Those were my favorites too....do you play with the unofficial patches?

GalCiv2 Ultimate Edition (which was on sale via Steam last week, it meant I didn't have to go rummaging for my older GC2 CDs).

I'll warn you, I'm not the most unbiased person to ask, as I've long been a champion for the game. 

That being said, I truly do enjoy it, especially with the Supernova expansion.  The game forces the player to make genuine strategic choices, the AI is good (partially due to the game having a tight, coherent design), the customization options offer a high degree of replayability, and its simple visuals and streamlined design belie a surprising amount of depth (although obviously not to the level of a game like Distant Worlds or Aurora). 

Not all is sunshine, of course:  The combat is "meh", the lack of ship design is a turnoff for some, and the game's minimalist visuals detract somewhat from the atmosphere (depending on the player).  But given you can pick up Armada 2526 Gold (which includes the Supernova expansion) for $15-20 -- and that's when it's *not* on sale -- I'd say the game's entertainment value is well worth the price. 

@Martok, how difficult to master is the tactical combat part of Armada2526? To what extent is this a clickfest? That is something that I found less appealing about the game. Is there an auto resolve option and how does it work? Are the outcomes consistent/fair?

If you are in to modding it, you may be interested in yitzi's patches....allows you to change a lot more things and it fixes some bugs too...

I am not Martok, but I am can answer! (Also nice to see another Armada 2526 fan *brofist Martok*) 

It is very none clickfest. First you have pausable and command (as in you can issue commands while pausing the action), also ships are grouped together by default. So if you had 2 Missile Cruiser, 4 Cruisers, and 5 Dreadnaughts, each will be their own group (so 3 groups of each class of ship). If you had like 20 Cruisers, they be broken down into two separate groups. You can reorganise your groups (though I do not remember to what extent), but you can like team the Cruisers with the Dreadnaughts into one group, that I know for sure. 

The bigger problem is that the graphical engine... is tragically bad looking. But if you can look past that, it is fine. Overall the tactical battle is as Martok said, meh. Concept wise they are pretty interesting (you basically take part of all aspect of a space battle, even one over a planet, with defense satellites, ground-to-space defences, troop deployment (though this part is a little awkward), and all that in the same battle screen). Theory behind it is awesome, the implementation of it... not so much (more of an engine limitation I guess). But it is not the worst thing you saw either. 

As for auto-resolve, you have one and it is optional for each fight (so you can auto-resolve everything). It is pretty reliable from what I heard. I have seen people swear off using the manual tactical battle and only auto resolve all their fights because they are satisfied with the result (sadly I can not confirm this, but I seen quite a few who are happy with the auto-resolve).

FTL

Gratuitous Space Battles

SC 2

Yep, Bioecologist pretty much nailed it.  <brofists back>  The theory behind Armada's combat is sound, but the actual execution is lacking somewhat. (Also, I'm not a fan of battles having a maximum time limit of 5 minutes, but that's just me.) 

The AI isn't as good as in GalCiv2, but (IMHO) is still better than what you'll find in most 4x games.

I would describe Armada's AI as...not brilliant, but competent.  It won't dazzle you or anything, but it usually knows what it's doing.  Even better, it generally behaves in an agreeably "sane" manner -- you don't see as much suicidal behavior as one does in a lot of other strategy games. 

I also love Distant Worlds (I own all three expansions), but in comparison to Armada 2526, the AI in DW is only mediocre. 

Civilization V, I burned away over 900 hours in that game, I hope that galactic civilization thrives when they bring their ideas to the table.

Galciv2

Elemental: LH

Warlock: master of the arcane

I have a regular game going on with some friends in Civilization V (all expansions).  Really well done game.  I did reinstall Galciv 2 with the intention of playing it again.  Hopefully I'll find time soon.

GC2-Endless Space, Stardrive, Horizon, SOTSER, Warlock, Civ 5, AI WAR and many more........

I'm retired (over 65).