Yeah Starcontrol 2 was a grand scale space strategy. You built up a ship from scratch and encountered Aliens througout the galaxy building up an alliance into a fleet to defeat the Ur'Quan slave masters. Perhaps this game your seeking is SC1 or SC2. I haven't played many space games but Star Control 2 is my favorite next to MOO2. They redid SC2 with voice acting and reedited displays check it out:
http://reloaded.org/download/Ur-Quan-Masters/84/
Good luck in your search.