Independence War II: Edge of Chaos

[Daedrus]

I feel that no space-sim chat is complete without this game.

It can be had on GoG. I first got it in the bargain bin at a Gamestop (same place I found X3 years later, in fact!)

If you fire this up, you'll be amazed that this came out in 2001. It looks fantastic, has a cool space-westernl story and excellent combat mechanics (better than X if I'm being honest). It even has some trading, which can be expanded upon in free-form mode (a mod). Oh, and the mods. It's not quite as modable as X3 is, but a lot were made and are still available. Links:

Game: http://www.gog.com/game/independence_war_2

Mods/Patches: http://www.moddb.com/games/independence-war-2
http://www.i-war2.com/downloads/category/2-independence-war-ii


Numerous gameplay videos exist. If you want to get an idea how well this game aged, look at it compared to X-Tension or X-2, released 2000 and 2003 respectively. Also, the voice acting and humor aren't too bad (something the X series has yet to get right...)

[Feargan]

Daedrus, my good sir, you're doing it right! 
I have never even heard of this game...  or have I? Not sure... I blame the Jameson and DosEquisAmbar for the ambiguity...
Anyway, I must give this a go.