Solar War

Don't be fooled by the simple graphics, the gameplay is there and you get a serious, hard-science strategy game here. Think the WW2 Pacific War, but in the near future.

this game is extremely fun in my opinion

A fun game with strong focus on tech choices, ship design and crew management. You take the role of a Fleet Admiral who is tasked with the defense of Earth and eventually retaking the Solar System. Every single officer you assign to each of your ships matters, as their performance affects how their ship handles. The crew present on the ship also influences things a lot. They are your most valuable asset. If you lose vessels, you can certainly rebuild, but if you lose your best crew and officers, they are gone for good, and it will take a very long while to train anyone to be as experienced... perhaps too long. How you design your ships and compose your fleets is also very important, as you need to find different weapon and equipment combinations that work best for each situation and type of enemy. Brute force also works at times, but it comes expensive. Meanwhile, you have to keep the Earth nations who sponsor you satisfied, clinging too much towards one might make the other feel disregarded.. need to find proper balance! If you like getting down to the little details in your strategy, this game can be great fun. For me, at least, it covers a niche I did not even know about until trying this one out.

I tried the demo and I was surprised at how much I like it. The demo will give you two hours with the full game, so it's absolutely worth a shot. It's a different kind of game from the typical Space Cowboy or 4X sci fi games that it superficially resembles. It's a lot like X-Com, but from a space navy perspective. Aliens are attacking Earth and you need to build up and manage your fleet (including officer development and crews) with more typical kind of 4X research, combat and ship design. You've also got to keep the nations of Earth happy with your performance. If you like X-Com and like fleet-based 4X games, you'll probably like this too.