first, looks amazing considering relatively limited access to core game files. im annoyed that keen didn't even TRY to make this a thing (though they would likely mess it up somehow :P). i just wanted to ask a few things before trying out the mod and make a few requests/suggestions. dont feel like im TELLING you to do this or that, i know modding is voluntary. just wanted to find out some things about plans and perhaps even give you some good ideas. i have little idea how SE modding works so idk if any are possible or not. again, these are just ideas. feel free to use (or not use) them at your own discretion.

1. how viable is this right now from a survival side of things?
2. how taxing is things
3. do/could "ambient" NPC's spawn on ships/stations owned by NPC faction (not lots cos lag, just like a couple and only when a player is near)
4. would it be possible to have interactions like trade or contracts?
5. barter/hire NPCs directly rather than tokens
6. "wander" option for NPC where they walk around the local grid
7. jobs and uniforms possibly? heres some examples

technician- orange suit. will wander in range of "guard" target, interacting with (welding) damaged blocks near by. possibly even have them try and do that landing guide thing with the orange glow sticks or whatever

Militia- guns. interior defence. mobile interior turrets. black (camo) suit

Medic- heals near by players and revives friendly NPCs without them needing to respawn. white outfit or that green-blue colour of scrubs

Chef- Daily needs compatibility. will make food items daily for the player if made to "work" near the mods food production block(s). any colour suit but has an apron

Pilot- noob friendly autopilot that (tries to) avoids obstacles and can perform simple actions like fly to way point/idle there, flee combat (or charge at it). would need a way to set the mas speed the AI will fly at.

8. emote responses and idle chatter. having NPCs optionally "talk" in local chat and even respond to players who emote at them, mimicking said emote.

9. schedules. NPCs will periodically "go on break", navigating to "recreational" areas (toilets, seats, whatever you would program as "rec" from vanilla/dlc) and idling there for a while. some way of syncing break times thats not reliant on sun rotation would probably work better in case you play with it off but idk how you would sync it. randomly select n% of friendly NPCs that are loaded every n/min?

i know there's a lot of stuff there and none of it trivial to implement im sure. once again, you are under no obligation to even consider any of these. im just expressing how impressed i am and this monumental achievement, that you have found a way to do what was once thought impossible. this mod, if it can be fleshed out, would be a literal game changer. literally, it would practically turn the game up on its head. hope to see more stuff either added to this or springing from it (with your permission ofc) :)