Todos os sinais apontam para Altamid ser uma colônia de mineração abandonada. Note que em várias ocasiões no planeta vemos grandes enxames de insetos que talvez tenham inspirado a criação dos enxames.
JUNG: We had loftier ambitions about that planet from early on. Justin’s idea was that [the soldiers] were sort of like drones in a way, and that they don’t actually have a lot [of] conscious thought of their own. That sort of answers how Krall would be able to come in and take all this stuff.
But they weren’t a society that had weaponized anything. He took this energy source and perverted it in a particular way, and took over what was essentially a mining colony out there. It was one of those things were we felt that he didn’t have an invading force, but he was taking his skills as an ex-soldier and applying them in a way that he probably never thought he would have to do.
Por que eles deixaram o planeta, a resposta lógica seria que foi extraído. Quanto ao motivo de haver tantas coisas (literalmente centenas de milhares de navios), parece provável que Krall / Edison tenha encontrado uma pequena colônia abandonada e encarregado os drones de construir o maior número possível de navios com os recursos disponíveis.