Hello,
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/compressed-biter-squads i think it's clear that what i am suggesting is that this would solve any pc related issues while still keepping the core ideea. And i take no credit so i just stop here.
Going forwards, rampant fixed, the swamper could also be a good solution to "have tons of enemies" despite just a few where moving... but same as previous mod so i stop here
the next ideea still uses rampant, as in, the ideea of that they try to conquere the whole surface, pheromone, so one, aka no need for pollution (since to many enemies = we need to reduce it somehow), plus the ideea of being able to "ignore" surfaces if playing muty surface like space exploration. But again, stop here...
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/BiterResourceNests is a similar thing, as in, even without pollution, the enemies will still attack. and my point is that this mod might be able to be used to tell how to make the enemies attack any outpost that is mining
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/enemy-distance-evolution?from=search this is extremly good for balance issues. Like to not get overrunn center of map, but the more we go "out" the more difficult it will get.
And once again, the whole ideea of all of them is how to make the enemies still attack despite NO pollution. After all, the more pollution exist, the more chuncks get generated, more chuncks = more enemies and this mod will make it worse, and more pollution means more enemy attacks, and more enemy attacks means slower pc, not faster, and all this due to how pollution is working. And of course, there is also all the calculation, absortion, terran and enviroment, so on, so even if there are no enemies, muti surfaces like 200+ in space exploration can cause lag just because the pollution is still being calculated even if no enemies.
And one more suggestion. A timer or trigger (like a research?)
The reason of this is that at one point, it does not matter how many enemies are attacking us, they will all perish before even coming near. And from that point people will want to add enemies that are strong, way way stronger, but less in numbers, and this is why i said about a timer or trigger, aka the exact opposite of this mod, the numbers will be massively reduced, however, the enemies that replace them are way stronger, faster attacking (aka 1 bitter attacking so fast it hits a wall in 10 seconds just as many hits 10 or even 100 normal units would cause), as in simulating the swarm without causing pc issues or similar.
Anyways, hope i suggested soemthing that might be helpfull
