This game takes logistics and city building and puts them in a blender. Multilevel highway systems over terrain and the city adds a great touch. Ore patches don't run out, people don't become unhappy, and your city won't fall apart or stop working if your resources run short. This allows concentrating on the layout for traffic efficiency and production bonuses when certain buildings are placed close to each other. It's not hectic at all, and it's fun finding a good design rather than squeezing out the last drop of speed and efficiency and going faster. Progression is steady and a good pace, tech tree is decent, and the upgrades are meaningful. The gui is sparse and a bit hard to understand at first, mouseover hints are plentiful but a lit button means 'off' in this game. Weird. Currently it's in alpha, which is a little surprising considering the stability and nice amount of content. There is room for improvement in the building snapping and rotation, but not much. The terrain can stop placement of buildings if the road is auto-elevated to compensate, since they have to be directly connected. Road snapping needs work. There's no undo key. Multiple tiny pieces of road need to be manually redone quite often. It's tedious and very clicky. Ctrl+Z would go a LONG way - or even better, not allow placement there at all. Minor nits that'll hopefully polish out. It's fun, relaxing, runs well, looks good, regularly updates, and makes time fly. Recommended if Dyson Sphere, Factorio, and Cities Skylines are in your library.
Astrox Imperium reminds me a bit of X3, except it has a good tutorial, intuitive controls and menus, and a cool story so far. There's really nothing to complain about, just some minor QoL stuff that's expected in early access - like fleets can only be mercs and not comprised of your own ships, and the refinery stops if you undock. I played a long session on first boot, it was fun and relaxing. It does require input, so if you're looking to do the dishes while auto-flying around the map, look elsewhere. This is due to the Life Support mechanic, which will kill you if you're not paying attention. Different sectors affect it differently, depending on toxicity, temperature, sunlight level, and so on. I love it: it needs monitoring but it's not obtrusive like a hunger meter that requires food every 2 minutes. It's also adjustable! The Tactical screen is good too, the sector is highlighted with different colors for stations, asteroids, ships, etc. After scanning what you're interested in, a keypress puts you right back in realspace - which looks pretty cool in all the sectors I've visited. The dev is very active and responsive, and listening to him on the SGJ podcast you can tell his dedication. I think it shows in how much is already here with no crashes or glitches in 11 hours (so far), just mining and exploring!
