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[joey4track]

I haven't had much experience with space sims except for MoO2 of course and an old game called Stars! but recently I wanted to see what modern times had to offer in the ways of the Space sim. So far I'm having the most fun with Distant Worlds and Stardrive although I think both games are overpriced. Actually if you take the ship design/combat and game engine of StarDrive and add the depth of Distant Worlds, you would have one hell of a game.

Are there any other good ones out there? Even games like Drox Operative and Weird Worlds looks pretty cool but I haven't played them. It would be kind of cool if someone made a game that was primarily a 4x game but you could have a 'hero' of sorts that would play more like Privateer/Wing Commander. I think I am asking too much..

[ragnar119]

I really like galactic civilization 1 and 2. For me they are one of best 4x game.
Drox operative is a arpg in space, don't have to do anything with 4x. If you like the type of games, space ranger 2 is really good, space pirates and zombies is alos nice (little simple)

[azurelao]

Sins of a Solar Empire is a real-time space RTS. Fairly good and can have large, LARGE battles. You have everything from small frigates to large starbases, and the new standalone release (rebellion, i think) adds in Titans for each race and subfaction.

Sword of the Stars I is good with ship customization and replayability. The strategic map is turn-based but the combat is all real-time. There are a plethora of races to choose from, each with their own styles for play, and strengths and weaknesses. The universe is also fairly customizable, and each one (except for scenarios) are randomly generated.

Sword of the Stars II is a little more in-depth than SotS I in terms of fleet control and how you manage things. Fleets now require admirals to use and you can assign each fleet a mission that it will do its best to complete. It's very shiny and playable, but overall feels like it could use some polish. Once again, there are several races to choose from, including a new one that the developers released for free, and they all play differently.

X3: Terran Conflict and X3: Albion Prelude are games that have been described as EVE: Singleplayer. You can be a trader, a pirate, a soldier, or a stock broker (in AP). In the end it's up to you to make your own story. The game can sometimes be a bit slow (depending on what "starting package" you choose), but the sense of achievement of going from a dinky little fighter to a huge carrier ship is...something else. There are also a plethora of mods and scripts that you can use to tailor your game to your needs, and although most of them are scripted for TC they can also be used for AP

Star Wars: Empire at War has an amazing space combat mode. Ground combat sucks, but the space-based warfare more than makes up for it.

SPAZ!(Space Pirates and Zombies) is a decent game. You have to collect ore-like material and find upgrades to you ship as you make your way to the center of the galaxy. Aside from that, you can choose your own path and make or break alliances along the way.

[kingfisher1112]

Master Of Orion 2. That is all.

But still, Galciv 2 is good, and Aurora is good, if insanely deep, complex, and got a worse UI than DF. ( Yes, really.)

[ragnar119]

Check Starsector, it looks very promising, like mount and blade in space, cant wait for it to be released.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvKfecT88f4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v4gsll5Pck

[joey4track]

Wow, Starsector looks like Sid Meiers Space Pirates!

[hemmingjay]

MOO or Distant Worlds. Star Drive would be my favorite but it has just awful balance issues still. Hopefully they will figure it out eventually.

[Beorne]

Space Empires IV, hands down.
But stay far from Space Empires V.

[LoSboccacc]

Star ruler. More of a rts than a 4x, but if you slow the game down putting scaling at 1.1 becomes very interesting.

Has ship design, diplomacy, research and an interesting economic model.

Handles hundred of ships concurrently and in real time, and has nice automation options so you don't need to micro everything

[SeaBee]

MOO 2 is my all time favorite. SE IV, Distant Worlds, and Starsector are really fun. I need to give Star Ruler another chance.

I played GalCiv I and II plenty, but I'm not sure I actually liked them all that much. II especially felt ... clinical? I don't know. It didn't really suck me in.

SE V made me sad.

[10ebbor10]

Star Wars: Empire at War has an amazing space combat mode. Ground combat sucks, but the space-based warfare more than makes up for it.

I didn't dislike the ground combat that much. Still fairly good. Space combat was better, but well, it worked.

There's also the forces of corruption expansion pack, which adds the massively OP corruption branch to the game. ((No tech tree .All units unlocked at start, generates massive amounts of money, Can infiltrate enemy settlements, Their space based orbital weapon is included in their orbital defense station* and does decent damage)).

In fact, it's completely possible to hold of an entire enemy fleet with just your Lvl3 + space station, and enough money. (Money repairs stuff)
¨
*Meaning you don't have to waste a ground spot on it

[BlindKitty]

I love Space Empires - and if you get into IV, you can also play the ship-simulation game in the same universe (Starfury? Can't really remember name right now.). Space Empires V would be oh - so - epic if not for the nonexistent AI. Also, I liked turn-based fights from IV better, but I could live with that, if only I had some computer opponents that do something. It is just epic enough in scale for me (although I could think of better science system), and it combines micro and macromanagement in just right proportions.
...But I can't say it is good to try. Not with that AI. Sadly.

[joey4track]

Hmm, just playing Starsector for a bit. I am really bad at this game. Is there a big learning curve for this?

[sebcool]

I'd like to second StarDrive. It's a very good 4x with a very good ship designer. It has a lot of balance and pacing issues, though.  The tech progression isn't entirely balanced. The first few techs are slow, but after that you can research it all in a few minutes. But the dev is extremely active and constantly updating the game. Not to mention that it's moddable. Probably one of the best 4x's i have ever played.

Star Ruler is also very good, although it's even more unbalanced than StarDrive. The tech tree uses a few standard techs which are upgraded to improve on your ships and stuff. It upgrades exponentially, which causes the problem of a tech 1 superbattleship getting beaten up by a tech 20 fighter. But it's amazing fun, and the scale is astronomic (Get eet?).

I suggest you check out both games, there's a lot more to them than what I've just mentioned.

[CognitiveDissonance]

I have been investigating various games like that recently myself. My all-time favorite games are:
- Imperium Galactica 2 (very story driven)
- Pax Imperium

They are old, and hard to find, but hold a special memory in my mind. Also, the best:
- Space Empires III and IV

Those got me onto the internet, and made me the person I am today. No kidding. The community that those games spawned was amazing, and I had an incredible time playing with the amazing folks. Made some good friends, too. The sequel, Space Empires V, is not nearly as bad as people here suggest - but it doesn't capture my imagination the same way. Perhaps because I couldn't mod my personal race due to my render files being unavailable.

From recent times, here are a few:
- Sword Of The Stars I and II - a recent discovery, I'm still learning. Very different, I like what I see. Kind of arbitrary in interesting ways.
- StarDrive... I want this game to be good. I love how it looks and plays, and hope it gets proper development. It's in a still-in-development-release right now, but the developer is promising big things
- Endless Space is a game that went through similar, but much higher class, development. It's simpler than many other games, but I highly recommend it.

I also am aware of Aurora. It apparently makes DF learning curve look really easy, but lets you customize EVERYTHING. That said, it's hard to install, hard to run, and hard to play. I don't know how good it is as I got frustrated with it's lack of DLL's, and gave up for the next while (am busy ). Be aware to NOT let this game install its DLL's over your system or system32 folder.

That's it for now, I'm curious about the other titles mentioned here

EDIT: I also have played Galactic Empires I and II, and Sins of the Solar Empire: Rebellion. Those games failed to capture my interest