thanks for a lot of great replies! two quewstions: is wing commander still fun today with quite dated graphics and probably awkward controls. And what about sins of a solar empire? thats in space:)

Yes, the series is still fun and playable. I'm saying this with no nostalgia strings attached as I played through the first two games for the first time just recently. They are not flawless, the sprite based graphics sometimes makes it hard to judge exactly where a ship is (which has resulted in a few collisions with very large ships for me) but I enjoyed myself the whole time.

Sins of a solar empire is interesting. It is a bit like Homeworld meets a traditional 4X game. I found it to end up being a bit of an awkward mix, to slow to be played on its RTS merits, and too hectic to be played as a traditional 4X. Most people seem to love it though.

I'd add that <span class="bold">Darkstar One</span> is well worth checking out.

Faint praise. Damning. WIth. Probably.

It's not a freeform galaxy explorer, it's not hardcore sim at all and in the long run it get's mighty repetitive.
But the combat is fun, graphics are still okay, missions are interesting (before they start overly repeating itself).

But hey, there's a sale going about, it's a good space sim.
It gave me many hours of fun. Well worth the price, even if I didn't reach the end.

You can skip WC1&2 and buy WC3. It's nothing outdated in WC3, realy.

All right,

Nexus: The Jupiter Incident - availible via Steam (or second hand retail probably - it DOES have a retail version), pausable real-time tactical strategy game. It's got a unique control scheme, it's got the whole "Divert all power to the weapons!" thing, you only get a set number of ships to control for entire mission (... and entire campaign, you lose frigate in one mission, you're NOT getting it back in the next) and the only thing you CAN influence is their loadout - of course, you'll get a mad ammount of options in that department.

It's very tactical too, choosing loadout gives you opportunity to make ships with various roles and then you can choose to concentrate on destryoing certain hardpoints or brute force your way trough enemy shields or destroy anti-fighter weapons and then spam it with bombers... Not to mention game is very diverse, every mission puts you into unique position.

It's also got a really good story with some "boldly go whenre no one has gone before" Star Trek vibe and FANTASTIC sense of progression. (your ship starts out as a metal box with artificial gravity created using spinning parts of hull and ends up as ... Aaaah spoilers.) Great atmospehere too - game -feels- very 'right,' battles look awesome and realistic and mechanics just work.

One of the best ... Space-based games I have ever played.

Trailer (pretty damn impressive visuals for a 2004 game eh?)

Hmm... okay.. that does sound impressive. And at 9,99 price point as well.
I will have to check that out! But.... the pile of unplayed virtual discs on my virtual table! :/

Very interesting thread. Personally I'm not really into spacesims, but lately find this topic also very interesting. After some search I found this nice site with an overview of all related games.

Any words about A.I. War? The bundle was lately on sale, but I passed it, because from videos and reviews it was described as a little bit hard for genre newbies to get into it.

Yep it's quite a steal for 9.99. It's got quite a good modding community too, so if you want to download Star Trek mod and go for fleet battles, you can (I don't actually KNOW of Star Trek mod, I just presume there has to be one :D I only know of quite well done BSG mod and StarGate mod.)

Heh, funny you'd mention Imperium Galactica, Nexus: The Jupiter Incident WAS Imperium Galactica III before it formed into what it is today :D As for Haegemonia, well, to be fair I think it's been rendered pretty much obsolete by Sins of the Solar Empire, that game just seems better in all aspects - at least to me. Haegemonia was ... Unpolished.

X-Wing/Tie Fighter series.

Nexus was just on sale recently for 75% off ($2.50) on steam so I purchased it. It is pretty good but there are a few potential bugs that can quite literally stop you from progressing due to unavoidable crashes mid mission.

The X-series games by Egosoft are pretty good economic space sims and a new expansion for the most recent one (X3) just released yesterday called X3: Albion Prelude (Requires X3: Terran Conflict). I have not gotten it yet but it adds a new plot, some new ships/stations, rebalanced ships/weapons, a stock market, and a huge ongoing war.

huh? That's never happened to me and I played it both on windows Vista and 7, as well as my 2 friends got trough the game without issues (one having Vista isntalled and the other 7 64bit)

Agreed. I really want to like it, but constantly zooming from a battle at some planet to one of your planets to issue some construction orders and then zooming back to the battle is too hectic for my taste, but if you have not much to do and just watch ships fly from A to B, it's just tedious because they are so slow.

Plus, I suck at it.

But the TEC (Trader Emergency Consortium), one of the factions, got really badass voice acting ;). And whenever I watch the intro video I just wish there were a story mode.

MOO 1 & 2 (aka the real ones) aren't RTS. The whole thing is turn-based.

Best Freespace-style experience is the Wing Commander series. X-Wing series is just as great in different ways, also very difficult in places. Iwar is the best real-physics combat series. Tachyon has some flaws but is very fun and pretty. X is the most successful freeform trading and combat series. You could also track down an old SSI game called Renegade: Battle for Jacob's Star. It used SVGA polygons, so it's not nearly as dated as it could be. It's closer to X-Wing than Freespace in feel. Archimedean Dynasty and Aquanox are WC style combat in submarines. There's one other old WC style game called Star Crusader that I was never able to get into.

MOO is hands down the best 4X series. Sword of the Stars felt closest to classic MOO to me with real-time combat added (avoid sequel, they're still adding basic functions a month after it was released). GalCiv is a lot like classic Civilization in space, with good AI and moral decisions to make. Space Empires series is kind of sterile, but lots of complexity. Also includes Star Fury, where you move a single ship around a 2D fake-3D map for combat and other missions. Imperium Galactica series and Haegemonia are flawed real-time 4X with unique strengths in atmosphere and storytelling. Homeworld and Nexus are great 3D real-time fleet management games. ORB and Star Wolves aren't bad. For 4X, Star Wars: Rebellion is very flawed and dated, Empire at War less so. Starcraft and Dawn of War if you want land-based space themed RTS combat. Also Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, which is reskinned Age of Empires.

There were some Star Trek RTS and 4X games but they weren't particularly good. But Bridge Commander and Starfleet Command are true classics.

Check out Strange Adventures in Infinite Space, Weird Worlds, Starscape, Ur-Quan Masters (Star Control), Space Rangers, and EV Nova for unusual 2D hybrids.

AI War is unique. It's a mix of tower defense and RTS attacking, with overall strategy based on taking only what you absolutely need. Every victory beefs up the opponent's tech level and resources. You'll like or hate it on its own merits. Knowing how to play other 4X won't take you very far.

Wing Commander 3