At the Mid game of my new save I tried to Make a colony, but it gave the colony to my commissioned faction. This is a deal-breaker.
To cover my history, I have played for like a thousand hours, made a dozen campaigns, and reached endgame plenty of times. I have played most of that time modded as well. I play the game maybe once a year, whenever I get the itch to play again. I love starsector.
My last two campaigns have been centered around the UAF. OP and fun, and it pays to ally with them immediately. Usually around the mid-game, once I can defeat the omega and find the thing that lets you unlock the end of the research tree for Ashes of the Domain, I always create a faction of my own. In my latest campaign I have reached that point again. However, now the moment I colonize a new planet, it immediately falls under the jurisdiction of the UAF. This is a dealbreaker for me, and refuse to move forward like this. I have tried to figure out why this is happening, but no one has made similar comments that I can find. The reason I am making this comment here is because this mod is the most likely source of the problem.
To be clear, when I played this game last, this did not happen, and my mod list has not significantly changed or been added to. However, the UI for getting a promotion has evolved since the last time I played. Whichever mod changed the way promotion works is likely the culprit. I have attached a screenshot showing the new promotion screen. The final level of promotion is Grand Moff, and it gives you unlimited ability to colonize BUT will be under the control of the Aurora Federation. I checked to make sure, and this UI is similar for all faction promotion screens. I am a MASSIVE FAN of this new promotion system, and the benefits are great. EXCEPT for taking away the ability to make my OWN faction.
If I am in the wrong place to ask, sorry. If the solution is a simple toggle in the MOD SETTINGS, sorry, and tell me where it is. Guys, how do I fix this? And don't say abandon the waifus and their faction, create my own faction, then make my way back up the ladder a second time. Surely I am not the only one with this problem?