You might know the game under the name Star Control 2. It’s a wonderful game that involves wandering around deep space, meeting aliens, and navigating a sprawling galaxy while trying to save the people of Earth, who are being kept under a planetary shield.
It also has a 1v1 mode (player vs computer or PvP) that is just fantastic. I actually spent most of my time playing the 1v1 mode way back in the day.