It sorta counts if you're okay with a 2D KSP.
You have to plan out your ship design, like KSP. And you have to exploit weaknesses in enemy ships to take them out. You also have to deal with inertia when flying around.
this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2026
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Aurora 4X seems closest to what you want, that I know of, at least.
Mars Horizon might get a bit close, but I think it's a little more simple than you're looking for. There's a demo for it on Steam so it's easy to try, at least.
Mars Horizon looks fun, thanks! Definitely more of a straight up KSP successor than a strategy game, but it might scratch the itch enough to save me a few hundred hours from trying Aurora.
I remember Distant worlds: universe scratching that itch for me a while ago. I know there is a distant worlds 2 but it might be a bit before it reaches the same scale. Nothing quite like a game so immense that by default it does most of it for you and just asks you to sign off on things (that option can be changed ofc).
Unsure how it runs these days, it looks like steam reviews are having some issues running it but i used to play it on windows 10 just fine. Hefty sale too on steam
Hmm. Different scale for sure, but Distant Worlds 2 is in my backlog so I should probably try it again before Aurora. Thanks for the suggestion!
Maybe too simplistic for what you're looking for, but Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager allows you to do some of it.
It's based on an older title IIRC, and it's a game more tuned towards education with relatively few graphical elements. You won't be flying missions directly, nor do you have sandbox capabilities, but for mission planning / R and D / mission control, there is some fun to be had.
I go back to it occasionally.
Looks like it’s an updated version of a dos game Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space I think I would try the original first, there is an open source version for basically all modern OSes https://github.com/raceintospace/raceintospace
Probably the closest suggestion so far! Thanks
Factorio: space age?
We should probably stop giving them money and attention.
That's something else entirely IMO. ... But I am planning to do a coop Space Exploration run soon!