Supremacy: Your Will Be Done

Supremacy: Your Will Be Done is a grand strategy game with a suitably enormous ambition: conquer space, expand your empire, manage resources, and generally become the sort of interstellar ruler who would make everyone else nervous. Released in 1990, it mixes economic management, colonization, diplomacy, research, and military action into a package that demands more thought than reflexes. Building an empire means balancing production and expansion while keeping an eye on rival powers that would very much like to take your planets for themselves. The interface is firmly rooted in the early-nineties strategy tradition, so patience is useful and a willingness to read instructions is even more useful. Once the systems start making sense, however, there is genuine satisfaction in watching a small foothold grow into a sprawling galactic power. Just remember that every empire eventually discovers that managing bureaucracy is harder than conquering planets.