Continued from comments.

Robber Fly, Armored pod, Firefly, Mosquito... a bunch of the ones at the end of the big list of EEM ships are used heavily in Alb's new SEA-MIN with antenna spawn groups. https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1306639124
Since he hasn't indicated messing with the AI, I was just wondering if this is a common problem. I'm trying to figure out why even the default Keen pirates in an easy start are so stupid about crashing into the ground - if they're chasing you across varied terrain, or if you hide in a mined hole or POI, it's as if they can't see the ground or building grids. All you have to do is wait for them to adjust their postion at speed and they'll eventually cripple or destroy themselves, assuming they don't just get confused and hover/bounce on the ground. Does a new AI script need to be loaded with them?

Tried deleting EEM and un/resubscribe. Tested alien easy start with only EEM loaded and default options. Made sure scripts enabled. After the initial base attack of Rival drones, I flew out to the closest pirate mining facility - it had two robber flies and a scouting pod just sitting there, partially wrecked where they hit the ground. Tried a fly-by and the station shot at me, but the drones didn't respond at all. Other pirate stations spawned different ships as I approached but they all just flew to a spot nearby and crashed or sat there. Tested moon easy start and the closest pirates spawned skull drones, but they would still crash into the ground if I got them to chase me before they got to my base. Still testing other scenarios. Is it possible I have an old setting somewhere from many years and versions of SE that messes with AI? I guess I could try wiping out everything in /appdata and steam and test a totally clean restart.

Has anyone else had this problem? Someone posted last month in comments that sim speed was getting trashed by all the crashed drones everywhere on a server.