[dogscoff]

Yeah, I agree. Neutrals are nothing more than a bonus to the human player.

In the standard game, yes, but not so much in Proportions. Their homeworlds are as good as anyone else's and I have fought long drawn out campaigns against them, because they have to concentrate their defences in one system unlike regular empires who spread themselves thin across many systems.

True, there's nothing to stop you parking a fleet just on the wrong side of their warp point and dumping drones on them, but neutrals in proportions are by no means easy meat.