I wanted to follow up on the whole people thing as i like the idea and what to talk a little more about and explain more of it.
(for helixteus "lore") The helix's should be a universal enemy in all universes the reason there lost ships is that the "people" on the ship died from helix's, the people on the planets are "before interplanetary" so that's why they are not getting attacked by the helix's
(for the actual idea lol) Like i said with the people thing with city lights. there should be 3 stages of lights
1. Primitive (Dim)
2. Industrial (Brighter)
3. Future (Brightest(Possibility to see but should be extremely low chance to find due to helix's destroying planets with space age technology))
This idea should only be cosmetic and for exploration purpose and should not effect gameplay due to actual planets having people and then destroying it lowering Ur reputation and a bunch of other mechanics.
i think another planet design would be a bombarded planet, basically a planet with a bunch of craters on its surface making the exploration a little more realistic as that planet might of have had space tech on it but has been destroyed.
bombarded planets, and planets with life should work like this, number x universe age = lower chance of finding planets with people, higher chance for planets with a mix of industrial and future, higher chance for bombarded planets.
i think this is a great idea (even tho what I'm saying right now is purely cosmetic) and in the future it can be used as game function to add people, reputation, and maybe even factions.