Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius (2014)

Meeting your pilots between missions makes their very different machines easier to care about. The battles demand a real plan for weapon ranges, shielding, support and how to spend a limited upgrade budget; this is more than a token fight between dialogue scenes. Adjustable difficulty helps when that learning curve gets in the way. The free English release includes First Arrival and Mask of Arcadius, making it the starting point of the space saga. It does not contain the whole continuing story: Liberation Day follows it, with The Captain's Return later.