Best "fleet combat" in space sim?

[Galdred]

I am looking for a space game in which you can control other ships from the bridge of your command ship, so something like X4, but I found X3 very dry and unsatisfying when it comes to piloting and space fighting, so I gave up on it after a few hours.

I really liked the combat in Starshatter, and I am more looking into something like that.

I loved Void Destroyer 2, but the end game made the game crash a lot (but at this point, it was more mop up than end game anyway).
Starpoint Gemini Warlords was not too bad, but it was very inconvenient to control your fleet in the game.
There seems to be quite a few new contenders in this area:

- Space Bourne 2
- Space Reign
- Helium Rain
- Battle Cruiser (but I gave up after my warp drive got damaged, and the ETA to nearest station was several days in real time, without time acceleration).
- Executive Assault 2 (kind of it seems to have identity issues between being a "ground game" or a "space game".

And other that are more like nexus ops:
- Dust Fleet
- Nebulous fleet command

And probably some other I have missed.
Which do you think gives the best "fleet combat" feel? Is there a combination of mods that makes fleet battles work better in X4?

Are there good ones that are nevy based (ie, controlling your fleet from the deck of your admiral ship)? I think the various iterations of Carrier command would work, even though it is more drones/fighters + command ship.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

I haven't played them, but you might be interested in Rebel Galaxy and the Goldbox Buck Rogers games.

 

[Arrowgrab]

I haven't played them, but you might be interested in Rebel Galaxy and the Goldbox Buck Rogers games.

I like the Buck Rogers games, but they have absolutely no fleet combat in them, only one-on-one turn-based ship fights.

 

[Kev Inkline]

JarlFrank please voice your opinion!

...oh never mind it's fleet combat...I misread

 

[Parsimonious cook]

I might be missremembering, but it seems to me that you get to command other ships at least in some missions in the Star Trek: Starfleet Command 3. The game is worth checking out in any case if you can get your hands on it (and get it running).

 

[Preben]

There's shareware/roguelike game Critical Mass. You control only one ship and give only broad orders to your squadron. The view is from above, not from bridge/cockpit.
Past versions were much better than the current one though. The creator added many useless features and removed some of the better ones.

 

[Crispy]

- Battle Cruiser (but I gave up after my warp drive got damaged, and the ETA to nearest station was several days in real time, without time acceleration).

Derek Smart! Derek Smart! Derek Smart!

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Probably not what OP asked for, but remember having fun with fleet combat mode of Timewarp (freeware game build like Star Control 2's super melee)

 

[Louis_Cypher]

I know it's not what the OP wanted, but the best fleet combat space sim I have played is Battlefleet Gothic: Armada. Followed in second place by Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock. The first was developed by the Aliens: Dark Descent developer, and the latter by the Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector developer. I now watch out for any games by either of these two small companies.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Genre isn't exactly my jam, but I'd nominate Starsector. Overall game feels like Mount and Blade with spaceships. Fleet engagements are fairly interesting due to weapon and ship variety, lots of special tricks various ships can do, you can kit things out as PD boats, missiles boats, highly shielded tanks, nimble hunter killers picking off vulnerable carriers, etc. The command system is fairly loose and limited, but the AI makes up for it, actually doing sensible things like trying to extend flanks on the scale of the entire engagement, using weapon ranges properly and reserving torpedoes for critical targets or moments.

 

[FritzedProcess]

I have really fond memories of Nexus: The Jupiter Incident, which I bought back in 2004. It had great graphics for its time with lots of details and animations in each model, and the campaign was challenging. You pretty much had to ace the campaign to have a chance at the final mission, though. In fact, the last couple of missions were really though and you had to avoid as many losses up to that point. The gameplay is similar to that of Battlefleet Gothic, except you operate in a three-dimensional theater, not in a tabletop. You don't get to build ships as far as I can remember, some ships join you during the campaign and it's up to you to keep them alive.

 

[Parsimonious cook]

Shieeeeet bro, that final mission of Nexus is giving me nightmares to this day...

 

[Storyfag]

Also not what the op is looking for, but motherfuckin' Homeworld.

 

[JarlFrank]

I know it's not what the OP wanted, but the best fleet combat space sim I have played is Battlefleet Gothic: Armada. Followed in second place by Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock. The first was developed by the Aliens: Dark Descent developer, and the latter by the Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector developer.

The BSG Deadlock developers made a similar game called Star Hammer: The Vanguard Prophecy before it. You should check it out if you like BSG Deadlock.

 

[deuxhero]

X4's combat in general is a big improvement over X3's.