NPC contacts tied to an active objective I believe, but, I haven't done rigorous testing with it beyond that.

I thought they just couldn't be killed? If they're only immune when the objective is active then that is problematic.

It does look like the detail limit has been increased to 475, but the building limit remains at 65. That may mean a change of strategy when building a city, for example, as you may want to use the building blocks and foundation pieces from the detail list, rather than from the building list.

I know space contacts that aren't essential still pop like balloons when a ship explodes near them. The whole level 1 next to a level 50 warp core breach. But that's all I know.

I guess I should have expected this sort of sloppy programming by now when it comes to the Foundry.