I loved the automatons. Their "make planets sanctuaries" vibe, and the ship designs were both amazing parts about them. I loved the automatons, i had most play-throughs as them, and you already took my babies, Harmony and Hissho and turned them into minor factions. I would love the automatons as an ecologist centric faction since that is their lore, building everything in orbit around the planets rather than on the surface to keep the surface clean and make the planets into huge national parks. That's how the Reyans designed them. 


Perhaps they were covered in a rain of dust, making them all sentient, self-aware, "alive". That way they started looking outwards to other planets in a want to defend them from the other species of the universe. To defend the ecosystem on all the planets. Making that their drive in the galaxy, the will to defend nature and everything it encompasses.


(look at my avatar)