Space is the final frontier, there are vast unknowns for you to explore. Who doesn't like that? Space strategy games are among the most fun genres of strategy gaming. This could be 4X strategy or your standard RTS, and some of them even have RPG mechanics. One thing they have in common is a lot of ships to control in a 3D space environment. As you may know Homeworld games are the most popular among this type of space games. Here are some others that are worth mentioning.
This is a 4x space strategy game. 4x means explore, expand, exploit and exterminate. Chose between 3 races, Advent, Vasari or TEC, upgrade huge tech tree and destroy your opponents. There are many classes of ships in this game and you can even have your hero ships, closest game to compare would be something like Warcraft 3 heroes. Your hero ships gain levels and get to be more powerful. Expansions introduced end game massive titan ships that can destroy the whole planets. Try this one now if you haven't.
This was more of the single player experience where you could control several of capital ships and meet many strange alien races. As you progress trough the campaign you will get more ships and your mothership will gain quite a lot of power. This game flew under the radar for massive audiences but i liked it and it deserves to be mentioned.
This game is a hybrid between RTS and RPG. You control one big freight space ship and few fighter planes whose pilots gain your standard RPG levels, you can then move those pilots to stronger fighters with improved weaponry when you advance through the game. Explore the whole star systems and do quests, this is a game where you can get lost in space.
I loved this game, Star Wars in one of the better forms released. This game had something different going for it, you could play on the ground with your forces, you could fight in space battles, and you could give orders on big space battle map and conquer planets where you can build your massive space fleets or ground assault troops. Expansion introduced a new faction that made this game even more fun.
