Gratuitous Space Battles is a strategy / management / simulation game that does away with all the base building and delays and gets straight to the meat and potatoes of science-fiction games. For those curious just how a game like that goes, you’re in luck. There is now a demo available of the game available from their website .

There isn’t much to go on about what the demo entails, other than it is a demo of the latest build, so instead, here’s a blurb about the game:

Gratuitous Space Battles aims to bring the over-the-top explodiness back into space games. GSB is about what ships you design, and what you tell them to do. Your individual ship commanders have total autonomy during the chaotic battle that unfolds. This is not a tactical game, it is a strategic one. These gratuitous space battles are not won by plucky heroes with perfect teeth, but by the geeky starship builders who know exactly what ratio of plasma-cannons to engines each ship in the fleet will need.