Cosmonautica

Honestly, this game ticks a lot of boxes for me. It's sci-fi, it's management.I like being a space trader... But this game just doesn't quite get it right. It's a slush of ideas and non of them are very distinct or interesting. They took the Fallout Shelter idea and made it a space trucking game... But that's about it. The world(s) feel uninspired, generic 'goofy' sci fi stuff you saw a lot in the 80's and 90's. The 'Shelter' part is just tacted on and lacks depth... So is the trading and honestly, the entire gameplay loop. I've tried playing this game many times, but it's a weak attempt at a good idea.

I like the trading/fighting genre with hours spent playing Elite, Privateer, and Patrician 3. I had high hopes for this game, but the interface is hellish. Parts of the game recognize the "switch right and left mouse buttons" setting in Windows and parts don't. I'm getting problems with clicking once causing a double click, and with no way to save and go back, that can cost in-game cash. The crew management consists of getting a crew with a similar diet and then forgetting about it. The campaign is linear, with trade/fight grinding along the way to level up to be able to do the later missions; very similar to Privateer, except for the need to perform research. Overall, I expected better. It compares poorly to the traders from decades ago.

I really enjoy trading/economic simulations and this game is quite fun. However it has in my oppinion the one flaw that already broke patrician and port royale for me: its too easy. As in: Its a trading sim, but you don't need to plan your route, you can just buy something and sell it somewhere else and its most probably a decent + in your balance. Theres no need to look for the "great deal" or the "where to sell" but just to fly somewhere else, sell it, or, if they produce it themselves, fly to the next planet.... Besides that, I really enjoy it and, in opposition to quite some other reviews I read, I don't believe its too little content, I mean there could always be more, but compared to other trading simulation games, I feel like this game actually adds quite a few things, like the ship-designing and the crew managment that actually makes this one of the more fun trading games.

trade until shield research is done the fight your way to easy riches. shame really had such promises and was hoping for different ships in different parts of the galaxy but even the pirate ship is a step down, NEEDS more content. sat in a mining system waiting for the next part of the plot and have made my second million and only research left is galaxies.........

A little bit of fun, but so slowly to get progress... Worst part: unstable and buggy as hell!