This is a pretty big design shift but it's still trying to solve some of the problems I talk about in this article. What I found and what I heard from players was that the resource limiting helped but it wasn't a bit forced and a mechanic that more subtly nudges players to move onto the next system while not explicit telling them to would help.

What I realized was that I had that system already in place, it was just at the system level. Every system had a bit of a "clock" before you "completed" it where enemy ships would come faster and faster. But that all reset every system so you (probably) never really got to the point where it was too much. So there was always a sense of urgency in place while the system was incomplete but it went away completely when it was completed. What I wanted to do is have a slight sense of urgency to go to the next system but not force the player to if they remembered there was a task they want to finish in the current system.

What I did was took that "clock" and applied it to the whole region. Not only will ships enter the system faster and faster but there's a constant decay of citizens which continues on even when you've "completed" the current system. So the time you stay in the completed system you'll have to weigh against that continual pressure.

I've raised the "resource limit" considerably so it feels less limiting for now. I'm evaluating if I want to keep this around or not with this system. Need more feedback on this.

I'm enjoying this implementation quite a bit but I really need your feedback about this change. Please drop by Discord and leave your thoughts when you have a chance to play the next version.