EDIT: Sweet Buddha, the Sowers are awesome. Can colonize EVERYTHING from the start, and they dont even give a crap, cause half their prodction becomes food.
EDIT2: Only problem is that they actually do give a crap. You can throw em on a methane gas giant and get 3 food and 7.5 industry/pop, but they arent very happy.
Or as I posted on the ES forums:
machines can measure happiness. Afterall, if the terrain is a b*tch to stay functioning in, you'd complain to your higher ups too, even if, technically, you'd survive anyway.
Sower #12937201: "the lava pits are really quite annoying. Fall in one and you spend an hour trying to extricate yourself. Not to mention the cost of replacing melted rubber-seals."
sower #38402849: "oh i know! the acid rain doesn't help much either. I've had to replace my leg joints three times this month already!"
sower #8293739-b: "you think that's tough, try living where they pave the streets with ice-10. I had to go get this super-low melting point lubricant, or i'd just freeze right up! Gets really lonely and boring with only your thoughts to accompany you while you wait for the spring thaw, such that it is."
EDIT3: The pilgrims can just pack their bags and leave. They even take their houses with them. This is just silly, since it costs the same as a regular colony ship.
EDIT4: If I understand things correctly, then the pilgrims can trade with cravers. This is beyond silly to the point of mindfuckery.
You missed the tech down under moon exploration that gives them a system improvement that, quote, "Hides the system from opponent's inspection" as well as providing +30 production.
The Pilgrims are....weird.