Some ideas I dreamed up last night, mostly tongue-in-cheek references to classic sci-fi:
The Org - Org geodesic sphere ships attack you with zombie-like drones (beaurocrats wearing suits and ties
), each of which include an element-adjustable defense shield and multi-weapon system. By tracking the player's stats, the Org will shift their elemental defense buffs and weapons systems to counter. Rather than evolving, they adapt to the player, forcing you to use new tactics.Mux Industries - Mux ships will periodically land on Nauvis and attempt to lay claim to a ore patch using Multibots which can both mine and fight. They won't attack you unless you trespass but they will consume an ore patch very fast and create a ton of pollution. Inspired by Weyland-Yutani but actually refers to Elon Musk. (Musk + SpaceX = Mux)
Grey goo - Techno-fungus which clings to tech, mining it to spawn more grey goo. It won't hurt you, though it will swarm you and eat random materials out of your pack. The only real defense against the goo is distance- it will only spread only to very nearby technology but it can build upon itself to form a bridge between 2 machines. If left unchecked it can completely infest and digest your factory. Curiously, goo seems to consume pollution and under the right conditions, grey goo can be farmed as an cheap and effective, but very dangerous, way of cleaning up the environment.
FreeMen - Humans that long ago settled on Nauvis. They worship the natives and are attracted to water. You can trade with the Freemen for items you can't find anywhere else.
Furbles - Kind of like Grey Goo but cuter. They simply multiply and get in your way, but don't actually hurt anything. Furbles are stinky and give off a ton of pollution. Furble-meat can be used to barter with FreeMen.
Gremlins - *nearly invisible* monsters that can evade sensors, and follow you while causing random chaos. (this one might not be technically feasible?)
YAM - a psychotic AI. It has access to all the technology that you have but literally makes random blueprints for it's drones to construct.