Worldtraveller: Not sure if you can find it anymore, but
StarShatter: The Gathering Storm is a spiritual successor to I-War in many ways. It has full 3d ship movement like I-War, and you get to pilot a range of vessels from small fighters to torpedo-'bombers' to destroyers, battleships, and carriers.
7upMan: I have seen the game quite a while ago, but I have no idea about its quality, and I also couldn't find any reviews back at that time. How are your impressions of that game? Care to write a little review?
I really enjoy it. I just recently found the install disk and started playing it again (my old machine crashed, and I just dug a bunch of stuff out of boxes after a recent move). The learning curve is much gentler, although it's still not an easy game. Like I-War, it's got full Newtownian physics for the spaceflight model Cap Ships take a LOOOONG time to get going, and to slow down/change course. The ships of the different factions are modeled very well, with unique strengths and weaknesses.
Some of the features:
- Wide range of pilot-able ships.
- It can be played as a strategic/fleet level game.
- Both space and atmospheric flight in fighters (the atmospheric flight model is good. Not great...it isn't Falcon 4.0, but it is good, and certainly way different than space).
- Wide variety of missions, especially with the many ground/atmospheric based attack missions.
- Fully moddable! There used to be a dedicated forum, but there doesn't seem to be much activity around anymore. :(
- Full keyboard/joystick mapping available in game. (I really wish I-war1 had this).
Graphics wise, it's much better than I-war (haven't loaded up I-war2 for a comparison yet). The cap ships are much slower and less maneuverable than the smaller fighters, although the frigates do pretty well in comparison to the larger vessels. It scales quite well, IMO.
After starting I-War again, I like StarShatter better, but I will still play through I-War and all the sequels.