P&N v3.0 Nomads

[Krsqk]

I thought you couldn't establish trade with races if you didn't have a planet, though. And I thought the whole point of nomads (and pirates, to some extent) was to be independent of planets. I realize that a decent fleet of ships capable of defending itself could still be fielded, given the time free from attack. My concern is that, without the planet to establish friendly trade relations with neighbors, any ships entering the system will attack the nomad fleet, which builds up at a much slower rate. Does this just depend on luck, or is at least one planet necessary, or am I missing something?