An excellent strategy game.
1701 AD is the first time I've tried out this series and I am quite impressed with its delivery. The oddest realization I had is that its an economic simulation and I had no idea until I was already enjoying myself.
Starting off with minimal resource requirements to keep your population happy, you gradually add luxury items to their collection. These luxury items then become necessities as they advance in status from settler to pioneer, to citizen, to merchant, and finally to aristocrat. in the process, you need to increasingly rely on trade and interaction with other players in order to have needs met.
It's hard for me to portray the enjoyment in this process, but it is certainly there. There is a peaceful and gradual growth that is ready to move at your pace. There's a zen-like state of optimal gradual growth - you don't want the population to grow too fast though you may want an increase in taxable populace because you can run out of food and other resources. As soon as a group of your citizens reach a new class, there's a smooth change in requirements.
The interactions with others range from peaceable trading to spying to all out war. Getting to the best warships, however, can take quite a long time.
As a Starcraft veteran (which I enjoyed a lot years ago), I personally find the slower pace and optional warfare here quite satisfying.
In the end, winning is not necessarily crushing an opponent, rather finding some homeostasis in the community and the characters on the map.