Monster ships not leveling up with mine

Hi,

playing Drox after a short break, first time with 'poverty' and 'unlucky' on. Also have some mods installed.



What I noticed is, while my ships leveled in the first sector to level 9, all the monster ships remained at levels 1-3. No higher level monster ships spawn around.



Is this an expected behavior or should I look at the mods? I installed the 'fewer monsters' mod, thinking it might have something to do with it.



Thanks

Monster ships not leveling up with mine