Most non-playable factions don't expand. The main exception in TR is the Yevethans who become hostile during the Black Fleet Crisis, which I believe is Era 5-ish on the progressive maps. If you also play Fall of the Republic, the other EAWX mod, the non-playable CIS companies expand but generally don't attack each other or the playable Confederacy faction.

What's strange to me is even though there are examples of aggressive non-playable factions, not a single playable faction defaults to passive when not controlled by the player. Given how lore-accurate the rest of the mod tries to be, I would appreciate a neutral Hutts / Hapans / CSA when not playing as them myself.

It's a game first. Those factions have a more defensively-oriented AI but if they just flat out didn't attack then they're just territory which would be ignored most of the time, and that's a huge chunk of the territory (which is determined in each map by trying to make as many viable factions as possible)

Opprinnelig skrevet av Burgundyne:

Most non-playable factions don't expand. The main exception in TR is the Yevethans who become hostile during the Black Fleet Crisis, which I believe is Era 5-ish on the progressive maps.

My personal experiance with the yevethans has been that they are only aggressive against the player. Though I can not say if that is because the AI bordering them actually has a permanent fleet presence the yevethan AI is not confident in beating or if it is coded to only attack the player.

Opprinnelig skrevet av Corey Loses:

It's a game first. Those factions have a more defensively-oriented AI but if they just flat out didn't attack then they're just territory which would be ignored most of the time, and that's a huge chunk of the territory (which is determined in each map by trying to make as many viable factions as possible)

Okay, so to paraphrase your argument:
1) Playable factions have lots of territory to make them viable.
2) Inactive factions get less interaction from the player since subjugating them isn't a priority.
And I guess what goes unsaid:
3) Territory represents mod assets (planet maps, etc.) that took time and effort to develop and therefore you'd rather the player interact with.

I guess I can understand this. My real concern is that, specifically, when I'm playing as the New Republic on the progressive maps it breaks my immersion to constantly be fighting the Hutts and Hapans when what I really care about is the Empire and its splinter states.

I'm not sure what a good solution (i.e. doesn't create too much work for you) would be. I could imagine a version of the Known Galaxy map where Hutt/Hapan/CSA space is reduced relative to the rest, as an alternative to the Full Galaxy map where all factions are on a more even footing. But mine is just one opinion, and obviously the priority is getting 3.5 out.