The short and unpopular answer is to ditch the "realism mods." Without them you will find more ships than you have torpedoes and deckgun ammo for.
It is all a matter of what you prefer.....like it was or like you want it.
I strip out the parts of the major mods I like and use them while discarding the things that bore me.....like patroling seemingly empty oceans.
Life is too short to play by someone else's rules...if it feels bad don't do it...to paraphrase a counter culture catchphrase...
