Gratuitous Space Battles is a sci-fi-themed auto battler game developed by Positech Games, instead of boring you with all the backstories, resource gathering, diplomacy GSB puts you right into the action with large, completely unjustified space battles between huge opposing fleets. You are the supreme space admiral, tasked with designing individual ships, managing their compositions and formations in battle but once you placed them you cannot control your ships directly during combat. This is not a game about twitch reflexes like many RTS games it’s about careful planning, thought, and big picture strategy.  

• Huge battles can be won by how carefully you balance your defensive shielding and armor against the high cost of your expensive firepower of plasma torpedoes and laser cannons. With 40 different ship hulls and 120 spaceship modules to choose from the possibilities are endless.
• As mentioned, before you cannot influence the battle yourself you can only affect your ship’s starting formation and after that, a pre-determined set of movement orders you can issue.
• Once you have a fleet that you are proud of, fight other players using the innovative multiplayer challenge system upload your fleet to serve as an enemy for other players to challenge you can then keep track of the number of wins and losses your fleet has, you can also do the same and challenge other players fleets, that way you will never run out of clever enemies to fight.

Reviews

In the end, for all its talk of being “gratuitous,” Gratuitous Space Battles is actually quite a lean, mean game with a unique premise and singularly charming personality. If you’re even marginally interested in seeing heavily armed tin cans tear each other a new hull breach with beam lasers and torpedo missiles, give it a try.

destructoid.com  

I do like Gratuitous Space Battles. I think it’s a great concept, beautifully presented. I just wish it would let me like it more.

eurogamer.net