In my scifi universe I originally wanted a large scale war going on, and opportunistic prospectors looking to make cash in the war zone by hauling off scrap.

I worked on this for a little while before realizing it was kind of a messy kitchen sink. The moment of clarity for me was to keep both aspects but create a timeline where the war came first and the prospecting came after. A lot of things fell into a more logical order for the universe.

This required extensively rewriting characters, locations, and events but it was all for the better. Some characters were merged, with their story going from wartime to post-war lives. Other characters were divided up to help the setting expand a bit.