I say keep some automatic turrets, but make them more of an expensive supporting kind of thing. Where they will help your colonists win fights that happen later on against a lot of enemies, but won't win them alone and will drain your resources if you don't protect them. Perhaps allowing people to enable/disable them in the mod manager would work as well and make everyone happy.
Mod to look into: AstroTecLabs: off-world mining.
I'm not sure if it would be balanced, but looks interesting and could help expand the usage of more metals in the production cycles (too many steel parts needed), by making them more accessible. I have not tried it personally, but just wanted to bring it to your attention.
Mod to look into: AstroTecLabs: off-world mining.
I'm not sure if it would be balanced, but looks interesting and could help expand the usage of more metals in the production cycles (too many steel parts needed), by making them more accessible. I have not tried it personally, but just wanted to bring it to your attention.