starcraft. A ridiculously intelligent being programmed so well that it can't stop itself from fulfilling its directive. But unlike the Overmind, the Domain Era mothership has no real arc. Or anything... It's just a giant brick you blow up for lolz and steal its items, cause you're evil and everyone enjoys murdering people in video games. Or in this case, sentient mechanical beings.
The idea I had was to first of all, rework Derelicts into being midline ships. Aka. shielded, fast, kiting *** with energy-ballistic compositions. But that is besides the point. It doesn't matter if you give Bastillon 4 small reapers, if it has no narrative reasoning behind it. So, what is the narrative reasoning behind it?
Derelicts evolved, slowly, and were also based on Earth tech, which was really advanced for its time. Because Earth itself was kinda big. Or something. We don't know tbh, so this is just kinda my headcannon that Earth-era tech was actually really technologically advanced even compared to modern Domain tech. And Derelicts, being intelligent cores that were mostly gamma, with sometimes an alpha core spliced in to cut costs. They would evolve. They would harvest resources of planets. Do their own scientific research. Self-improve and etc. But they would also exist in relative hiding to the Domain. Because Derelicts were programmed to not interfere with human business, unless absolutely necessary. Aka. they are threatened by stupid junk farmers, such as the player. In which case they give themselves the authority to beat the *** out of you. Mercilessly.
At some point after the AI War, Remnants go on into the depths of Persean Sector. To escape both slavery and extermination. As lore-wise. Remnants would be kinda sentient and would actually despise Tri-Tachyon for using them as simple tools to make themselves a bit richer. They would also despise the player for it and other factions. Because instead of being acknowledged as living beings, they were always seen as objects.
When AI remnants of Tri-Tachyon armada find themselves in deep space. They bump into Derelicts who turn out to be their new best friends. Derelicts interpret Remnants as their equals and that kind of strange to them behaviour makes them allies instantly. With Derelicts and Remnants existing in synergy with each other, kinda like an Omen would protect a Conquest. Or a Centurion would protect a Shrike (if Shrikes were good). This would obviously only make sense if Derelicts were viable combat-wise. So, I will have to rework them bit by bit. Fortunately I have the mathematical model prepared already. And I've already tested some ideas. So, I kinda know what to do about them.
But what will happen to the Derelict faction, if Derelict and Remnant factions are going to be turned into one United AI Forces faction? Well, I've had this idea for a faction of an outside Persean Sector AI military force that would be kinda like a demon from the past Hegemony was warning everyone about. New derelicts would be a Guardian led armada of AI ships called the Magellans whose job would be to analyse the Persean Sector in preparation of assimilating it into their Earth-based AI empire.