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[Rez]

The flavor text in ur-quan masters was half the fun.

I've been playing through nexus again, and it's making me want a new one quite badly.  There aren't many games that will let you command anything larger than a corvette and a few fighters.  Emphasis on command.

Unfortunately, it looks like Most Wanted Entertainment hasn't gotten it together to kickstart or look for some other source of capital for development on Nexus 2.  Gamesplant.com redirects to your standard advertisement filled placeholder site.

[Levi]

I liked Space Pirates and Zombies.  Its pretty much all fighting.


And Kobo!  Haha, I used to play this in my Universities compsci lab. 

[SomethingCreative]

"Ad Astra" hasn't been mentioned yet? It's on the free games list in the sticky.

It's got exploration and ship control. Don't think you can do fleets though. Space combat as well!

http://www.a-astra.com/

[Rez]

There's Infinity in development... some might say in development hell.  The end goal is an mmo with twitch-based combat, a procedurally generated galaxy, and more exploration than the entire world could ever do.  He brought someone else onto the team and I think their short-term goal was to finish and start licensing the engine, which is pretty pretty.
fl-tw.com

[BuriBuriZaemon]

If this has not been mentioned: Independence Wars series.]

It's an old game but already used Newtonian physics and offered freeform (ala GTA) gameplay. The only drawback is you only get to pilot three or four different ships, but you can customise their configurations.

The frigate has the option to be equipped with detachable fighter drones that act as weapon turrets when still attached.

[GreatJustice]

So far as games not mentioned so far, there's Adventures in Infinite Space, a 2d space exploration/fighting game where you explore the galaxy looking for goodies and fighting (or befriending) aliens. It's also free, though the graphics are incredibly dated.

There's also its sequel, Weird Worlds, which features much better graphics, some added features, and more aliens but it actually costs money.

[Sean Mirrsen]

As far as games that have not been mentioned and perhaps should not be mentioned ever go, there is always the Battlecruiser series. Battlecruiser Millenium being the latest in its series, and Universal Combat being the sequel/followup/reimagining.

Far less than stellar execution, but a very good concept. If someone could overhaul it with actual human beings as players in mind, it might be very fun.

[Marc Remillard]

SW3 acts like it wants to be Freelancer or X-Series, but was designed by Square Enix - It proposes this vast world and great background, but then you realize that shops only sell items depending on how far you are in the story (machineguns for sale during the tutorial, howitzers in the same shop at level 3), and that the story forces you along a rather straight path.  There's no real time to loiter and make money or enjoy the universe or anything.  The game poses a TON of divergent paths available... but none of them are consistent with the others.  For instance, I recall in one mission that you're escorting a convoy.  Someone interrupts you and says "I have word that there's an ambush ahead, you should follow me this way."  If you do follow him, he's like "aha I was a spy, I just lead you into an ambush!" but if you make another choice, he actually turns out to be a devout police force guy and helps defend your convoy.  And even with the divergent plots and the "you're given options on what path to take" you still end up being shuffled down a fairly straightforward path.  You get told "the only way to get through here is to avoid that blockade and sneak through the dust cloud."  The blockade consists of a megaship with a Motion Wave Gun that insta-kills you, so you have no choice except to take the dust route.  Or there's some places where you get told "Come back this way, the objective is over here!" and the game turns your ship around.

It's X-3 done by Square Enix - good idea, great universe, and then ruined by gameplay and story.

NINJA: Redking - Homeworld is a 4x, and I dunno about Oolite, but OP seemed to be asking for games where you own a ship or a squadron and carry through more RPG or Sandbox gameplay.  Homeworld is very RTS, although still a game that I would encourage people to play.

Oolite is a game where you own a single ship. quite a bit of it is grindy, and you can die fairly easily, as pirates appear to be everywhere, and you can get mugged by thargoids in witchspace at any point (thargoids are basically tough as hell aliens, witchspace is basically hyperspace) but eventually, you can get good enough equipment to survive these and start ripping most things to shreds.

Grew up on Elite, an OOlite is pretty cool. It'd be nice to get some multiplayer action in there. Long live Braben.

[Dariush]

Space Rangers 2. It's, quite simply, the best one there is.

[alfie275]

ARTEMIS?

[Akura]

I could have sworn I posted in this thread before, mentioning Battlecruiser. While the controls are terrible(and the key reference is worse), the first three games, 3000AD, Millenium, and Universal Combat's single player mode, are free. I'd suggest Millenium, since I had a hard time with Universal Combat, and 3000AD doesn't work even at the best of times.

Be a *happy camper*

Fun fact: I actually managed to beat the entire game without ever encountering the Orz.

Spoiler: Huh? (click to show/hide)

Don't you need to befriend the Orz to get the Taalo Shield, to keep that smartass Talking Pet from mind-controlling you?

I've heard it's possible to beat the game without ever going to Earth, though.

[hemmingjay]

Space Rangers 2. It's, quite simply, the best one there is.

^  ^  ^  ^
    THIS.

[GreatJustice]

Space Rangers 2. It's, quite simply, the best one there is.

^  ^  ^  ^
    THIS.

How could I have possibly forgotten Space Rangers 2 ><

Only problem is that the translation occasionally makes no sense, and sometimes bad luck with Dominators results in you having no mission options for ages, forcing you to waste time until a feasible mission pops up.

[Haspen]

Wing Commander
Descent
(and Freespace)
Elite

Star Trek games:
Klingon Academy
Bridge Commander
Legacy

Of all those, Legacy is the newest and pretty fun if you ask me.

[Ma88hew]

Captain Forever
A free flash game where you fight space ships with your space ship.
The twist is that you can drag parts from the ships you kill onto your own ship.