How long are your games?

[Dr. Toboggan (OP)]

I've been playing Aurora for a month or so now, and I keep starting new games, but I never get very far.   I don't have NPRs, and I always keep trying to mine the Solar System.   I also start researching military techs and such, but I have no need for them, and I am getting into a sort of slump.   Any help?

[Hawkeye]

If you start with no NPRs, you have to expand.
Every time you enter a system with a habitable planet (either oxygen or methane), there is a chance for a NPR to be generated (chances can be set at game set-up).

So my tip for you would be to start at 0. Do a TN start with some 200,000 research points, choose to distribute those points yourselve in the set-up and do _not_ use them, so you have the basic techs, but nothing else), while the NPRs generated will have those 200,000 RPs to play with.
Build jump-capable survey ships and start to expand right off the bat.

This should make things interesting, once you run into your first NPR   (insert evil laughter here)

[JacenHan]

My current game is about 45 years in, with a large population and conventional start. I've only started exploring the first couple systems, but I expect exploration to speed up soon.

As for no NPRs: do lots of exploring and raise the generation chances if you need to.

[Stardust]

I'm 93 years into my first conquest of the galaxy.

I don't really have any enemies and simply set goals for myself.  Long term goals are to expand my empire and research like crazy.  Shorter term goals are/were to design and field a fleet of fuel harvesters and their support vessels and colonize and terraform all 14 potential worlds in the Shklovskij system.

[MarcAFK]

I've started and abandoned many games, usually getting 20-30 years in before loosing interest, sometimes it's because I have started several themed games at once and keeping track of them is rather difficult.
My first few games were abandoned after some rather n00bish errors, running out of fuel or just having rather poor starting setup.
But I've learned enough that I think I can probably continue my current game which has been on hold for weeks, but there is always an itch when coming back to perhaps restart. I can't always fight it off.

[Alfapiomega]

I had two test games where I played for like 15 years to see what the game is like. Now I am running a Youtube LP game where I am in year 2083 with a start in the year 2050 - so 33 years in game (some 15-18 hours game time). And I intend going on