Ever wanted to run your own space empire? Ever wanted to be able to control a single ship in said space empire, as the universe changes around you? In Distant Worlds: Universe (DWU), you can do both. DWU has maybe the widest scope of any game I've ever played. In a universe of thousands of planets, you manage an empire from simple interstellar travel, to faster than light speeds, slowly building across the galaxy. The main feature of DWU, though, is that much of the empire managing is largely automated. Simply build a fleet, vaguely tell it what to do, and it will generally act intelligently to the events happening around it. How much control you take over things really depends on how much you want to micromanage.
DWU is unique in that your empire has a pretty much self-sufficient commercial sector flying around doing their business. As empire manager, it's your job to make sure they don't get messed with by pirates or rival empires. Battles in DWU are a bit hands off, but complex enough, due to the different ways you can build fleets. There's a wide variety of ship types, and they each have their uses.
One of my favorite things to do in DWU is to use the built-in Game Editor, to create a sort of super-ship. Once, I've got that, I like to set the empire to manage itself, and completely focus on my single ship. Jumping around the system, responding to threats, is very fun. It's like a more populated version of Battlestar Galactica!
Distant Worlds: Universe is available for PC, and a bit pricey at $59.99...but what do you expect for a full fledged universe simulator?
