Any decent turn based/stat focused space games in the last 20 years?

[Damned Registrations]

Seems like every space game has to have some kind of real time twitchy combat where you get to pilot the ship. Which, I get it, is a fun thing to do. But like... I want to play a sequel to the Buck Rogers games, or at least something in the vein of Star Flight, that was more about your crew and ship stats than how well you could circle strafe.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Well, Stellar Tactis have kind of nice space battles but its main focus is ground battles mostyl.
We have Battlefleet Armada but sadly RTS and mostly abour micro managent.
Star Traders Frontiers is kinda nice with turnbased space battles and ground battles.
But the only thing we got just as you want is the mini game in Rogue Trader, it is basic and lacks variety but foundations are there.

 

[Hellraiser]

Honestly would like something more of this myself, like a Rimworld mod where you fuck around on a space ship and emergent gameplay kills your favorite crew bros in hillarious ways.

Ostranauts should eventually be close to that, if the dev delivers. I said eventually because ship to ship combat is not yet added (but I think personal combat was, waiting for ship to ship before I play it again), it's basically something akin to managing the crew of the Serenity from Firefly. The modular ship system/sim part though is a good foundation for the rimworld like experience so I have high hopes for it once the ship combat is implemented (hopefully also with boarding and disabling options for maximum space piracy potential ).

FTL? Although the crew management is very basic. The combat is RtwP but it isn't really twitchy or spastic with space bar mashing all the time (maybe sometimes during boarding, especially when retreating/juggling around crew members engaged in melee so they don't die) and is probably the only implementation of RtwP that I thought was enjoyable and with sufficient tactical depth (well ok, Rimworld also had palpable RtwP, but sometimes the pawn reaction/response time to orders causing death from grenades etc. is just very frustrating).

 

[Baron Tahn]

Star Traders: Frontiers is really good. Trese Brothers spent years patching it up. Worth a look if you haven't yet.

 

[Galdred]

Seems like every space game has to have some kind of real time twitchy combat where you get to pilot the ship. Which, I get it, is a fun thing to do. But like... I want to play a sequel to the Buck Rogers games, or at least something in the vein of Star Flight, that was more about your crew and ship stats than how well you could circle strafe.

You had Infinite Space that was good on Nintendo DS. Iirc, you flew a capital ship (I don't remember whether there were other ships) and fought through JRPGish combat, but with some kind of distance, like in Star Traders Frontier

Spoiler

The combat was a bit too formulaic, but it was still scratched that itch, if you are not averse to emulation.

You also have Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander, but I don't remember whether it had good crew management. It is serviceable, but I'd recommend Star Traders: Frontier over it (mostly because I don't remember much about the game!).

Edit: There is are also a roguelite that could work:
Approaching Infinity:
I played it a long time ago, before it was on Steam. I remember it to be pretty solid, but I don't remember much about the crew management.

 

[cpmartins]

Seems like every space game has to have some kind of real time twitchy combat where you get to pilot the ship. Which, I get it, is a fun thing to do. But like... I want to play a sequel to the Buck Rogers games, or at least something in the vein of Star Flight, that was more about your crew and ship stats than how well you could circle strafe.

You had Infinite Space that was good on Nintendo DS. Iirc, you flew a capital ship (I don't remember whether there were other ships) and fought through JRPGish combat, but with some kind of distance, like in Star Traders Frontier

Spoiler

The combat was a bit too formulaic, but it was still scratched that itch, if you are not averse to emulation.

You also have Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander, but I don't remember whether it had good crew management. It is serviceable, but I'd recommend Star Traders: Frontier over it (mostly because I don't remember much about the game!).

Edit: There is are also a roguelite that could work:
Approaching Infinity:
I played it a long time ago, before it was on Steam. I remember it to be pretty solid, but I don't remember much about the crew management.

Halcyon 6 was decent, but you won't manage crew, only captains. There is TB crew combat but it uses the captains of the ships.
As for the OPs request, Stellar Tactics and Star Traders: Frontiers as mentioned before.

 

[Cologno]

Star Traders: Frontiers is really good. Trese Brothers spent years patching it up. Worth a look if you haven't yet.

This one is real solid, and they still push updatee to it. They also made very competent mobile ports if that's your thing.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I've actually been playing Star Traders: Frontiers off and on for a long time, glad to see it's got some recognition here, it really is a great game. Well, aside from those god awful paperdolls/portraits. But I can forgive that.

Infinite Space that was good on Nintendo DS

Never heard of this before, screenshots look promising. I don't mind emulating though DS games do tend to be awkward and annoying with the two screens and touchscreen shit.


Stellar Tactics... I'd heard of it before but don't know much about it. Store page looks promising, aside from the whole 'eight years of early access' thing. Not exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for (Was hoping for something with more dialogue skill checks for mechanical/doctor/stealth skills and the like) but it's definitely got my interest, especially the equipment/trade/crafting screens.

 

[Nutmeg]

While they're Fire Emblem clones and are at most a twist on that well trodden formula, the Super Robot Wars games do indeed model space combat (on some maps) in turns, and do indeed have good squad management. I can't speak for all of them, but it is certainly true for the one I completed (3) and the one I'm playing (OG 2). I have it on *very* good authority that A Portable and Z are good as well. F and Alpha Gaiden too if we drop the 20 years requirement.

Similarly R-Type Tactics, though it's actually quite a unique take. I completed the first one, which was quite slow paced despite being snappy w.r.t animations and being able to skip text etc. I put my play through of the second one on hiatus. The second one was better, I should get back to it.

 

[R@tmaster]

How about Star Wolves? It's not turn-based though, but real time with pause.

 

[Hellraiser]

Infinite Space that was good on Nintendo DS

Never heard of this before, screenshots look promising. I don't mind emulating though DS games do tend to be awkward and annoying with the two screens and touchscreen shit.

IIRC it used touchscreen shit heavily for ship loadout (inventory tetris with your ships equipment), I played on an actual DS so I am not sure how annoying it is when emulated, but I fucking hate using the stylus (also old screen is a bit unresponsive at times).

It's an interesting fairly original game that blends genres quite a bit, like the blobber-ish first person maze sequences when you go attack bases with your crew, but it didn't capture my long term attention and interest for some reason. The space combat mechanics are kind of meh in practice, and probably the reason why in the end I dropped it.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

You had Infinite Space that was good on Nintendo DS.

surge of buried memories. everything was gated by main story (which is a rather mortal sin, *especially* in sci-fi), the game involved LOTS of pointless grind, combat was slow, bumbersome, needlessly prolonged. i gave up quick and i'm the kind of fool willing to spend hundreds of hours on star trek online just for larps and giggles.

Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander

boring to tears, it's an early mobile game with extremely little to offer other than repetitiveness.

 

[Galdred]

You had Infinite Space that was good on Nintendo DS.

surge of buried memories. everything was gated by main story (which is a rather mortal sin, *especially* in sci-fi), the game involved LOTS of pointless grind, combat was slow, bumbersome, needlessly prolonged. i gave up quick and i'm the kind of fool willing to spend hundreds of hours on star trek online just for larps and giggles.

It did overstay its welcome indeed.

Halcyon 6: Starbase Commander

boring to tears, it's an early mobile game with extremely little to offer other than repetitiveness.

H6: SC was basically mission based JRPG in space, right?

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

i wish it was. it was barely more than... there was a mobile star trek game which i found extremely similar. of course it offered nothing other than a store and some items to not play the game. it was an even simplier and more basic "pixel starships". that's how flat h6 is.
found it: https://star-trek-trexels.en.uptodown.com/android

 

[Galdred]

Now that you mention it, I remember why I loved FTL and Star Traders: Frontiers so much when they came out. There were very few spaceship games that weren't meant to be played from the pilot's seat.


There is a recent Gamerant post about managing a spaceship.


Here is my take on the games listed there:

FTL: already recommended there, and despite having simplisitc crew management, it really feels like you are commanding the starship. Highly recommended. It has a few clones, like

Cosmoteer: The game is about designing your starship. Your crew is just a pool of nameless guys.

Space Haven: it could fit the bill, but it feels more like a mobile colony sim than a starship game.

Star Traders Frontiers: Same as FTL, strongly recommended. Probably the closest to matching the requirements, with a large crew to manage, and turn based combat.

The last Starship: I haven't tried it yet. But it also feels like a colony sim rather than a starship?

Stellar Tactics: The ground combat is the most important part (TB combat on a grid). You can disable ships and board them, which is cool. Some away missions were way too grindy, and I disliked the MMORPG itemization, but I still recommend the game.

Space Crew: I haven't played it much. It felt like FTL but not as good. That said, crew management seems way more involved.

Ostranauts: not played. I probably should.

Holy Potatoes! We're in Space?: I haven't tried. It seems a bit too much of a parody?

 

[bionicman]

S P A C E R A N G E R S

 

[cpmartins]

S P A C E R A N G E R S

Fantastic game, both versions (as long as you disable retarded ground battles on 2). No crew combat though.

 

[Hellraiser]

Ostranauts: not played. I probably should.

As already mentioned ITT I would wait until they add ship combat, and ideally until the whole solar system/interplanetary travel are added. At the moment it's just fucking around one space station IIRC (don't remember them adding more), looting nearby wrecks (granted the looting/jury rigging/ship building/modding system in general is quite deep) while dodging the corporate popo, spooky shit(tm) and maybe getting into fist/gun fights. But I also didn't really play it since initial EA release and poorly follow the news.

 

[Galdred]

There was also Crying Suns. It was more RT squadron fights, with your ship just providing targets and support/attack abilities to your craft.
The adventure feeling was good. Here is the codex thread, but many things were inferior to FTL. Crew management was much better iirc. From what I recall, the game was good overall with a lot of wasted potential.

Rule of Engagement also has crew management I think, but it is very old, and mission based iirc.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

i'm the authority on space games. the last truly, objectively good under most of its aspects? freespace 2. picture this: i'm so starved that lately i've been wasting my life on star trek online. the least offensive turn based? probably the first space rangers, which is an obscure ruskie tiny piece of crap which exhausts 90% of its charm (and sources of income) once you finish the text adventures. sequel offers more, but not really better.
sorry man, but my favourite setting is a wasteland of disappointment.

 

[Reinhardt]

starfield after inevitable turn based and stat focused mods

 

[Cologno]

FTL: already recommended there, and despite having simplisitc crew management, it really feels like you are commanding the starship. Highly recommended. It has a few clones, like

Cosmoteer: The game is about designing your starship. Your crew is just a pool of nameless guys.

Space Haven: it could fit the bill, but it feels more like a mobile colony sim than a starship game.

I've got some fondness for Space Haven. FTL is straight up Crack cocaine.

Cosmoteer seems okay, but I could only put about 90 minutes before even my boredom flat-lined and I refunded. Pitting Tetris grids against each other wasn't doing it for me. On the other hand, Children of a Dead Earth came up and I've already put in 12 hours. It's like mainlining autism and I still get my electronic cockfighting simulator.

 

[d1r]

Shin Megami Tensei: Deep Strange Journey Redux

 

[Galdred]

Shin Megami Tensei: Deep Strange Journey Redux

While we are at it, the Super Robot Wars 30 and Gundam G Generation Cross Rays both features stat heavy crew assignments, spaceships and turn based tactical combat.
The combat itself is rather good, but at max difficulty, it is very brutal early game(you need to have the super robot wars 30 expansion pack for that. Without it, there is basically no challenge at all), then become trivially easy quite fast.
They are both mission based. The Super Robot Wars 30 tries to make a story where you collect mechs from many of the anime universes, while the Gundam G Generation doesn't even try to.
They don't feel like space exploration at all, and the spaceship are basically just special units.
They are more guilty pleasure grade than anything else, and feel more like tactical mechs engagement on a space background than space combat, but they are very stat centric, and you get to assign a lot of characters to man your ships and mechas.
Gundam G generation is very very grindy but I don't think Super Robot Wars 30 lets you replay missions.

 

[Ironmonk]

Besides what was already mentioned, there is this little gem:



This is real time, and while there are many games similar to this that I hated the gameplay, this one was pretty nice. (although the beginning was a little awkward for me, once I got used to the controls, I was hooked)

You can build a fleet and manage crew members for all your ships, for example.

The ship mechanics (item loadouts/crafting) are much better than what we have in Star Traders: Frontiers.

There are rogue-like elements like unlocking ships, classes and skill each play-through.

IMO, anyone that like space ship games, should check it out.