I'm looking for a realtime top-down space survival/simulation game which allows you to you can explore the universe with a single mothership OR
with multiple ships of different types and at different locations at once.
Alternatively, you can colonize a single/few planet(s) and spend your days there, exploring the planet, gathering different resources, building stuff, dying from different reasons.
Or a mixture of said options.
I don't care much for corporations, politics, trading and neutral/safe zones. Imagine a universe filled with different stars, planets, satellites, maybe larger asteroid rocks. There are other AI players which mostly randomly navigate through the universe looking for a fight. Some have colonized planets where they're building more warfare-related machinery to send at you.
I don't mind if the recommended games are more arcade-y than realistic. I would prefer a more abstract gameplay. Not as abstract as a spreadsheet, though. I want a map of the universe/galaxy/whatever and markers/sprites which denote my spaceships/colonies.
I've been reading up on Distant Worlds, but I still have no idea whether it's the game I'm looking for. I might try it soon, it certainly looks similar to my "demands"
E: It seems it requires Windows Media Player and IE11 enabled to run. Uninstalled.