Yeah, the trouble with attacking is that they need a reason to do so. It could be that they're a warrior culture, or that their warrior culture (or a war-like subset thereof) is the group encountering Earth. It could be that there is a Minbari-like misunderstanding at first contact. There just needs to be a reason. The simplest is that they view humanity as backward, primitive near-animals and will just land and say "ours now," enforcing it by shooting any uppity apes which happen to try to object.

The trouble is twofold:

  • Even colonialist powers encountering highly different-looking ethnicities initially approached with the idea of trade and some level of normalized relations. War only came later, as their cultural aggression (that is, their tendency to spread their culture aggressively and successfully) and their treatment of natives as second-class citizens in their own homeland started upsetting local power balances.
  • You've specifically established that these aliens want Earth's production capacity. That generally means there is strong impetus to not do harm to it. It's relatively fragile, and it takes great investment to build or even rebuild. Worse, even with modern automization, it still takes literal manpower to run it. Each person you kill in the fighting is one fewer slave or employee working to produce the goods you desire.


I think what you need to do is lay out a bullet-point list of end-goals these aliens have. What is it they want, and why? What will it get them, and what are they willing to give up to get it?

Then, analyze their culture. Whether they're a race of hats, with one monolithic culture, or they're as disparate as Earth's humanity, you should at least know the culture and mind-set of the specific group or groups making contact. An "East India Trading Company" will have a different mindset than an "Oxford Research Team" who will have yet a different mindset from a "Federation Starship Exploratory Vessel" which will have yet another mindset distinct from a "bunch of space pirates."

The Space Pirates, for instance, almost certainly aren't initially interested in the industrial capacity of the planet. They're there for loot. If they determine that they ARE interested in it, it's because they realize they can use it to ramp up their resource acquisition well beyond anything a group of their size and wealth could in a civilized region of space; this is the most likely type of group to launch an assault and war, and they're likely to use terror and suppression tactics to shatter infrastructure of one major power as an example to the others. Then, demand tribute, and declare themselves, if not rulers, at least powers beyond law which can dictate to rulers.

The East India Trading Company sort is the most likely if they really want to use Earth as a basis for goods production. Though if they're on the run as a people, the exploratory vessel might find Earth first. Then whatever Starfleet is behind it would choose a delegation. This becomes "government in exile" seeking a new home and contact. Invasion is a possibility, but again, you have to consider what hteir goals are. Do they really want to destroy the very civilized structures into which they might move? If they can rebuild, why engage in fighting in the first place when they can instead build fresh in uninhabited territory?

This isn't about being "nice," but it is about being both diplomatic and not wasteful. Wasteful of your own ordnance, if not of the prospective resources of the Earthlings.


So if you want them to be attacking, you need to create a reason for them to do so. It has to stem from their motives and their nature. Given that you want them to want Earth's production capacity, that says things about them, and most of those put them at odds with the idea of attacking as a first option. It's not impossible, but you need to have a solid reason why that's what they're doing.