3 races clash in this Real Time Strategy game set in the near future. Play as the newcomer Terrans, the insect-like Mantis and the mysterious Celereons. Build massive fleets and rage war across multiple star systems connected by wormholes.
One of the best space-based RTS games ever, and my personal favorite besides Homeworld series.
I remember buying this game along with a gaming magazine back in 2003, and loved it ever since. The gameplay is very unique. You build bases around the planetary orbits, which are used to produce fleets. There are multiple systems you can navigate and conquer, as well as extend your by building jumpgates on the wormholes, which connect one system with another. These jumpgates are used to extend supply routes between the systems, as well as block the enemy access to your territory. without jumpgates or the headquarters on the planet - you cannot control any of your other platforms in the system.
There are also unique ships for every race, ranging from small fighters to majestic capital ships, every ship has its own specific weaponry and special abilities for capital ships, that can be researched.
There are three types of resources that can be harvested from planets or asteroid/nebula fields: ore, gas, crew (the latter is limited to planets). Each of them are needed to build ships, research ship upgrades, and so on.
Every fleet also can be bolstered and commanded by an Admiral/Warlord/Magistrate (depending on race). Every of them has its own unique bonuses for the entire fleet and certain ships.
Also, you can take over enemy platforms or non-military ships using Troopships and its counterparts, so you can also bolster your fleet using ships from other races (you need to research upgrades for other races individually, since tech trees are not linked).
In multiplayer and skirmishes, there are certain maps, as well as a random map generator, so every time you play the map will be unique, you can also specify map's properties, such as number of systems, terrain. Sadly, there is no map editor in order to make specific maps, and that's a bit of a letdown.
Anyway, the game is definitely worth trying, it's fun, and graphically it's pretty neat, considering it's from 2001.