Your description sounds like the Elite series.
this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2025
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Tip of my Joystick - Find games by describing it.
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Gazillionaire, Elite, or escape velocity maybe? Maybe Freelancer, but that was later than your time estimate.
Sorry it’s not any of those.
Alien legacy was really close graphics wise but it was more of an exploration/trading sim without the turns.
Ah. Hmm. The only other ones I remember that might be in similar vein that might trip a memory are Fragile Alliance, X: Beyond the Frontier, but those aren't really graphically similar. Hardwar, maybe?
If you want space fairing, base building, trade empire creating fun, that is the X universe's entire thing though. If you can't find what you are looking for, maybe X3 or X4 would scratch the itch.
Thanks for the suggestions I’ll look into it!
I’ve been looking for this game for twenty five years now and I’ll probably be disappointed once I find it.
I feel your pain. I had a tune from Robo Warrior (NES) stuck in my head for... I couldn't even tell you how long before it just randomly clicked one day.
X3 is really, really hard to learn. I have heard 4 is better in that regard. If you try either, you should probably start with 4! Also, it's very different, but Escape Velocity Nova is really worthwhile if you like exploration, trading style games. Old af but it holds up imo.
Edit: I spent some time Googling when I saw you said you thought the game had the word Galactic in it. Imperium Galactica?
That’s interesting I’ll have to look into some videos of this in a bit and see if it rings any bells.
It doesn't fit your time range exactly, and I think it's got such a distinctive franchise tie-in that it would really stand out in your memory if this were it, but I'll throw it out there anyway because it's kind of an underappreciated oddball entry in the series: Wing Commander - Armada. Being a Wing Commander game of course you get to fly all the expected Wing Commander ships (and Kilrathi ones too if I recall correctly!) As the linked video shows, a major part of the game was from a console where you're managing your territory and resources. You're doing that by building mines and shipyards and things on various planets. I don't remember "selling" per se, but you obviously are trying to turn materials into more mines and more starships rather than cash but it's sort of a form of cash.
Or perhaps Privateer? I never played it but I think it was basically Elite in the Wing Commander universe.
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You would probably have remembered if it was a Star Wars game. But was it Star Wars Rebellion?
Or Master of Orion?
I remember playing a game like this but can't remember the name. I think I still have the disks but I can't move right now to go dig out the box and look. Shoot me a reminder dm tomorrow so I remember to go look for it.
I could swear it’s called galactic something.
Outpost or outpost 2? Haven't played them though.
Outpost looks more like a city building sim and this one was a space exploration/trading sim.
Alien Legacy? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3aFJK3XY6w8
The graphics are super similar but that isn't the game.
The one I'm thinking about isn't broken up into turns.