This has been bothering me for sometime playing on largest galaxy size with many star systems on spiral galaxies (or any galaxy with a non-player start middle) and several players/AI. There seems to always spawn an abundance of minor factions (just about every system except the Academy one) in the middle constellation, while there's perhaps only a handful on the player constellations.

I'm not sure if this is intentional to make the middle constellation more rewarding, or if it's a problem with the galaxy generation for galaxies with a middle constellation no player spawns in, but I feel it's not only a big balance issue but also feels kinda... out of place and jarring in a sense that there'd be so many minor factions in the same area in a constellation that supposedly has no major faction and has the Academy nearby.

On the balance point, I've found that whoever spawns near the middle gets a huge advantage once they can cross over to that galaxy. It's usually the best strategy to probe intothe middle, stock up on lots of influence research and assimilate all those factions, which allows your empire to grow rapidly without colonization, gets a lot of traits and a diverse population. Everytime I've done this with the AI I've found myself in a very very strong start.

Personally I think there should barely be any minor factions in the middle constellation, and all of them should be spread out on the constellations players spawn in. The middle constellation should be a bonus after you've used your constellation, not a place you'd wanna focus your efforts on unless you see a good system there and you can grab it, just as getting the Academy is a bonus, not a total game changer.

This also ties with Vodyani, cause I've found that since Vodyani can rely so much on minor factios, if you start near the middle you're reassured a goodyani start, while everytime you're on the outer arm all you can do is hope that whatever minor factions spawns in that constellation is near you, otherwise expect to have a rough time. If the minor factions were distributed more fairly and more in numbers on those constellations, it'd reassure that Vodyani got a better start more easily.

I hope I'm not the only one who's noticed this and is bothered by it. I suppose there may not be that many people who play on the largests settings as myself, but I always love a big galaxy to explore with diverse civilizations, and I find myself put off by knowledge that this happens every game. If this is intentional, I hope my insight (and perhaps others) may reconsider this design choice for more balanced games.

Here's a screenshot as well for proof. I can provide even more, but it's as easy as to try it yourself with the settings I mentioned and explore the middle constellation.