yeah for sure and i think it's a great idea for a non-combat sim!
tbh some of the more combat types of soace games fall into the tedium trap though, too. like, different genre but i barely finished Space Pirates and Zombies way back, it just committed the cardinal sin of getting boring by the end
its just like - the systems simulation angle sounds super interesting and has a lot of ways to generate interesting scenarios and interactions
im just wary of that level of depth in simulation resulting (not necessarily by desin) in a thing that feels like having fifteen minutes of my life chipped away for no particularly interesting reason and feeling like sort of randomized punishment in the end
(i don't necessarily think that aura would opt for that on purpose, it's just a result i could see causing some friction with me!)
i think theres a ton of room for actually interesting systems based play though!
like just off the top of my birdie brain im imagining all sorts of neat systems simulation stuff
- dealing with high risk/high reward runs through navigation hazards, or the same for a narrative mission and dealing with the unpredictable conditions that could result
- having to rig up temporary and maybe temperamental bodged patches because a power distribution system you were running past limits blew and nobody in the local system has a part that fits your ship
- oops, you bought cheapo used junkyard thrusters and now your ship can only turn starboard and spins slightly when you accelerate
- didn't replace the reactor shielding, now all your sensors can see is EM radiation. also i hope your pyjamas are radiation-hardened
- your bridge computer doesn't have drivers for your super old FTL... your engineering computer does, but for some reason doesn't network to the bridge (broken data links?), so you can only FTL jump by physically going to engineering
having to operate systems and manually pilot the ship for landings sounds great. she cited Elite but kinda makes me think of Highfleet as well (https://files.egrets.ca/highfleet_landing.mp4)
and certainly the whole thing couldn't possibly be emergencies and problems. likely a lot of time for just kinda chill space cruise time in there too while things are routine
anyway sorry i've gone on a long ramble in Aura's comments again, lol
it's late and this kinda happens (and i promise i've only had to chomment so many rapid fire thoughts about this from the hip because i actually really like the broad concept and it has caused brain activation)