[dogscoff]

I mean, a planet is BIG, and as soon as your ship enters the system they're gonna know where the planets are, and even have a rough idea of the conditions of said planets. So as soon as a ship enters a system we'd get a rough idea of what the conditions of all the planets were like but not if there's anyone living there, unless the colony has reached a certain stage of development.

I disagree. Look how little we know about planets in our own solar system- I mean until a few years ago we weren't even sure if there was water on the moon. Granted, SE4 tech is way ahead of us, but the very fatc that planets are so BIG makes it difficult to map and survey them quickly, especially from a distance.

The answer, of course, is to give modders as much flexibility as possible, thus allowing modders to satisfy both your and my points of view.