What's a good ttrpg with space travel, lots of races to choose from, and a cool setting?

Traveller has had a good number of species options in its various editions through the years, you just have to scrounge around a bit and poet over the ones you want with a little tweaking. Yeah, the base game often advertises just humans, but some editions (like Mongoose 1e) have as many species options as FTL, if not more, right out of the box. I would even recommend using home brew races for a game like Traveller before I would EVER suggest something like Starfinder to someone.

Best for races to choose from:
>Battlelords of the 23rd Century

Space travel: Pretty much all of them, a better question would be "space combat" (whether yes or no) as that's more likely to help narrow down your choices; some are good, some are bad with it.

Cool setting: Battlelords, Ashen Stars, Traveller, Fading Suns, Stars Without Number... list goes on, man, list goes on...

>Traveller has had a good number of species

I've been playing Taveller since it came out. While chargen does exist for various alien races, the only ones which can be really played are the two Rubber Suit types, Vargr and Aslan. K'Kree RAW requires dozens of NPCs for each PC and the Hivers are next to impossible seeing as 1) they're mutes and 2) their habit of manipulation has never had a system created for it.

>> I would even recommend using home brew races for a game like Traveller before I would EVER suggest something like Starfinder to someone.

The OP asked for "lots of races to choose from" and not good rules. Seeing as they're obviously coming from a D&D or D&D-derived RPG background, something even as admittedly wretched as Starfinder is "good enough" for their needs.

Spelljammer

Is a perfectly valid strategy.

I'm looking for a Sci-Fi One-Shot RPG that has a bit more bite to it than Lasers and Feelings. Something akin to Tunnels and Trolls, but oriented. Any suggestions?

Fuck the slugs. Fuck them.

Spelljammer

But what system you think? Been wanting to do this. What system would make the ship/vehicle the main source of combat?

That's a damn good question...

Not great when your doors aren't upgraded.

Shieeeeet, I played this once as a kid. We probably did it all wrong, but everyone came to the understanding that the "dive between cover and shoot" action was the objectively best choice, so every single combat devolved into people flying and rolling across the room. Then the fat merchant PC dropped a bundle of grenades and managed to somehow dive under a closing and almost shut door, and everyone else died in the explosion.

>Fire in the door section
>Shield EMPd
>While beam drone outside
>Engi against two Mantis
>In a vaccumed section
>Rockman dukes it out with a boarding drone
>Life support is disabled and there's a hull breach in the section.
>Slugman knocking on a pilot's door
>Engine damaged
>Enemy has breach rockets

How much worse can you get? Prepare to start a new run, because you're one-two turns away from it anyway.

I would recommend a re-visit to the game. There is so much over-the-top crazy sheit to be had it's worth it.

For example, my favorite character was a 180kg 4-armed predatory gorilla-like alien using 200 pound longbow shooting full-sized javelins with explosives payload. I once used it to fire at enemy spaceships (while wearing a custom-made space-suit and standing in our own spaceship bay-door). Due to relatively low velocity and mass of the missile it was not stopped by kinetic shield of the hostile craft and it cracked its hull.

All above was done in perfect compliance with core rulebook.

>While O2 is down and breached

I'm thinking about reskinning some simple naval combat system for an FTL-esque oneshot. But my research is telling me it may be more trouble than it's worth. Looking for something that gives each player a role on the ship, without it being mind-numbingly boring for anyone but the Gunner.

You know what, Stars Without Number (Revised) might be the best option here.
With its system of ships having command posts you need to put chars on and the ability to take a crisis event (for example, oxygen module failures) instead of the ship getting damaged HP-wise.

I found (pirated) a copy of the earlier rule book, know if the revised edition is much better? I guess there's a supplement, Skyward Steel, that may be useful in achieving an FTL-esque game.

That ship system with command posts and crises is Revised-only, you prolly should give it a look.
Also, char creation is vastly improved.

Sensors are fine, it's the door room that's on fire. Also, I think the slug is part of the allied crew, since there's no alarm klaxon where he's at. I can't tell if he's got a weapon drawn but that would mean he's either about to fight the boarders or betray the crew.

Savage Worlds' Slipstream.
It's Flash Gordon style raypunk space pulp.