Am I understanding correctly that modding data for this game does not utilize xml patching and instead just relies on editing the files directly? What happens to the files when there's a game patch? Are all mod edits overwritten?

Would be awesome if the game supported xml patching similar to games ...

The game does a great job of allowing for variants within a ship class (eg, fast "fleet frigates" designed to lock down targets vs "heavy frigates" that are more damage focused) but the game doesn't provide much support for having more than one variant active per ship class.

Few things I noticed ...

Twice I had a pirate ship raid my mining outpost and my fleets faught me tooth and nail when I told them to go attack the raider.

I take a defense fleet from a nearby system and tell them to go attack the raiding ship. I confirm the fleet changes to manual and it says "attacking xxx" then I see ...

<t> So I'm liking the game so far but not really happy with the fleet coordination. I'm trying to find a system of fleets that works well for defending my colony systems and surrounding areas.<br/>
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For example, in my last game I had 3 colonies. So I setup 6 fleets, a defense fleet ...