As of 09/18/2022, a new system has been added to MES that aims to help players not get rushed as often by more hostile encounters.

The Combat Phase System implements a Peace Phase where you are more likely to encounter more passive encounters like Cargo Ships, and a Combat Phase where you will get more hostile encounters (eg: Reavers, Corruption, etc).

While it is up to the various encounter mod authors to determine if their NPCs should use this system by default, it is also possible to use the newly provided configuration file to manually add individual encounters or entire mod IDs to only spawn during certain phases. (see wiki link at the bottom of the workshop page). The config can also disable this system entirely, allowing all spawns to be able to appear as they had prior to the addition of the system.