I think the difficulty should be kept high - or at least an option should be in place for higher difficulty.

This not only keeps veteran players in mind, but also helps the mod keep pace with the many, many mods out there (like NSC) that give big boosts to starbases and fleets.

I don't mind the difficulty, my only problem is with the AI failing to handle Antaran Raids.

I made a strong hungry hive mind to keep things interesting and all their fleets keep getting destroyed every time the Antarans come back, not allowing it to go out invade their neighbors (the very thing I wanted it to do).

The AI will stay in their little bubble homeworlds rebuilding their fleets only to get destroyed in another raid.

I offer a simple suggestion. Make Antaran raids come by the mid game or mid to late game.

Because I could easily abuse this feature by invading the AI during the early game after a raid and since Antarans come so quick, I don't have to wait 2 long outside their borders, same for the Antarans to leave after a raid.

I can even ignore the Antarans destroying my defenses, I will just rebuild after they leave since they don't destroy the stations.

It would be good to be able to choose the start year for their antics. I play with a rather high tech cost multiplier for a slower game, and they have a nasty habit of turning up and killing my poor dragon before I can do much to help it!