X-Wing series, TIE Fighter's the best
Freespace
X series (flying around in space and shooting things isonly 1/5 of the game, it's also an economic simulator and builder, very complex and deep game)
Wing Commander series

I have not played them myself but I hear the Independence War games are very good. I plan to get them myself sometime after I finish Freespace 2.

Wing Commander Privateer is also good but it's older than Freespace in look and feel, if you don't mind that than check it out! I just bought WC3 but haven't played it yet.

No you don't need to know anything about the first game. :) In fact, I played Space Rangers 2 (SR2) first, than played a bit of the original, and well, I was spoiled by the second one I guess, because before long I was back to SR2; definetly get the second one if you are only going to get one. And, in my opinion the game is as awesome as the reviews say it is, it is quite unique really, a great experience. =D

My favorites are Master of Orion 2, Darkstar One, and the Escape Velocity series.

Oh yes those! Great stuff.
But really victim of pricing structure in early shareware stuff.
They're still asking $30 for Nova and.. well it's kind of worth it but really now!

I'll add another vote for the X series games, although they do require a bit more effort to learn the ropes and get in to. I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but Space Pirates and Zombies (SPAZ) is a fun game. And the replay value is very high for a game that only costs about £6.99.

I love X3. It's not really the gameplay getting me though, it's the experience. It's a great mind trip to fly through sector after sector and enjoy the great background music.

Jarmo, if I am remembering correctly if you buy Nova on CD it also includes the mods that allow you to play the first two EV's in Nova. They still look and play the same in Nova's engine.

Hmm.. well I do have all the versions, maybe, or maybe I lost the codes (I actually liked the second part best.. whatever it was called). And I even have an old OS9 mac to play them with. Maybe one of these days..

Uuuuuu, get Nexus, GET NEXUS, IT'S THE SECOND BEST THING AFTER ORGASM!

(I'm not stalking you ... really, I'm not, I just like your topics and currently have too much time on my hands!)

in that case describe your craziest dreams in my crazy dream topic:D
wow is nexus really that good?

Hm. I would say that TIE Fighter CD with the expansions would be a good start, and Freesapce 2 is certainly a good, relatively modern take on the genre. I also recommend Homeworld: Cataclysm for RTS buffs.

Meh, I don't remember my dreams. Anyway, it's not, but it's the best space-based strategy game I have ever played with engaging story, fantastic gameplay and ... It's tad on a slow side, but that's about the only bad thing - and even that's arguable since on bigger battles you're glad is slow. So for 2.5 bucks it's a steal.

No, it still has its drawbacks. But worth a lot more than $2.