[psychodiva]

Victus wrote

On the other hand, if a species can jaunt from system to system, I doubt resources are much of an issue for them. Once you're able to get into space easily, there's basically an infinite amount of resources (e.g., moon-sized diamonds). The only thing that makes Earth "special" resource-wise is life and its by-products, which would probably have little or no value to them as a resource in the traditional sense. Anything earth life could produce, could probably be done by the aliens themselves (e.g., generating oxygen), so turning Earth into a mining colony would probably be a waste of time.

The worst case scenario would be for a species, having an extremely long view of the future, to perceive humans (or any other non-homeworld life) to be an inevitable threat and wipe us out. Given how different we might (will) be, it may well be less meaningful to them than kicking over an ant hill.

A guide to first contact has been proposed. Study it carefully oh yee guinee pig.

Have you read 'Footfall' by Niven and Pournelle? also their 'Mote in God's Eye' - puts forward a different scenario re resources