Im assuming here that the game has some way of tracking the NPCs throughout the SM universe. So I propose that the AI gets increasingly harder the "deeper" into space you procede. For example, once the AI passes past say 30 sectors away from the spawn it increses two fold, then after it passes say 100 it is at full potential. This progressive system would provide the newest players with simple AI controlled NPCs to practice with and also provide more aggresive AI controlled NPCs for the more advanced/dareing players. I know this system would be a pain in the A$$ but i belive it would definantly keep players more involved and improve the game overall.
