Going to try Planetary, then look at the other non-traditionals you mentioned. Not really sure what I'm after - something between a management/economic and rts I think.
Rimworld would fit that bill. But it's fairly slow paced. Maybe XCOM? Not what you're asking for exactly but might scratch that same itch. XCOM2 (which is better) is in the current Humble Monthly for $12.
So Planetary... I can see why people like it, but I can also see exactly how it's going to go. I'm bored just thinking about playing it.
Rimworld next.
Well that went well. Everybody's dead.
God damned rabid squirrel :(( :((
My friend had a game where everyone but the sculptor died. Sculptor literally couldn't do anything but sculpt, not even cleaning, so he was depressed, living in his own filth and making sculptures, trading them for food whenever a party passed by. Eventually a new settler arrived and... it was another sculptor who could only sculpt. Bandits attacked and he managed to capture one of them, eventually getting her to join his settlement and... yeah, turned out to be another sculptor.
Amazingly he kept them alive, in their own filth, and eventually someone useful joined and he turned it around. Was pretty cool.
:'D
Will try again tonight, it certainly caught my interest in the brief shot I had.
Although one of the games I borrowed from Jim recently seems to have come bundled with a load of malware (at least I'm assuming that's the source) :(