Starshatter: The Gathering Storm AKA Falcon 4.0 in Space. Free & Open Source!

[TheTalon]

First a bit about the game:

Starshatter takes the concept of the "mission-based" space simulation to a new level. Rather than deliver twenty-five heavily scripted missions that play the same way every time, Starshatter will use a dynamic campaign engine to custom build an unlimited number of unique missions based on the current state of the war, and the type of ship you are commanding. The enemies you will face in Starshatter's dynamic campaign won't just be targets. Enemy ships and fleet admirals use the same AI algorithms as your own wingmates and commanders. They are trying to win the war just as much as you are. This means that with every kill you make, you are directly contributing to the war effort.

Fighter Mission Types: Patrol, Sweep, Bomber Escort, Starship Escort, Ground Strike, Starship Strike
Starship Mission Types: Fleet Engagement, Escort, Blockade, Starbase Assault, Fighter Ops

[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/Bz2hs.jpg[/img_thumb][img_thumb]http://media.moddb.com/images/games/1/13/12302/a05.jpg[/img_thumb][img_thumb]http://www.armchairgeneral.com/wordpress/wp-content/gallery/groundstrike.jpg[/img_thumb]

You can fly a fighter, a bomber, or any of the capital ships like the frigates and carrier. When you fly the carrier you choose the sorties and missions your forces fly. You can fly in a realistic newtonian physics mode, an arcade Freelancer style mode, or a combination of the two that strikes a balance in between. Then there's ground strikes on the surface of planets that use atmospheric flight controls that don't feel cheesie or bad at all, about on the level of Orbiter if you've ever played that. There's dynamic campaigns that play out in a similar fashion to Falcon, where the AI doles out sorties to be flown and what's lost is lost.

Anyway, here's the link to the post with the [b]download[/b] links and instructions
[url]http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=80935.0[/url]

And for all your modding needs, here's a fuck load of them, categories on the left. You might even recognize some modders from popular Elder Scrolls mods
[url]http://spacesimcentral.com/ssc/files/category/102-starshatter-the-gathering-storm/[/url]