Hello SectorLords,
As you may have noticed, I have purposely avoided comments and questions about conquering faction colonies or sectors for yourself or the Federation, for a good reason. So in Warp to Sector One, you are not a member of the Federation military or political arm, you don't represent the Federation, and your relations with factions are their relationship with you personally, not with the Federation. Think of it, as like Eve Online. You are just a citizen of the faction and cannot speak/act on their behalf, you are just out trying to make your mark with your own trading empire. And if you wanna make an apples to apples comparison, the Federation in Sector One, is the equivalent of CONCORD in Eve. It's a neutral peacekeeping 3rd party.
Right, so, WHERE'S CONQUER?
With the next upcoming content patch, I am introducing both AI Trader Captains and AI/Player Guild Corps, some alien, some human, all are competing against you and against each other to dominate unclaimed space. AI Traders will perform the exact same actions you do, they will run trade routes, establish colonies, hire their own captains, upgrade their ship, fight rogues, and try to establish their own trade empires. They will trade and drain the same ports you trade it, negotiate favorable terms with other factions and try to influence them in their own favor. If they feel like your interests align they will reach out for an agreement or a mutually beneficial alliance. If not, they will try to undermine you, raid or invade your colonies and declare war and seek to wipe out your fleet and holdings. They will protect their lucrative trade routes by stationing fighters that charge a toll to pass. Blockade their favorite stations to prevent you from trading there, or convince other corps you are a threat.
If you can't cooperate with them, raid or invade their colonies and take them over in a hostile takeover, but it won't be easy, their ships are as good as yours and their flagship is easily the equivalent of your battleship. There will be a number of randomly generated corps per game. And of course, you will be able to form your own Guild Corp. There is a minimum rank requirement and credit cost to forming your own corp. It allows you to formally annex territory belonging to other corps, otherwise invading a colony as a private citizen is just piracy, when you have a corp, it's annexation, allows the posting of toll fighters, allows construction licensing for a Citadel, and petition the Federation for various political objectives.