Yeah the big one that I always think of was a VERY well regarded WWII wargame called Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord.

GoG actually has it - it's one of those seminal wargames that sort of ticked all boxes for being pretty (it's a bit blocky and dated now, but at the time it was pretty sexy), accurate, deep and crunchy yet at the same time, super accessible and employed a pretty unique turn mechanic - "WEGO" - the locked in turns that are carried out simultaneously.

I actually NEVER knew MAX was turnbased LOL. For some reason I always thought it was a real time strat game.

I wonder if this is a better BSG game than that Freespace 2 mod.

One of my all time favorite strategy games is Critical Mass. It has simultaneous turns. It has a demo, so you should try it. Unless you don't like permadeath. This game had permadeath before it was cool.

Lately it seems almost all newly released games on GOG are downvoted by a bunch of people immediately after release, then reviews and later voters usually show that the game isn't so bad, or is actually quite good. What's with that, some kind of competition?

Im pretty sure its because of how long people play the game. People who don't like it only play a short time, so their ratings show up first. The people who like it play it for much longer before giving their rating.

That may be, but I don't remember it so pronounced.

There are also people with bad review habits - like "I'll update my review later on". Sorry kids, doesn't work that way here.

Well thought. Although it makes no sense that people downvote and trashtalk a game just because they find that it belongs to a genre that is not their cup of tea. This happens all too often. Those reviews are not helpful.
Thanks for the hint! Permadeath can make some games better.

Thank you, I will take a good look at it.

About M.A.X., the system makes the game. It is rather unique, the player needs to take account of visual and firing ranges very precisely in some scenarios.

In M.A.X. 2 they added the option or playing in real time. At the time, RTS was the fad. Even X-COM: Apocalypse had to offer the option to play in real time. IMHO it worked well for X-COM, but for M.A.X., it is just more fun to play it turn-based.

I've been seeing the opposite on Steam. Games that were the bee's knees while still being developed suddenly becoming "mixed" when given the full release.

also quite common, especially visible in early access though, possibly like in the instance of Battlefleet Gothic Armada, the developers changed the game drastically before leaving EA.
That or just hype-train and a bumper.

One might think that a part of it is whining and trying to manipulate the developer into making the very exact changes that they wish for. A bit pitiful.

Also, the backslash of allowing reviews during paid alpha-testing, a.k.a. early access: many reviews that are not longer accurate or relevant will stick. Even more than they already do with patches in regular games nowadays.

Besides, it might be true that sometimes the paid-alpha reviews might be hyped: "shows promise". Really? They they turn "It was a disappointment". Guys, why don't you just buy your games already finished?

Not that paid alpha testing might not be helpful to some struggling independent developers (althoug it is each one's choice to support that kind of practice or not), but it makes for much more inaccurate reviewing--and more whining ;-)

I am absolutely of mind that there should not be anything such as "early access" at all.
Leave the bughunting and "minefield sweep" to the -paid, mind you - QA and Testers departments. :)

If you liked Nexus: The Jupiter Incident, it might happen that you already know Star Wolves.

If you liked the first missions in Nexus, with less spaceships, then Star Wolves might be for you. Imagine running what they would call now a private contractor, actually a mercenary company, with less ships and less well armed than the military has.

Each pilot has a distinct personality. Some have called it Baldur's Gate in Space.

To cite a downside: the voice acting is not bad per se... the problem is that just one male voice actor and one female voice actress had to make all the voices... But there is a community patch that helps with that.
Does not sound bad. The paid instead of the paying ones ;-)

Besides, leaving the design of your game to non-professional, random people in internet, can lead to, well, somehow undesired results...

Thanks, but I already played Star Wolves.