Gratuitous space battles is indeed almost exactly what I am looking for. And Battleships forever is what sparked my desire for games like this in the first place.
Dominions 3 looks awesome, but is it really worth 30 dollars?
If you like 4x games, then answer is abso-freaking-lotely. Content? How does 12+ nations with their own share of unique spells, summons and rules? How does over 30 different demigod templates to work from, or build your own? Tons and tons and tons of discoverable hidden resources, which are randomly spread across the map, ranging from giving your gem income, to being adventure areas for your heroes, to offering you unique neutral units?
The only two downsides I find with Dom 3 is: the graphics are quite archaic, part of which is charming, part of which makes the game space look like risk. And two: the end game does not scale well in terms of micromanagement.
Other than that, it's is perhaps one of the best fantasy stragtegy games I've played, in terms of mechanics and how awesome the flavor of everything is. Seriously, in most 4x/strategy games, I find maybe one or two races interesting or that I identify with and want to play. In Dom 3, almost every nation, across every era, sounds interesting and flavor and cool.
And besides. $30? It was $50 for practically the last 6 years. Dom 3 has always seemed over priced, even after playing the game itself and enjoying it. But I think in the end it's totally worth it.