How are systems generated in Known Stars games? The wiki says "The game works through all the stars in order of increasing distance. There is a 20% chance of selecting the nearest star, then if that isn't selected, 20% chance of second nearest star, etc." I think this is from the old VB version, but I haven't seen any posts about changes to this. I ran some tests in a fresh game generating systems from Sol and they seemed to confirm the 20% number. However, in my games I've also seen systems with really distant neighbors, like HIP 31293 in the screenshot. Its neighbors have distances in real space of 54.1, 63.1, and 70 light-years, and as far as I can tell there are hundreds of closer systems that haven't been picked yet. So it seems very unlikely to me that this was generated purely by iterating through the closest systems.

Is there any way to transfer a population to an NPC?

For RP purposes, it would be great if a module for a ship could be designed to assign a Scientist and/or Administrator.

Engine technology:
I know this topic has already been raised, but every time I play I wait for the engines to reach at least the level of the Nuclear Pulse Engine.
Maybe it would be worth raising the cost of researching the initial stages of the engines, that would extend the time they can be used, both by players and AI?

Counterpoint: I use NRE tech quite a bit in my conventional-start games. I also play with limited research admin + 50% research speed, so even developing NTE tech takes some time during which I can build quite a lot of NRE-level freighters and colony ships. So personally, I prefer things as they are since I would not want to drag out the conventional starts even longer than they already are.

Not quite do because the 0.2 automines are still somewhere, possibly taking up cargo space somewhere forever! Think of the lost efficiy! 😂