Space strategy games

[Jeivar]

I'm not a big strategy game player, as I generally need to feel invested in characters to play a long game and managing a giant, impersonal entity from on high kind of precludes that. But I did recently complete my big goal in Total War: Age of Charlemagne, and I like epic sci-fi stuff.

So what are the good space strategy games out there? With a fun feel and not TOO much micromanagement? I'm sort of considering Stellaris right now.

[factotum]

Well, the big four AFAIK are Galactic Civilizations III, Master of Orion, Endless Space 2 and Stellaris. I've played three of those:

GC3: I like this one a lot. It has crazy levels of ship appearance customisation--if you actually have to have the Starship Enterprise in your game, this will let you build it. However, games can take an absolute age, and when (as happened to me twice) the game bugs out and consistently crashes after you're 300 turns in, it tends to drain any desire you might have had to play it. It's a shame, because it's probably my favourite in terms of actual gameplay.

Master of Orion: Another turn-based game, but the games tend to be quicker and involve less micromanagement than GC3. It *is* based fairly heavily on the original game from 1993, though, which means some of the design decisions feel a bit odd from a modern perspective; also, the thing where the Antarans warp in and attack whoever's strongest is a pain in the rear if that happens to be you.

Stellaris: Of these three, I think this is the one I would recommend, but it does have a fair bit of micro--definitely more than a Total War game. Of course, if you want to avoid the micro you can put all your planets apart from one or two into sectors and let the AI run riot with them--while sector AI has improved massively since the original release it's still not as optimal as controlling the planets yourself. I haven't actually played it since the most recent patch dropped, though, which has changed a fair few things. If anything, that's my biggest complaint about the game--it feels like it's constantly in early access and they keep changing major gameplay mechanics with patches.

[Sian]

Stellaris is the obvious consideration, and by far it's the easiest of Paradox's Grand strategies to get into without pre-existing knowledge of how they're to be tackled

Endless legend is starting to show it's age (it turned 5 earlier this year), but it was highly rated, and not quite as complex

... That said, if you want strategy, while feeling the need to have characters to invest in, I'd almost suggest Crusader Kings 2, even through it's starting to feel quite bloated, and that they've mentioned that they're at one of the last expansion-dlcs before the project is shelved in terms of future development (beyond bug-fixing)

I haven't actually played it since the most recent patch dropped, though, which has changed a fair few things. If anything, that's my biggest complaint about the game--it feels like it's constantly in early access and they keep changing major gameplay mechanics with patches.

Well, partially I think you overestimate just how often the change major gameplay mechanics, in ways that aren't just tweaking ... But yeah, being in continued development post-release (which Paradox does, and IMO does as well or better than any other developer), can tend to feel that way.

[Wraith]

Stellaris is a good place to start. It's probably not quite as deep and complex as the Civilisation games, but in my opinion that only makes it more user friendly while learning to play and there's plenty to do.

I've heard a lot of good things about Space Tyrant also. It's far more simple to play and more cartoony in appearance, but it's supposed to be good fun because of that.

FTL: Faster Than Light was absolutely HUGE a couple of years ago and is incredibly popular still. It's more small scale than Stellaris - you only have one ship to look after - but what you can do is a lot more organic than simply throwing ships at each other until one side runs out. It's been on sale for only a few dollars several times, so it's definitely one to look for in the Steam sales if you haven't already got it.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

They also stress different themes.

Stellaris stresses a Star-Trek-ish science exploration theme in the early game, as you send science vessels across space, researching strange anomalies. Then it's more GSG, though their diplomatic options are still fairly limited compared to other GSGs. Lastly it gets to super-power stage, where the player is creating vast ring-worlds and dyson-spheres and fighting off immense fleets threatening the whole galaxy.

Most interestingly, it's not a set world, unlike GC3, Endless Space, or Masters of Orion. The SHAPE of the world is set; the player and most other races start out at the same level of development, some races start out as primitives, some as 'advanced starts', and a rare few as Fallen Empires. But unlike the other games, there are no set races (unless you make there be). Everything is procedurally generated. The tech-tree keeps this going as well. It's not a set tree, but each time you choose a new path for research, you're presented with a new set of 3-5 "cards", which are your research options. It's the more hands-off vision of strategy; the grand leader of a country doesn't dictate where his scientists WILL have a breakthrough.

Combat sucks. It does have actual characters though!

I would recommend CK2 though. It's a pretty fantastic game for showing how in the middle ages, politics was personal relations.

[Yora]

It's more about a single small fleet with pretty simple controls and linear levels, but it would be criminal to not mention Homeworld.

[Triaxx]

If you don't mind older games, I enjoyed GalCiv2 far more than 3. Random universe a bit more tech treeish, but still entirely too many hours of fun.

Even older is Star Wars Rebellion. Pick the empire and destroy the evil rebellion, or take control of the Rebellion and usually destroy more than just two death stars. But you'll get random characters you can assign to various tasks, or even have them turn out to be force-sensitive, and go train with Luke or Vader, and become better agents. It's a lot of fun.

[Leecros]

I would recommend CK2 though. It's a pretty fantastic game for showing how in the middle ages, politics was personal relations.

Sadly I don't think that Crusader Kings 2 is a Space Strategy game outside of a certain mod. However, I guess it may fuel Character investment as it does have many RPG aspects.



As for Space Strategy Games, I'll be honest, I think Sword of the Stars(The Original) might be a great place to start and hasn't been suggested yet.

Sword of the Stars has a good deal less micromanagement than many of the games already suggested. There's no real planet management in the game. You don't have buildings or anything like that although there are space stations later on that can provide various benefits. You capture a planet and terraform it(at a cost and is entirely automatic) and then you use that planet to build fleets. Improving your planets beyond that typically involves either research or mining barren planets for resources which is a little more involved.

However, the game...much like Total War is mostly focused on the battles. It has a galactic view and a battle view much like Total War. It has ship customization, but compared to GC3 it's simple and easy to learn. You unlock modules through the research screen which all have different numbers of mounts and firing arcs and whatnot, but it doesn't take a master of the game to create an effective design. During battles ,you can micro your fleets down to aiming at a specific spot on an enemy ship(and weapon hardpoints can be destroyed this way or you can disable their engines) or you can just tell them to fire at an enemy ship and they'll engage.

It also has one of my favorite research trees ever. It's one of the few space strategy games where many of the projects actually have a noticeable influence. Especially the military-based ones. There's in incredible difference between Fission weapons and Fusion weapons and finally Antimatter weapons. Every upgrade has a different look which makes it feel like what you're upgrading and researching actually matters. There's also various capstones for each tree of weapons research that gives you access to various special weapons. Kinetic-Kill missiles, Siege Drivers(where you literally lob an asteroid at something), Rail Guns(My personal Favorite), Mesonic Torpedoes and Meson Projectors, Inertial Cannons, Assimiliation plague etc.

There's also a bit of variance in the research tree. You won't always get the exact same tree every time. This means that your games won't play out in the exact same way every time. To clarify, there is a set of core researches that you will always get so that you can actually progress in the game. However, special research trees may only be partially accessible(or not accessible at all).

It's also $10. Which is also not really that bad of a price.

[Vitruviansquid]

I'm really digging Endless Space 2, but the one thing I can't stand about it is it's so chock-full of indirect competition that seems to be in the vogue for 4x games lately that you can play whole games without feeling like you were on a map with opponent factions at all. Its battle system is also not terribly fun, basically boiling down to rock-paper-scissors and countering, but that is basically an evil shared by the vast majority of space 4x games, including Stellaris and Galciv.

I played a bit of Stars in Shadow, and it's rough around the edges, but brings some good ideas to 4x - like having a battle system that tries to be deep, much in the vein of Sword of the Stars. But it is also way less empire management and way more space battles, which sounds like it's not what you're looking for. Stardrive 2 is the same way, but there is some problem with the developer actually working on it. As far as I'm understand, it has undergone enough patching to be fairly balanced and bug-free, so if you play it, you'd better play it for its current state and not in the hopes of new content.

[Knaight]

The 4x genre has been pretty well covered, but there are other games outside it. If you're willing to try RTS games, there's always Starcraft and Sins of a Solar Empire. Then there's Gratuitous Space Battles, which is a very battle focused strategy game that's pretty out there.

[Grif]

Sadly I don't think that Crusader Kings 2 is a Space Strategy game outside of a certain mod. However, I guess it may fuel Character investment as it does have many RPG aspects.



As for Space Strategy Games, I'll be honest, I think Sword of the Stars(The Original) might be a great place to start and hasn't been suggested yet.

Sword of the Stars has a good deal less micromanagement than many of the games already suggested. There's no real planet management in the game. You don't have buildings or anything like that although there are space stations later on that can provide various benefits. You capture a planet and terraform it(at a cost and is entirely automatic) and then you use that planet to build fleets. Improving your planets beyond that typically involves either research or mining barren planets for resources which is a little more involved.

However, the game...much like Total War is mostly focused on the battles. It has a galactic view and a battle view much like Total War. It has ship customization, but compared to GC3 it's simple and easy to learn. You unlock modules through the research screen which all have different numbers of mounts and firing arcs and whatnot, but it doesn't take a master of the game to create an effective design. During battles ,you can micro your fleets down to aiming at a specific spot on an enemy ship(and weapon hardpoints can be destroyed this way or you can disable their engines) or you can just tell them to fire at an enemy ship and they'll engage.

It also has one of my favorite research trees ever. It's one of the few space strategy games where many of the projects actually have a noticeable influence. Especially the military-based ones. There's in incredible difference between Fission weapons and Fusion weapons and finally Antimatter weapons. Every upgrade has a different look which makes it feel like what you're upgrading and researching actually matters. There's also various capstones for each tree of weapons research that gives you access to various special weapons. Kinetic-Kill missiles, Siege Drivers(where you literally lob an asteroid at something), Rail Guns(My personal Favorite), Mesonic Torpedoes and Meson Projectors, Inertial Cannons, Assimiliation plague etc.

There's also a bit of variance in the research tree. You won't always get the exact same tree every time. This means that your games won't play out in the exact same way every time. To clarify, there is a set of core researches that you will always get so that you can actually progress in the game. However, special research trees may only be partially accessible(or not accessible at all).

It's also $10. Which is also not really that bad of a price.

Ah yes, the sadomasochistic research tree. It was almost my favourite part of SotS, with the tactical battle being my favourite. (Only Battlefleet Gothic came close to matching the tactical complexity of these battles, and that was a game that was built ground up to be just that.)

To elaborate on what Leecros wrote, each race (they're all very distinctive, by the way), has a weighted chance of rolling a tech on a particular branch of the tech tree. If they fail the roll, the tree ends there, and you cannot progress past it ingame through traditional means. It's a damned sight better than Stellaris RNG card system, as you still have a great degree of control of what you research, but as the game progresses, you'll need to adapt your gameplay to what techs you do have access, and what you do not. That said, while there are some core tech which you will always get, there's also a good chance you may not get good "optional" tech. Eg. the point defense module is considered optional and woe betide you if you fail to roll that, and face off an opponent who invested in missiles. (Not to say there aren't way to improvise PD, but well, it's an added challenge. )

[Sian]

It's a damned sight better than Stellaris RNG card system, as you still have a great degree of control of what you research

Well, there's ways to load the dice so to speak so you're much more likely to get specific tech choices if you want

[factotum]

Just thought I'd pop in to note that Galactic Civilizations 3 is currently 67% off on Steam, but that's this weekend only, so you can get it cheap and try it out if you like.

[Triaxx]

Another RTS is Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds. It's Age of Empires with Star Wars skins for the most part, but it works surprisingly well. Particularly with the added air component. A few missions are even in 'Space' though they're just unpathable void.

[Otomodachi]

I'll take on Endless Space 2.

I like it! For plus's relevant to you, it is VERY VERY well-fleshed-out in terms of story and personality. When you play a specific faction, you're not *A* big-headed, big-eyed intellectual aliens, you are *THE* etc. etc. Each faction has a specific quest line it can follow that leads to a win condition, and develops the character of that specific faction. They FEEL *AND* play extremely different. You get special units called Heroes that can either run a specific solar system, or lead a specific fleet, giving bonuses; each hero also has a specific background story, to further immerse you.

A LOT of effort was put into giving the Endless games FLAVOUR. FLAVOUR UP THE YING-YANG!

There is decently-usable automation options for your colonies, that will do a fairly decent job developing them (building the buildings) up to the point where all you yourself have to do, late game, is check in to decide which "infinite" resource building you want them to do (producing money, producing science, etc.)

The user interface is pretty sleek. I can't think of anything STANDOUT they have done, but they have successfully implemented all of the things other games have innovated. It checks with you if you try to end a turn with no research going; it checks with you if you end a turn with a system not building anything; it lets you click a button to cycle through all your fleets that have movement available. It's easy to know you're not forgetting anything, as a rule.

[Vitruviansquid]

Endless Space 2 doesn't look it at first, but it actually has a wicked sense of humor.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

My one issue with Endless Space 1 was that the Heroes were cross-race. So playing as the Sophons, you could hire Heroes who were Cravers, and that just made no sense for me, I can't accept a weird "hero academy" thing.

[Douglas]

I'll take on Endless Space 2.

I like it! For plus's relevant to you, it is VERY VERY well-fleshed-out in terms of story and personality. When you play a specific faction, you're not *A* big-headed, big-eyed intellectual aliens, you are *THE* etc. etc. Each faction has a specific quest line it can follow that leads to a win condition, and develops the character of that specific faction. They FEEL *AND* play extremely different. You get special units called Heroes that can either run a specific solar system, or lead a specific fleet, giving bonuses; each hero also has a specific background story, to further immerse you.

A LOT of effort was put into giving the Endless games FLAVOUR. FLAVOUR UP THE YING-YANG!

There is decently-usable automation options for your colonies, that will do a fairly decent job developing them (building the buildings) up to the point where all you yourself have to do, late game, is check in to decide which "infinite" resource building you want them to do (producing money, producing science, etc.)

The user interface is pretty sleek. I can't think of anything STANDOUT they have done, but they have successfully implemented all of the things other games have innovated. It checks with you if you try to end a turn with no research going; it checks with you if you end a turn with a system not building anything; it lets you click a button to cycle through all your fleets that have movement available. It's easy to know you're not forgetting anything, as a rule.

Endless Space 2 doesn't look it at first, but it actually has a wicked sense of humor.

Sounds a lot like Alpha Centauri, really. All the quotes for technologies and wonders and events in that game did such a great job of giving the factions character, and the different faction bonuses made for some very different play styles per faction.

How tough is the AI in Endless Space 2? I loved Alpha Centauri, but after a while it was crippled in single player by how stupid all the AI opponents are. If ES2 is meaningfully challenging on top of all the rest, I just might have to try it out sometime.

[Olinser]

Are you actually looking for a space strategy game like its centered around space fleets, or are you looking for a strategy game with a space theme?

Because Starcraft 2 is a RTS with a space theme and I'd recommend that.

If you're actually looking for like a space fleet game go with Stellaris. If you enjoy micromanaging you can do a lot of it, but if you don't want to bother with it you can turn on huge sectors and just let the AI manage it. Its pretty easy to get into, not a really high knowledge bar for entry, and there's a thread in this forum for it and they just came out with a new big patch this past week.

[Kaptin Keen]

If you like excellent, low priced indie games ... well, FTL was already mentioned. I'd like to bring up Heat Signature, which - for a sort of rogue like - has tons of strategy, and is immensely good fun. Blue Solar is another one, still in EA, but definitely worth the price, and has many hours of good fun. Yet another is Halcyon 6, which launched recently and is also excellent.

None of these are 4x games though. But if 4x is what you want, I have to say I actually like Master of Orion better than Stellaris - even if I've invested more time in Stellaris.

[Sian]

None of these are 4x games though. But if 4x is what you want, I have to say I actually like Master of Orion better than Stellaris - even if I've invested more time in Stellaris.

I guess my biggest bugbear with Master of Orion is that you can't help not comparing it (via nostalgia glasses) with MoO2 ... Is it better than MoO3? absolutely, but thats not really a high bar to pass, and the original and Antares is so iconic that they're nearly impossible to be compared favourably against

[Yora]

Because Starcraft 2 is a RTS with a space theme and I'd recommend that.

I recommend Starcraft and Brood War. I enjoy them much more than Starcraft 2 (which I never finished).

[Eldan]

For 4X, master of Orion is pretty much unbeaten, though Galactic Civilization is also pretty good.

For smashing spaceships into each other, developing a tech tree for bigger spaceships to smash into each other and building an economy to make more spaceships, I'd also recommend Sins of a Solar Empire.

[Kaptin Keen]

I guess my biggest bugbear with Master of Orion is that you can't help not comparing it (via nostalgia glasses) with MoO2 ... Is it better than MoO3? absolutely, but thats not really a high bar to pass, and the original and Antares is so iconic that they're nearly impossible to be compared favourably against

All true. I recall both the old MoO's very fondly indeed, and the races were much more interesting then than in the new rendition - maybe I'm misremembering, but I distinctly recall each faction having it's own behaviour.

Still, nMoO is actually a really solid game. And while the RT strategy part isn't perfect, it's A LOT better than Stellaris - which basically doesn't have strategy other than ship design and fleet composition.

[Triaxx]

It's not a strategy game in the usual sense, but the X series, in particular X3 is quite the complex game series once you get some cash flow. Managing and defending an industrial trade empire requires quite the strategic mindset.

[Otomodachi]

Sounds a lot like Alpha Centauri, really. All the quotes for technologies and wonders and events in that game did such a great job of giving the factions character, and the different faction bonuses made for some very different play styles per faction.

How tough is the AI in Endless Space 2? I loved Alpha Centauri, but after a while it was crippled in single player by how stupid all the AI opponents are. If ES2 is meaningfully challenging on top of all the rest, I just might have to try it out sometime.

I would call the AI acceptable, but it's never going to be "stunning". I try to keep the AI in charge of factions that are more "normal" cuz it seems to be better at handling their gameplay styles than, say, trying to manage ship-bound space-vampires that need to feed off minor civilizations instead growing due to food.

[Hunter Noventa]

Glad to see Sword of the Stars mentioned, now I have the urge to play it again, even if it always turns into something of a slog in the late game when the AI will just casually toss fleets of 100+ ships at you.