The other night I tried out one of the small maps with barren planets, and had to give up after about three tries. I just couldn't get enough income (even after maxing my capital), so I could only fend off a couple of pirate raids before it was all over. Colonising even one planet just made things worse. The one thing I haven't tried yet is only sending out colony ships to just take over extractors. Is that viable, or are these maps unplayable? Wouldn't the remote outposts just get wiped out by raiders without any static defences and one small fleet? Should I hold off building anything at first and just use the pirates to my advantage instead?