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Also throw a few shields in there

That's about what i had in mind, right now nothing really forces you to go out and explore the world so you could really just stay on your map for the entire game, and when you do explore out in the world its nothing really interesting, just a few outposts, not even villages or a large city, and every now and then an opportunity were you don't even control your colonist, so it just feels really empty as the factions are nothing more than a tier for a raid, which just feels like it should actually be more than that.

I would like to see this game eventually adding faction wars, were you could be raided repeatedly and are also forced to attack enemy settlements. A war would also be able to serve as a way to be "allies" with a faction without having to be nice to them, but instead having them as a puppet of your colony, allowing you to force them to give you stuff. If you were to ask too much of them, they might start a rebellion and try to get independence again.

Factions should get their own armies, all having their own areas and their own officers. Since raids can now be multiple groups attacking from different directions it would make sense that each of those groups would all have their own commander. Killing a commander would do massive damage to the enemies morale, which, when depleted, will make that enemy retreat. By adding commanders to raids it would also be giving sharpshooters a big buff as sharpshooters are actually meant to take out high-ranking officers and leave the army without command, and so it would make snipers a lot better against larger raids as with a few shots the enemy would be without orders and with low morale, meaning they are more likely to fall back.

There would also be opportunities in the world map as "Enemy officiers are meeting in the area to discuss plans. This would be a great opportunity to deal heavy blows to the enemy and leave them without orders for several weeks. With no officers to lead them they won't be able to raid us for at least X days, or when they do raid, it would mostly be disorganized and easy to counter. If we were to attack the commanders, once they have are organized again, we should expect a large retaliation strike." For every officer that escapes the attack (the officers would just be trying to get away, while a few soldiers fight you to try to keep you busy and get their commanders the time to escape) the enemy can get their ranks replaced a few days faster. there would be about 3-5 officers at the meeting, and killing them all would give you about 2-3 weeks of not getting raided, or at least no serious raids. Taking this opportunity would however mean that as soon as the enemy can, they will attack with a very large army. Having allies during the march of that army would give you advantages as having help with the fighting, as well as getting updates of where the army is in the world map (it would pretty much be shown as an enemy caravan). When the army arrives they either attack, or if their army is large enough, surround your settlement tile on the world map, which prevents animals from spawning on your map, prevents trader caravans and allied reinforcements from arriving at your settlement, and of course you'll get raided almost daily until they give up, allies arrive (if you call for them, and of course reward them) or if you manage to kill their general, their highest ranking officer (surrender is no option).

Just a list of my suggestions to keeping this post tidy
-Morale system in raids
-War with other factions
-Factions have armies
-Armies have commanders
-Opportunities to attack their commanders
-Retalliation strikes (winning this would end the war)
-Get forced to use the world map and attack enemy settlements

-Beartraps, just a few traps that you can place anywhere, be it outside your base against raiders, or just somewhere on the map for hunting. When an animal steps in the trap it should automatically be marked for hunting, as its an easy meal. Larger animals would get stuck in it whereas smaller animals (excluding squirrels and other small animals that wouldn't be able to activate the trap) have possibility of getting their leg cut off. (I do Know there is a mod that adds beartraps, I just feel like it is something that should be basegame)
-Disarming traps (right now the only way to disarm them is to activate it and pulling out your hand really quick, which isn't always without accidents). Usually you would only need traps when getting raided, so there's no point in them being active when not needed.