Weird Worlds, the second game in this franchise, was amazing. It was essentially "Star Control 2 in 30 minutes."

Strange Adventures In Infinite Space, the very first game, wasn't much to look at graphically but contained all the elements that define this franchise.

Sea of Stars..... Has pros and cons. It's not quite as polished as Weird Worlds.

There was a forum post I saw on the Weird Worlds forum way back when. It mentioned something along the lines of having hostile fleets move around (instead of just the Kawangi and Ravians), different races preferring different trade goods and offering varied selections, and so forth. I suspect the developers read that post because this game delivers on that front.

It's exciting to have maurading Tan-Ru and Garthan ships harassing worlds across the sector, with the heroic races also having numerous patrols and, thankfully, numerous ways to establish alliances. Sure, this existed in the previous game too, but the additional elements finally give a sense of agency in it all. Before it was just your ship exploring the worlds. Now, now you'll find that the sector isn't all that quiet after all.

Yet even though the setting is more vibrant, and the flavor text is as amusing as ever, the 3D map is a definite downside. Without the calibrator it can be extremely annoying getting from place to place, and unlike Weird Worlds it doesn't look like your ships can pool their FTL Drives. The removal of the latter feature makes death far more frequent once you get the fabled Hyperdrive. Sure, one might mention backups and the like, but with limited storage space, Esmerelda, and [insert extremely frustrating spawn here] that's not as foolproof a plan as one would believe.

I really enjoyed how they put a lot of effort into making every tech in a category seem different. Every drive displays different exhaust, and weapons have differing glowy bits. I think shields are somewhat different too but I haven't confirmed that. At any rate, it's clear that Sea of Stars was a labor of love, and even though aspects of the UI (mostly because of the 3D modeling, can get annoying the game is an asthetic treasure.

So while I have fond memories of Weird Worlds, well, Sea of Stars brought enough improvements where it counts. Don't go into this expecting the extremely intuitive mechanics of Weird Worlds, but if you've played previous games in the series you can certainly expect Weirder and more Exciting things to look at and DESTROY!

Star Control 2 has been praised as one of the greatest video games of all time. There's a free port called Ur Quan Masters which you should play for its updates, but the original Dos port has its charm.

With all that said, I'd like to praise Star Control 1 in this review. If you're familiar with Stellaris, Star Control 1 was literally a prototype for Stellaris about 25 years early. In almost every scenario, you have a starbase that you ought to defend, with mines to secure and colonies to create in the full game. The Arena mode is essentially the same as Star Control 2's with fewer ships, and thus Star Control 2's is more worthwhile if combat is all you care about.

The Full Game is what makes Star Control 1 feel like Stellaris, complete with starlanes to reach other systems and multiple planet types that translate to system types. You can set up fortifications to help secure your systems, but beware! If two enemy ships enter the system, they destroy the fortification. An enemy ship can get trapped and break itself free though the number of turns ensnared is based on RNG. Ur Quan Dreadnoughts can destroy fortifications outright while Arilou Skiffs can evade them. With a fortification, the colony or mining world in the system will be protected. Dead worlds are mostly useless except when they're at a chokepoint that can be fortified. The Colony system really helps with the combat, since you can have ships retreat there to replenish crew or establish "forward bases" with them.

Because Star Control 1 has fewer ships, there's a vague sense of balance. However, the Mmrnmhrm Transformer and Androsynth Guardian are pretty OP, but each faction needed its generalist / "good against anything" ship, no? The Alliance's Chenjesu Broodhome is not quite as tanky as the Ur Quan Dreadnought, but can be a devastating opponent with exploding crystals and energy draining drones in the right hands. Figuring out each ship, making sure you've nailed down the way the ships counter each other, that's the meat of getting better at this game.

Rejoice! The Earthling Cruiser, humanity's finest, is actually really good in this game. Yes it's cheap and can't really outrun enemies but the missiles can pulverize targets over time. You'll find it's especially strong against some significant threats!

Star Control 1 is a special game that has understandably been overlooked by its far more stacked sequel. Yes the strategy elements are relatively simple compared to most strategy games these days, but the game is also nearly 30 years old at this point. It seems to be on sale frequently, so if you don't mind Dosbox and rather old games you should give it a try!