It wasn't unheard of for pods to spawn just outside areas you just cleared but spawning in your FOV definitely sounds like a bug.

Min/maxing in the game is extremely hard though, unless you're on one of the easier difficulties. I remember playing through on Normal (one easier than Classic, the intended difficulty) and once you get past the early game it becames cake since no one dies. I was never a fan of rolling the late game though (a la FFT), I want a consistent challenge throughout.