Looking for a good starship captain game.

[BlackSoxDown]

Been reading Spinward Fringe lately and it's put me in the mood to play a game based around captaining a ship. Ideally, Steam has something that has combat, exploration, trading, etc. without being too heavy handed (i.e. insanely in-depth 4Xers). Anyone have any ideas of a game like that which has come out within the last 5 years? Thanks in advance.

[Snarkybottoms]

This is fairly new and lauded as an amazing game
http://store.steampowered.com/app/212680/

[BlackSoxDown]

Yeah I had FTL in mind for a while, but I heard it was insanely difficult. Also, I don't find the visual style appealing, but that's just me.

[Thordred]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/9900
:D

Also:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=95094343

[skiddlywibble]

FTL is part roguelike, which is a genre generally codified by being very hard to beat and having harsh punishments for death. This isn't difficulty in the same way as other games, though, more a form of alternate game style: failing and trying again with a different set of tactics is all part of the game, rather than a punishment.

The only way to really understand is to play persistantly, though. It's one of those things you just "get", like the mechanics in a MOBA, which are difficult to learn just by reading about.

[BlackSoxDown]

I literally just got done looking at X3. It seems the best candidate out of all the games I looked at. Definitely going to give it a shot. Thanks, everyone!