So, I’ve played a bit of Distant Worlds 2 here and there—less then 20 hours—but it never really clicked for me. I wanna give it a proper in-depth try again since its had quite a few updates and new species and a expansion added since I last played.
I kinda struggle to find the right ballance between automation and manual gameplay, which makes it harder to get into. Honestly, I’m abit suprised I’ve struggled with it so much, but something just feels like its missing for me.
For context, I’m pretty fond of Stellaris/ Crusader Kings 3 and have played those for a couple hundred hours, plus I have played various Space 4x games like Endless Space, GalCiv etc.
Any input - tips or tricks are welcome . Thanks in advance 
It's the best 4x game to relax.
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You leave automation as it is by default, maybe add few more options so the game will ask you to do it and then you just chill over watching as your empire grows. Automation is also much better in DW2 than in DW1, it won't bankrupt you colonising shitty worlds and it even can use fleets to attack (though in DW1 it was probably fault of shitty game mechanics since i rarily could make my fleets to attack even on manual).