To idle or not to idle, that is the question! Actually, it was never my intent for this to be an idle game, but, based on feedback, it does seem like it gives a lot of folks that vibe. With that in mind, I'm considering a mode without aliens, but I haven't quite figured all of that out yet.
I agree with you 100% on your feedback related to difficulty scaling. I don't hate the difficulty at the beginning, because it incentivizes upgrades, however, once you get certain upgrades, it doesn't take long before it becomes an idle game, due to the sole fact that enemies can't touch you. I'm looking at you orbital speed!
Apart from balancing, I think adding more content will be a huge benefit to the gameplay experience. I'll definitely be pushing more content in the near future.
Thanks so much for your thoughtful post! I hope you'll stick around to see where this game goes. Cheers! : ]
P.S.
I've found that shooting blocks that you've already flown past is better than shooting blocks in front of you. This way, when the aliens spawn, you are moving away from them and not towards them. This gives you more time to blast them. : ]