Infinity the Quest for Earth is my big hope right now, but it's still lacking bridge command

There is a fairly old/new online game called FlashTrek Broken Mirror; it is i guess somewhat (i think) similar to what you are talking about, graphics are good for a free online game, buut there are few gliches on the game. They have for some reason stoped working on BM1 nad BM2 and now have gone on to Broken Mirror 3. Maybe you should look into this.

Once again this is a free online flash game from http://www.vexxiang.com so maybe you should look into this.

Wow, didn't realize this discussion was still going on!  Thanks for all the links!  I, too, am eagerly awaiting Infinity - it sounds awesome, I just hope it doesn't become vaporware. 

Thank you!!!!

I just downloaded and installed it.

If anyone else does, read through the forums before you play. There is a lot of good info there on how the physics work. As said, it is 'real Newtonian physics', which means you don't fly the spacecraft like an aircraft. It works exactly the same way as in the Bab5 show. Much more realistic, but expect a steep learning curve.

I have just made it through the first tutorial. So far, I feel that I have found a new game to occupy much of my time as well as a new challenge. "Flying through hyperspace isn't like dusting crops" - is exactly true. And this game makes that perfectly clear.

You want the challenge of piloting a real spacecraft, in real-space conditions? Then play this game!

There is even Multiplayer. It is set up for LAN only, but there is at least one thread on the forum that discusses how to get it running through Steam over the internet.

I really liked 'Nexus: The Jupiter Incident'. It put you in COMPLETE control of all the weapons and defense systems of between 1 and 12 ships. I would say it's a star ship simulator, it's just sleek enough to let you handle a small fleet of them. Im just kind of upset that it was a student project at some school, so there are like no chances of any kind of sequel. I haven't seen much like it come out yet. Maybe 'Battleships Forever' or 'Gratuitous Space Battles' but they don't look nearly as nice.

ok so i apologize in advance if someone has already mentioned it but if no one has i'm honestly amazed, Nexus - The jupiter incident, seems to be exacltly the games everyone is saying they want to see, aside from the beautiful graphics, it has a simple to use control system, full cap ship command, and you even get to add 3 or 4 frigates/crusiers as a support capacity(you also control these in essence you get a small strike fleet build up as you progress through the game) all of your ships are customizable it has a good single player campaign, i can't personally comment on the online playability as im not an on line gamer, but i spent months and months trying to find a good cap ship sim (or any for that matter) and honestly its the best i've come across... sorry again if its already been mentioned but after getting a headache from tralling through the streams of comments on this page i gave up and just decided to type this as i could't let Nexus go unmentioned... oh and one little thing as well, Nexus has a brilliant modding community that have come up with some awesome Battlestar galactica/Babylon 5/star wars/stargate mods, and a whole lot more.

Yeah nexus - the jupiter incident is a lot of fun. It has some quirks in the story, though. And frankly the stealth missions are horrible. I also would have liked to see more large-scale battles.

You obviously never left high sec, lol.

I'd really like to see a good Starship Simulator as well. Something that puts you in command of a massive battlecruiser or space carrier that launches wings of fighters. Some day hopefully developers will realize not All Gamers are 12 year olds who can't comprehend complex games and strategies. It all comes down to what they think the market (being the public that buys games) is interested in and most developers these days want an instant return on their investment. They want to make games that are Easy to Make and that don't require actual thought to play because today's market mostly wants instant gratification. I seriously doubt we'll ever see a Real Return to the Golden Age of PC gaming. Back when PC games were mostly strategy and simulator titles. Back when games to thought and planning to play and that gave you a Real Sense of accomplishment when you Won because you had to Think and Put Effort into winning instead of just pointing and clicking.

Battlecriuser 3000

/runs away laughing

In all honesty, if I were going for a true *command* simulator, I'd like to go the other way entirely from a lot of the 'pretty' games mentioned to something like the old game "Red Storm Rising"

You have a contact, but you have to (literally) take your time - is it a surface ship, or another sub - can you sneak around and come in on her baffles or does she have towed array . . . and how sure are you about where she is anyway . . .

Oh hell, she gone active torpedos fore and aft . . .

<G> - Jonnan

Wow, I made the original post back in 2008 and people are still commenting!  Guess I'm not the only one looking for Silent Hunter in Space (space...space...space).  To borrow from Rick Santelli

"Game devs, are you listening?!?"

    X3 Reunion still trumps Terran Conflict for me because of the mod support. In one sector there was a Super Star Destroyer controlling 80 or so TIE interceptors, fighters, and bombers. In another there was an enemy fleet of migrating Xenon ships composed of Cylon Base Stars, Raiders, and a few of the stock ships. I was cruising around in a Battlerstar Galactica with the Battlestar Pegasus on my wing, both fully loaded with Vipers ready to launch. The 2 NPC fleets of the SSD and the Basestars meet and started hammering each other. After the fight thinned out enough for me to actually get involved with out melting my face and computer from the inside I told the Pegasus to jump in, and start attacking anything between the two jumpgates. After most of the enemy fighters were busy, I launched my own little viper and went to check things out leaving the Galactica safely behind.

   Now, with X3 what happens out of sector... is vastly different from what happens when you're actually there. The SSD is a very large ship. So large that as soon as I popped in, it rammed into and destroyed a Teladi naval yard, then blew itself up (a fitting end). The Teladi were content to just to stay out of it until that happened. The Pegasus opened fire with all its guns and killed a dozen or civilian ships making everyone in that sector hostile to me. Sooo the bloodbath began. I had another mod installed called Race Response Fleets, basically if any ship belonging to a race gets attacked and there is a police group in jump distance they will come to assist. Unfortunately this furball was taking place next to a Xenon home sector. After 10 mins of trying to GTFO dodging missiles, giant waves of plasma balls, exploding flak, all at an amazing 10 FPS I gave up on ever reaching a jumpgate, and instead decided to make a run as far away from everything as possible.

   I sat there 50000km away from the nearest object watching the fight through the my fleets sensors. I opened up my property window, pulled up a list of my ships, told the the Galactica to refuel its crystals for a jump to my location, it ventured off looking for a dock that had what it needed. While I waited I noticed the battle wasn't fairing so well for my guys. The Pegasus was down to 30%, no more missiles, of its 90 vipers only 22 were left and most of those had retreated back into the hanger bay. Wave after wave of Xenon ships were rolling in, the Argon had some how became involved in this, and like most things in the universe, wanted to kill me too. I'm guessing the Peggy obliterated some hapless courier that crossed its line of fire. A few more minutes passed, I check on the Peggy, and she's surrounded, but at the same time I get a mail saying the Galactica has completed its task to refuel, rearm, and resupply its fighters with missiles. I give it a Jump to Position order with me as the target and a few seconds later it pops in right above me. I launch all the vipers, set their missiles to fire freely, and send them off into battle ahead of me while I docked to assume direct control. 20 minutes later, all thats left of my fleet is the Pegasus, who's down to less than 5%, 4 vipers, and the BSG.

   There isn't much else around other than station wreckage, ammo drifting about, ejected pilots of all races and creeds and 4 Xenon controlled capital ships. Screw it. I saved the game, switched all my guns to flak cannons, set them them to engage fighters only. I ordered what was left of ol' Peggy to attack the Xenon group, and followed right behind it. The Pegasus fell quickly, but managed to take out the xenon carrier, I turned the Galactica into another of the capital ships at full speed and launched from my last remaining viper. The Galactica barely survived the collision, but it was alive enough to take out any of the fighters that were quick enough to catch me before I made my escape. I reached my own factory complex, docked, took a look at the situation: Before this massacre I was on good terms with everyone except the Xenon, now I'm KOS to all races in the galaxy. I had lost every ship except a few cargo haulers, and the Viper mk7 I escaped in. My only station was a humble Space Weed production facility. In one bad judgement call I went from respected bad ass with my own fleet to hated drug smuggler.                                        

 Universe wise, X3 is pretty awesome, and with enough of the correct mods it turns into a completely different game than the one you purchased. It requires a good amount of patience due to the poor interface most modifications are restricted to.  

One of my crazy projects was to try and build a text-based space simulator. It didn't turn out very well, but it always sticks in the back of my mind as something I want to try and do. Personally, I really want to do a contemplative fleet battle game, where the time scale would be days. The gameplay would be tense "search and destroy" gameplay, where you're trying to pinpoint the enemy without giving away your own position.

I should probably make a PnP wargame from this idea. Maybe with the Elemental mod tools this will be possible, too.

That's exactly the type of game I would love to play.  Too many space games put the combatants within point blank range at the start of the battle...where's the fun in that?  I want to have to use my sensors to find the enemy before I can even think about attacking him.  What separates naval warfare (be it water or space) from land warfare is the importance of long range detection, classification and then maneuver.  Yet, every space game seems to ignore this distinctive characteristic.  

There is a glimmer of hope:  Sword of the Stars 2 is supposedly going to involve long range battles and all that implies.  Not a bridge simulator, but at least it's something different.