As Christmas approaches (and my birthday a few weeks after) I've been compiling a list of different games I may buy with any cash gifted or put on a list so friends / family can buy them for me.

I did fine with FPS and RPG titles, but I'm kind of stuck when it comes to space-based RTS / sims I might like, so I thought I'd ask your ever helpful selves for some suggestions.

Basically, I like the X series, Homeworld, Free Orion (not played the original inspiration), and on a broader view of scifi based stuff: DoW, Star Wolves 3 and some other stuff.

I also loved star control 2 / ur-quan masters

*rambling tangent

I'm currently running a nice i5 system with plenty ram etc (no probs running metro 2033, deus ex hr and call of pripyat at full whack), so new / more demanding games shouldnt be a problem on the whole.

Anyways, if you'd be kind enough to give me any ideas (and a link if possible) i'd appreciate it!

If you like Civilization, Galactic Civilization 2 can be quite a good choice.

I also heard quite some good thing about Sins of a Solar Empire, maybe that one also worth a shot. (It is a real time strategy but with a larger scale like a smaller grand strategy game, I think)

Ah yes - heard of GC2, but didnt rally know much about it (hence the thread for hints like yours there!).

Yeah - I remember seeing Sins of a Solar Empire on sale ages ago (retail sale I mean) but I wasnt sure if my system at the time could run it - thanks for reminding me!

Maybe you'd like Gratuitous Space Battles?

http://positech.co.uk/gratuitousspacebattles/

Not heard of that one before - thanks! Yes, saw that one on Desura (I think - maybe not) but it seems to purely be battles (I kind of like the economy / diplomacy elements in stuff) but I'll probably try the demo and see. Thanks!

Also Salvation Prophecy looks awesome, though it's on the expensive side.

GOG also has Faster Than Light.

Many people praise "space pirates and zombies". I can almost see why.

My favorite star wars game is the old "Star Wars : Rebellion". Not sure if you can find it, or if you'd find it too minimalist, it's basically a star wars master of orion lite, but I adore it.

I don't know if "Mass Effect" qualify. It has shortcomings as a 'RPG' RPG, but it's still a very decent space opera game, in its own genre. The KOTOR games are a bit in that category too.

"Starlancer" is a cool mission-based space fighter, that I like for its stupid militaristico-patriotic setting, and its somehow gritty realistic feel (I love spaceships to fire solid bullets instead of energy beams or whatever). I was reluctant to try "Freelancer", but it turned out quite enjoyable. My favorite space fighting games (apart from "Elite" classics) are still the X-Wing series. If you can find "X-Wing:Alliance", and forgive some silly flavor details (star wars emails), and can find a joystick, you're in for some delicious dogfighting fun.

"Nexus the jupiter incident" is an okay space RTS, that unfortunately suffers from the comparison with "Homeworld" (by the way, you've played the 3 of them, right?), but still provides a slightly different gameplay, more focused on capital ships and subsystems.

And lastly, "FTL". Is awesome.

One of my all time favs is Sword of the Stars 1, if you haven't tried that one yet. Sins is a lot of fun as well. Haven't tried SOTS2 yet, due to the fact it was such a cluster-f*#k when released, but I have heard it is fairly playable now after much patching by Kerberos the developer. I highly recommend SOTS 1 though, if looking for a fun, challenging time waster ;-).

--> Oh yeah..get "SOTS Collection", it has all the expansions, and is all set to rock and roll. I believe they have it on GamersGate (would link it, but don't feel right doin that on my favorite game site, GOG)

Ambrosia Software's best game. If the price and its unavailability on a stable distribution platform doesn't bother you, you should get it.

Oh, there are also, on a slightly less serious mode, "Strange adventures in infinite space" and its sequel (some sort of silly short-session roguelike exploration thingy). And the space station management game "Startopia", which is immensely fun. But, well, limited to the interior of one space station...

Have not played it, but I heard people saying SOTS2 was a total disaster......Not sure if the recent enhanced edition has fixed thing up.

That looks like a goodun, thanks Zoltan!
Looks interesting - bookmarked!
Startopia actually sounds like its worth a look - thanks!

Darkstar one is fun but a bit outdated.

I completely forgot about that one - have you tried it yet?