The only things I have added are facilities, a bordello for happiness, a tavern for intelligence, stuff like that and a separate ship set with cheaper ships.
I removed the no colonizer restriction but always play pirate games with only colonize home planet and breathable atmosphere. If you choose rock/none or ice/CO2 you don't find many places to build. I also play with maintenance, 5%.
I haven't had much luck creating components on my own. I use yours. I wish I had more time to play/fiddle with them. I have much more time at work but I can't fire up the game

I've played about 5-6 games as a pirate, only won once, haven't mastered the boarding,capturing and analizing process yet.
I like using a medium quadrant, small I meet other races to quick and large I am so far behind technically that my few ships get creamed.