Its not about resources but survival. The theory is that any civilization can become as powerful as you are and then you are at constant threat of first strike

Its not about resources but survival. The theory is that any civilization can become as powerful as you are and then you are at constant threat of first strike attack. So you need to first strike before they will ever get that chance. You cannot make an assumption about other side. They can be pacifists or a hive mind with no morals. > Why not just colonize Why bother, you are already star destroying apex species. Trisolarans were relatively low tech civ in the book. In the book and theory of dark forest only most ruthless civs will survive. Civ that will make contact with others might thrive for a while, until they get discovered by ruthless civ.