Feedback about the Knids doesn't have to go here. I'll also see updates in other threads. But this is the thread that establishes what the Knids are supposed to be achieving, and it will hopefully guide feedback a bit.

They're Not Really a Crisis
The Knids are meant to be challenging and should continue to be a bit of a headache as long as they're around, but I tried to create a few ways of "solving" them that depend on your empire type. You can befriend them - which mostly involves giving them food or setting up certain arrangements with them - or you can destroy them. There are rewards built in for either.

They get a world destroyer, but their ships don't have apocalypse bombard. That's because if they kill off the whole galaxy, there'll be no one left to steal food from. If the chips are down and things look bad, you can typically surrender to their war goal and you'll be on the hook for food supplies for ten years, but won't be bullied by them in that time.

The Mechanics

The Knids should spawn in only 20% of the games you play, and will only spawn in games that have been started since they were introduced.

After the Knids spawn, they'll get 0.5% stronger in fleet health and fire rate every year, provided they get food from somewhere. There's actually a lot of ways for them to get food, so it's typical they won't go hungry very often. However, if for some reason nobody in the galaxy can be robbed or persuaded, they'll get 1% weaker each year they don't eat.

Every year, if they haven't been pacified somehow, they'll choose a random empire and threaten them for food, and the food demands will go up each year. If you've been cooperative with the Knids in the past, you can politely decline and they won't attack you, but if they're going to attack you, they make it very clear and tell you so in RED LETTERS.

They spawn a new fleet regularly every two years, but won't spawn more than roughly five fleets. Granted, the fleets are fairly strong, so it's an intimidating navy depending on how militaristic you are. If you're playing a pacifist, you can actually negotiate an ongoing peace for food deal outright by contacting the Knids and setting that up - they're really not in it for the murder, they just want food. Other empire types can hold them off other ways. If you trade food to them for resources, they'll also leave the whole galaxy alone for the year.

You will get something out of any of these deals you set up. Typically a unity buff, because the deal available to you is related specifically to your nation's ethics or civics.

Homicidal empires do not have a lot of coexistence options with the Knids, and Xenophobes don't do much with them either, but do get a little extra bonus if you force the Knids into a surrender during war.

The Ideal

What I'm going for is a sort of soft, mid-game "concern". Something that appears suddenly and shakes up the galaxy a bit. Causes wars, a bit of damage, makes some minor asks of your economy, but that hopefully you're also happy to see appear because you get a variety of bonuses for dealing with them. Even if you get in a war with them, you can get some unique bonuses by researching any fleets you manage to destroy, and of course if you kill them, you get a relic.

A bit of an "it is what you make of it" challenge. If your borders are strong and you just hold your line, you wind up getting a settlement from the Knids, paid in alloys and energy, which means even if you can't reach where the Knids are, you can still reap some solid benefits from a Knid war.

This isn't about showcasing any particular design concept related to the mod. They won't terraform planets into Unseen Worlds or anything like that. The star bases do use Wayfarers but that's mainly so they can shoot back if YOU use Wayfarers. The main fleets have your basic weapons... well, basically. The bottom line is, they're their own thing, but primarily as a way of getting some unique stuff into the hands of the player.

Feel free to comment or hate on them below.