Mods with SE IV not Gold

[Suicide Junkie]

Pirates & Nomads is good for SE4 classic.

Look for Versions 2.x
The ones tagged with "PBW" are, of course for PBW, and AIs will not operate with them.

http://www.geocities.com/hohoho611ca/pirates.html

Try V2.4D

If you play as a "Normal" race, it will be slightly easier than normal (Although it will take some time to get used to the mod)

If you play as a "Nomad" is will be very hard.
If you play as a "Pirate" it will be even harder.

When playing as a Pirate or Nomad, feel free to make use of every trick in the book against the AIs.
Everything is fair game except cheats

I reccommend laying mines in shipping lanes, and then picking apart the leftovers for tech and scrappable resources.
Be sure to have a spaceyard ship nearby so you don't waste too much money maintaining the ships you capture while you drag them home.