Sword of the Stars

[Thon]

it's a 4X game like Master of Orion, or galactic civilizations. and imo it's better than either of those series. the combat is real time and works well(no drunk point defense gunners that don't fire at missles, thx MoO3). it's made by the same people that did the homeworld series, although the tactical combat here isn't totally 3D, so that you can fly up/down. it's on a flat plane

there are only 4 races, which seems small compared to other games that have a dozen+. but each race is unique in more than just ship appearance. they each have a different way of moving around the stars. humans can only go faster than light(FTL) between stars connected by "node" lines, but travel that way far faster than anyone else. hivers(bugs) don't travel FTL, they take forever to reach anywhere. but then can deploy a gate ship, which allows 1-turn travel between any colony with a gate. the other two races can go to any star with a regular warp drive, and stutter teleportation. also the tech tree is randomized each game, so you can't always rely on the same laser ship of doom all the time. though some techs are always there(like cruisers/DN).

Here's the site, and here's the demo. the demo limits you to just destroyers and that level of tech, and the full game has cruisers and dreadnoughts.

[Durothil Skyreaver]

Yeah I was reading about this one awhile back. Sounded insteresting enough that I pulled out MOO2 and started playing it again.