Click the link below for a preview of Sword of the Stars, an upcoming space 4X game.
It looks interesting. Browsing the screenshots, I liked the fact they are using real star names (e.g. Castor, Betelgeuse) with the actual star colors. The game does offer real-time space combat but besides this it seems like a lighter version of GalCiv2 and might attract those who found GalCiv2 to be too daunting. I forsee however that the hardcore will stay loyal to GalCiv2 for quite some time to come!