I started a game with 400 systems and 1 NPR. I know they were active and fighting before I got more than one jump from Sol, because I often saw time-slice slowdowns characteristic of missile intercepts.
Some time after I first observed these slowdowns, I visited 60 Kruger, two jumps from Sol. There I found colonies of two NPRs and a tremendous pile of wrecks. On later inspection, what I was seeing was the natives of 60 Kruger being invaded and conquered by the natives of Stein 2051 one further jump away.
I withdrew and deployed diplomats and started building. The fighting continued up there between the Krugers and the Steiners, then eventually settled down.
Some years later, I came crashing in and seized all three Kruger colonies. Two of these turn out to be uninhabited listening posts, and the third is the Kruger homeworld, currently occupied by the Steiners. I then fought a lengthy war with the Steiners, ultimately conquering all their colonies.
I think all trace of both of these NPRs is gone. Near as I can tell, the Steiners wiped the Krugers out, but for those two listening posts. I'm more certain that the Steiners are gone. When I took their last population of which I was aware, all their remaining ships--some I knew about and many that I didn't--were surrendered to my control. That sure sounds like a final tidying-up. Also, I think I very suddenly received information on all the systems and JPs they'd discovered/visited. It took several minutes of untangling the galactic map. (The same thing happened on a much smaller scale when I took that last Kruger LP.)
My little empire is humming along nicely. I've destroyed every NPR I know of, and I strongly suspect that there are no more NPRs out there. I think that either the Steiners or the Krugers was the starting NPR, and the other was created by their exploration. It's been a couple years since I finished off the Steiners and there've been no unexpectedly short time increments, nor any other sign of any NPR.
Between the 30 or so systems I'd personally explored and the 50 or so that the Steiners added to my network, I've got plenty of space to expand into and exploit and I don't expect to be opening up a lot of new systems anytime soon.
I like having other NPRs out there. It's dull to be all alone in the universe, there's been no sign of the swarm, and the precursors don't scratch that itch for a proper interstellar war. So my questions are:
Given what I've described here, is it likely that there are, in fact, no other NPRs right now?
If not, and I don't explore any new systems, can any more NPRs appear?
