First Contact with the Structs Conglomerate coincided with the disastrous Hoag Mining Incident, in which billions of lives were lost. This catastrophe was seen as the final straw in a long line Alpha-related disasters, leading to demands of more stringent mining regulations. With governments struggling to safely acquire Alpha Matter and civil war looming, the Alpha Star Council seized the opportunity presented by the discovery of the Conglomerate and its sophisticated technology.

The Council quickly drafted legislation barring manned colonies on worlds containing raw Alpha Ore. Simultaneously, while the Structs Conglomerate was rapidly incorporated into the Alpha Star Council, the Council deliberately offered no recognition that the machines were themselves sentient. This allowed Structs to continue their mining operations in the face of the new legislation. The new reforms transformed the Alpha economy, with the races of the galaxy quickly becoming clients of various Structs factions—the only intelligent beings legally allowed to directly operate on Alpha worlds.

Though the issue of Structs sentience remains hotly debated throughout galactic civilization, the Conglomerate and its member factions have remained uniformly silent on the matter.