I've been paying Starsector recently and have been really enjoying it. 
It's a top down space sim that doesn't really have a campaign or structure to go through. It's all about making your own fun akin to the Mount and blade games. 
I've been playing as a bounty hunter for now with a small fleet hunting down pirates and space luddite islamists 
I only have a few frigates and carrier with some retrofitted civilian freighters and drone haulers. My own little merc company 
I don't know whether I'll create a colony eventually or not. It's kinda necessary if you want to do salvaging and hunt down any blueprints or rare ships but I might just settle for cleansing the galaxy of pirates 
Anyway I want to finish a campaign before I dive into the huge modding scene this game has. I've been eyeing the fighter customisation mod where you create specialised fighter wings with your own officers and even pilot them yourself.
https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=18751.0
Play the game. It's awesome 
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I really like the writing as well, that gets a bit overlooked. They're really good at setting the tone and atmosphere, and bringing across that you're in command of hundreds of people from the very beginning of the game.
It's never "you visit the bar", it's "you visit the bar with an entourage of armed guards and they're making sure nobody fricks with you". It's not "you scan this strange wreck", it's "your bridge officers and chief engineer work together to figure out why this sensor return is off".
I really like how the game describes your character acting in command, everything happens via a group of professionals coordinating to carry out your orders.
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If you visit the bar in Fikenhild during one of the story mission, there is this one schizo who's dialogue are a riot to read.
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