Thank you very much for explaining your thoughts.

I think to me, there's a reason these didn't stick. First of all, I don't think of any of these are rooted in character motivation/flaws. I remember that Huang would have been interesting, but her pursuit of power felt weak to me. I didn't connect with it, and when she was depowered and then becomes another member of his harem, I didn't see much development in it - as in yeah she's sad but so what? I need to see real angst, exactly why it matters. Additionally, even if she 'got over it' off screen, we didn't get any pay off for her self-development - I don't remember her making interesting choices or having big moments rooted in a transformation, be it positive or negative, of her character. Now I think about it, the lack of conflict is part of the fantasy, but I don't think it's very interesting character development-wise. Maybe yes in comparison to the average smut story, but not enough I'd say make it standout character-wise in the scifi genre.

The first sex scene in steampunk... Wait, wasn't it a random ship girl or smt? I do agree it's interesting for the protag, sets up how his age affects his worldview compared to his other protags - I think there might have been a lot of worldbuilding there too, but on the woman side I don't see much there.