Summary
Space strategy games come in many different flavors. From classic 4X orgrand strategyempire-building games to live-action real-time strategy games. A few even mix these two gameplay styles into a single package. There are both single-player and multiplayer offerings, and most good space strategy games have at least a few DLCs available to make them more interesting.
There have been a number of definitive games in the spacestrategy genre. Some of which are parts of a franchise with 20 or more years of history and lore behind them. Others are indie games produced by small development studios, that aim to bring something new to the genre.
Classic Star Wars Space Combat
Star Wars: Empire at War
Command or corrupt an entire galaxy in the definitive Star Wars strategy collection. It is a time of galactic civil war. Will you take up the reins of the Rebellion, assume control of the Empire, or rule the Star Wars Underworld?Star Wars Empire at War:From the lives of soldiers to the deaths of planets, you are the supreme galactic commander. It is a time of galactic civil war. Take up the reins of the Rebellion or assume control for the Empire. Whichever you choose, it will be up to YOU to steer your side to ultimate victory. Command everything from individual troops to starships and even the mighty Death Star as you execute campaigns on the ground, in space and across the galaxy. Forget tedious resource gathering – just jump straight into the heart of the action. You can even change Star Wars history! Every decision affects your next battle and every battle helps shape the fate of the galaxy.Conquer or liberate over 80 ground and space locations including Kashyyyk, Tatooine and Dagobah – each with its own strategic advantage.Command iconic Star Wars characters such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and Boba Fett.Pit X-wings against TIE fighters or command an entire fleet of Star Destroyers in space. Then send down land forces to secure the planet below.Star Wars® Empire at War™: Forces of Corruption™:You’ve played the light side. You’ve played the dark side. Now play the corrupt side! As Tyber Zann you’ll stop at nothing to become the most notorious criminal leader since Jabba the Hutt. With all new tactics like piracy, kidnapping, racketeering and bribery, you can control the shadowy forces of corruption in your attempt to rule the Star Wars underworld. Don’t just control the galaxy…corrupt it!All new units and planets: Command over 28 new underworld units as well as new Rebel and Imperial forces and heroes on 13 new planets.Expanded Multiplayer: Experience all out, three-faction battles and now play the same side against itself with mirror play.
Star Wars: Empire at Waronly takes the bottom place on this list because it is not strictly a pure space strategy game. Instead, this is areal-time strategy gamethat features a mixture of ground and space missions. There is also a strategic map aspect to the gameplay, as players attempt to capture and lock down star systems.
From a space combat viewpoint, the space-based missions feature many of the iconic ships from theStar Warsfranchise. Including X-Wing,TIE Fighers, and capital ships such as star destroyers. The Millennium Falcon also makes an appearance as a hero unit. Overall, this is a great RTS game, well worth playing even today.
Inspired By The Expanse
NEBULOUS: Fleet Command
Take command of a fleet of space warships tailored to your exact play-style. Favor a small task group of robust, flexible multi-role combatants, a large group of specialized ships, or something in between. Do battle in a heavily simulation-based tactical game featuring everything from kinetics and beam weapons to realistic radar and electronic warfare. Nebulous seamlessly blends the thoughtfulness of pre-mission planning, tension of battle decision-making, pressure of real-time action, and pain of inevitable sacrifice into an intense tactical space game that will keep you reflecting on every decision (and mistake) for hours after each battle.Skip the economy management: you’re here to dominate in battle. Drop into the battlespace with your full fleet and engage the enemy in a tense back and forth where a single mistimed advance, poorly executed withdrawal, or missed shot can turn the tide of battle. Deep, methodical combat based on thrusts, withdrawals, and counter-thrusts keeps the tension ratcheted up without numbing you with a screen constantly full of explosions. With no reinforcements coming, every hit hurts and every loss counts - victory favors thoughtful planning and precise execution.It’s in your hands, Commodore.Take unparalleled control of every unit right down to their individual mounts. Keep your entire fleet together, dynamically split off task units, or give each ship its own assignment. Large maps with lots of cover and radar occlusion make methodical positioning and sight lines critical. Massing firepower in one place is not always the best solution, as the enemy could come from any direction in the fully 3-dimensional battlespace. Covering your retreat is always in order.Group your weapons and task them to different targets or focus fire with everything you have. Selecting the appropriate weapon to engage a target is as impactful as deciding which targets to engage at all. Weapons have compounding benefits and drawbacks, all of which can be compensated for and planned against.Intelligence is key to victory and your situational awareness is never a given. Asteroids and gas clouds can hide ships behind their radar shadows, preventing enemy sensors from detecting their presence, and ensuring enemy illuminators and fire-control radars are unable to mark targets for missile systems.When out in the open, electronic countermeasures take the lead as they attempt to jam, scramble, or otherwise mitigate enemy sensors on board their ships and missile systems alike. Multiple ships moving in close proximity produce a larger signal, making them more easily spotted by enemy sensors, and ships can opt to run cool, turning a variety of systems inactive in order to more easily hide from detection at the cost of some functionality.Occlusion, passive signal detection, balancing radar signature size, and the ability to deceive the enemy makes the fight for intel a critical part of every battle.Fleet design allows you to choose between multiple classes, configuring everything from their munitions storage, power supply unit, and electronic warfare capabilities to their damage control systems, point-defense capabilities, and armaments - right down to the types of missiles each bay carries.A point cost system keeps fleets balanced as you design battleships, cruisers, frigates, corvettes and more, arriving at the battlespace with little idea as to what your opponent might be fielding. Scouting enemy fleet composition and adapting to their designs will be essential to securing victory, and at times you may spend half the battle (or more) trying to accurately determine your adversary’s capabilities so that you can strike with precision and force. Express your tactical identity through the design of your fleet, and each individual ship within.Each system and subsystem aboard your ships perform specific tasks and are tracked and simulated individually. Their position on your ship can determine optimal facing when unleashing a salvo, or the risk factor when enemy systems open fire. Vital systems should be protected with the help of point-defense systems and defensive maneuvering that presents auxiliary systems towards incoming fire while keeping essential systems hidden behind the armor plating and hull.Damage is modeled for individual components, determining which ship systems remain active under enemy fire, and damage control teams work rapidly to repair what they can as they move from compartment to compartment. Retreating from active combat to repair damaged components before re-engaging is not only a viable strategy, but at times, an essential maneuver, and in a worst case scenario, a ship with a breach in its reactor can be quite a potent weapon in its own way.Nebulous has extensive modding support, with hundreds of player-made mods available on Steam Workshop including new maps, ships, weapons, and more.
NEBULOUS: Fleet Commandis a space-based real-time strategy game that has been developed by a small indie development team. The physics of spaceflight and the overall feel of the combat in this game are inspired by the TV showThe Expanse.
What makesNEBULOUS: Fleet Commandstand out, is the fact that there are generally multiple ways to win a battle. The player is free to choose whether to build a fleet of general-purpose ships to take on an opponent, or to go for specialized units that are used in very specific combat roles.
Great Turn Based Strategy
Endless Space 2
Endless Space 2 is a Strategic Space Opera set in a mysterious universe.Your story unfolds in a galaxy that was first colonized by God-like beings known as the “ENDLESS," who rose and fell eons ago. All that remains of them are mystical ruins, powerful artifacts, and a strange, near-magical substance known as Dust.ES2 takes the classic “one more turn” formula to new heights. You will explore mysterious star systems, discover the secrets of ancient races, build colonies on distant planets, exploit trade routes, develop advanced technologies of unthinkable power; and, of course encounter new life forms to understand, to court or to conquer.As a leader, you have to manage your populations like never before as they react dynamically to your decisions and to their environment, expressing their will through political parties, dictating the laws that your Senate can pass. Will you be a beloved natural leader or will you manipulate your populations to your benefit?Epic Space BattlesWatch your fighters fly past huge cruisers while lasers rip their hulls apart in epic real-time space battles. Detailed after action reports will help you adapt your strategy for the next confrontations.Design your ships, assemble your fleets and carefully adapt your battle plans to overcome your enemies. Once you think you’ve done it all, take it online against seven other players.Lead one of eight civilizations, each with a unique playstyle affinity and story quest, and build great stellar empires capable of imposing your vision on the Galaxy!Find out more about the Academy and its powerful cast of Heroes, that you may recruit and train to become fleet admirals, system governors or influential senators.Press ‘Space’ anytime to activate the Amplified Reality view and reveal in-depth contextual information about your systems, trade routes, diplomatic stances and even your ship stats during battle!
Endless Space 2is a complex,turn-basedgrand strategy game. This game is all about the micromanagement of fleets, planets, and outposts. Each turn, the player needs to revisit each planet and choose research and manufacturing projects. They also need to visit every fleet to make sure that the correct fleet commands are queued up.
Due to the turn-based gameplay, the level of micromanagement required isn’t too much of an issue, as the player has plenty of time to make key decisions. This is very much a game about strategic planning rather than real-time action. It makes a great casual game for players who cannot spend many hours in a single playing session, as they can simply pick up where they last stopped playing and start ashort session, due to the more relaxed speed of play.
Definitive RT4X Strategy
Sins of a Solar Empire
YOUR PEOPLE AWAIT.Assume ultimate control over one of three galactic powers: an ancient alien civilization running from a terror of their own creation, a loose coalition of traders forced to annex their own people or an exiled empire of powerful psionics bent on revenge.
Will you lead them to salvation or condemn them to extinction? The choice is yours…EXPLORE AND CONQUER STAR SYSTEMS• Amass and command epic fleets• Discover space anomalies and artifacts• Fortify and develop key planets• Visit distant star systems in real-timeBUILD A THRIVING EMPIRE• Master culture and trade• Forge alliances and declare bounty• Research advanced technologies• Customize mighty capital shipsDOMINATE IN REAL-TIME• Smoothly zoom from meters to light years• Compete online in epic multiplayer• Save online games for later play
The game that defined a whole new genre of strategy games - real-time 4X strategy, or RT4X as it has been shortened to by players. What we have here is a game that mixes grand strategy-style empire-building with epic real-time battles.
Sins Of A Solar Empirehas a pretty steep learning curve, but it is well worth the effort to learn how to play the game and use the complicated UI effectively. Replayability is a major benefit of this title, as the player can choose any faction to play as or even set up custom ones.
TheGalactic Civilizationsfranchise should need no introduction. Stardock Entertainment has helped to define the 4X strategy genre with tiles such asGalactic Civilizations,Sins of a Solar Empire, andOffworld Trading Company.GALCIV 4is the latest installment in the venerable series of grand strategy games. Many of the gameplay features players expect from space strategy games were pioneered by Stardock Entertainment for theGALCIVfranchise.
The player starts the game as the leader of a new interstellar species and is tasked with expanding the influence of their empire across known space. This can be done in many ways, including aggression, diplomacy, trade, and espionage. Overall,GALCIV 4is worth a place in the game collection of every space strategy game fan.
After a lull of over two decades,Homeworld 3was released in 2024, adding a third title to the popularHomeworldreal-time space strategy franchise. The game adopts a similar visual style to the older games but delivers modern graphics and sound.
In some ways,Homeworld 3is a simpler game than its predecessors, focusing more on the storyline and campaign rather than overly complex RTS gameplay. It takes a place high on this list simply because it doesn’t try to be anything other than a slick, fun-to-play space RTS title. Players who enjoyedHomeworldandHomeworld 2might like to try this latest installment but must approach it with an open mind, as much has changed with gaming in the 20 years since the lastHomeworldgame was released.
Taking first place on this list isStellaris. Any fan of space strategy games will already be familiar with this title, whether they own it or not.Stellarismixes classic grand space strategy with exciting real-time space battles.
Stellarisis infinitely replayable, especially if the player is willing to purchase a few of the many DLC expansions that add major new gameplay features. It is also a fun game to play competitively against a group of friends. Overall, if a player has to choose one space strategy game to play, they can’t go wrong by choosingStellaris.
