Star Forge

Star Forge is a cozy idle factory game set on a round orbital station above a warm rust-red planet. Drones fly out to the asteroid belt and haul back ore, and a conveyor carries it through five modules: the drone bay, the forge, the refinery, the assembler and the shipyard. Each module turns two of the previous product into one worth four times as much, and whatever the next module can't use is sold at the trade port. You can turn and zoom the 3D station.

The goal is to keep the production line growing and balanced. The slowest module holds back everything after it, so the core decision is always which module to upgrade next. Upgrade costs rise with every level, and each module doubles its speed at levels 10, 25, 50, 100 and beyond. You can also tap asteroids to mine by hand and catch comets as they fly past for a bonus. 265 milestones guide you from the first drone to the far sector, each with a reward to collect.

More systems open as the station grows. Chiefs make their module faster and are promoted with badges earned from orders and milestones. The research lab produces data that you spend on twenty-five upgrades across five branches. Traders queue at the port with timed orders; deliver in time for credits, badges and data, and every finished order adds reputation, which raises order rewards. Four more stations open around new worlds, each with its own goods and bonus building, from Frost Harbor's icy rings to Sun Crown right next to a star. When a run slows down you can warp to a fresh sector: stations, modules and credits reset, but you earn star charts, each adding 5% to your income for good, and spend them on legacy upgrades such as keeping your research or your chiefs after a warp.

Some tips. Look for the module marked as the slowest step, or one that is short of its input, and spend there before upgrading what is already fast. Pushing a module just past its next doubling level gives a big jump in output. When a trader's order is running, speed up the line it needs so you finish in time. Warping when progress slows down makes every later run faster.

Star Forge suits fans of incremental and tycoon games. The station keeps earning while you are away, up to an offline time limit that research and upgrades can raise, and you see the total when you come back. It runs in the browser with mouse, keyboard or touch, on desktop and on phones and tablets in portrait or landscape.

Upgrade your modules, assign chiefs and keep an eye on the bottleneck in your line. Click asteroids to mine by hand and catch passing comets for a bonus. 265 milestones guide you from the first drone to the far sector.

The station keeps working while you are away. When a run slows down, warp to a new sector for star charts that raise your income forever and buy legacy upgrades that change how the next run plays.