Sound like great games, I am probaly going to try out Hearts of Iron 2. I just hope it isn't too complicated.

Galactic Civilizations 2, Civilization 4: Complete, Civilization IV: Colonization, Space Empires IV, Hearts of Iron and Europa Unversalis were already mentioned..

Master of Orion 2. You need no mods or support for this, it still rocks.

By "strategy games", do you mean arcadey RTSes like CNC, or more complicated ones like Company of Heroes and Men of War? Or even hardcore ultra-realistic ones like Theatre of War? Or Turn-based ones? Or the other 1,000 variations?

i agree, Europa Universalis II is awesome, IMO EU3 sucks, i even prefer the EU2 graphics =p

but AA do you hate it only cause of the graphics? Cause that was my only beef on 3, stick with EU2 graphics! Way easier, and slower comps can run faster then EU3 :3

If you like games similar to Age of Empires series, check out Rise of Nations. It's quite fun, you get to control your nation from spears and swords to atomic bombs :)

I second that, any Civilization game is an awesome choice. Civilization IV especially.

Europa Universales III or Age of Empires III