Homeworld/ 1-2

[Divinus Arma]

Homeworld 2 was ridiculously hard. The campaign had such steep requirements to be successful that it became unenjoyable. And there is no difficulty setting. The "free for all" type sandbox option was very good though. All the units and tech with no objective but to kill the other team. And it looks very pretty too. I enjoyed it and I don't regret having paid good money for it. Master of Orion 2? Now THAT was poop.

Edit: Oh and if you feel like a fun space flyer, I really enjoyed that freelancer free loader whatever game. It is very sandbox and piloting from the cockpit in some of the bigger battles is just adrenaline-dumping. I loved approaching the huge enemy ships and controlling a starwars style strafing run, only to twist and dodge my way out. Just cool. I only wish you could control individual ships.

And stayaway from X2 the threat. Once the alien unknown baddies start showing up, the sandbox is over. They kill everything and ruin your entire factory operations. This had the potnetial to be an all-time favorite but they ruined it with those *%&*@@#$!@# aliens that kill everyone. The devs tempt you with the potential to own huge factories and massive fleets with capital ships, any one of which is pilotable from a unique cockpit in a fairly large universe. Then they take away the punchbowl right when the party starts getting good.