<t> Thanks all who answered, exploring those options does help a bit. I've been playing around with those settings, but haven't found a setup I am completely happy with. The issue seems to be that all starting locations are based upon distance from the player and don't take into account proximity to ...

<t> I haven't played in a while, but I don't remember my starting area being so crowded before Universe. Maybe I am just getting unlucky, but in my last 4-5 starts I always have two to three other races starting in sectors adjacent to me. There are usually several more not far beyond that, meaning ...