Does this game have any PvE

Ive been trying mods to help the coop PvE experience, because what fun is building when you dont get shot at. Well. I cant get anything to shoot at my ships. Vanilla pirates. Modded pirates. They all just stand there and watch as I shoot them with this fighter. Is this really all there is to this game?

Edit: Testing concluded. Issue was ownership. The starter ships are default owned by Nobody. So the AI paid no attention to them. Upon claiming ownership AI promptly attacked.