I'm looking for a new (last 2 years) space empire-building game.

Something along the lines of Imperium Galactica, Pax Imperia, Master of Orion or Sword of the Stars (though that doesn't look like my kinda thing).

The upcoming http://www.sinsofasolarempire.com seem interesting though release is scheduled for august.

I like colonizing planest, building worlds, fleets and conquering etc.

Any recommendations?

I remember Galactic Civilizations II was fun when I tried it.

Seconded. Though I am old school, so MOO, MOOII, the original GalCiv (which sent me onto an OS2 install for four years) are my style, and i never truly liked Pax Imperia - and never tried Homeworld.

I've always wanted to try Homeworld but never did because I didn't want to be disappointed.

I like to be left to my own devices while empire building for the most part and get the story slowly over time.

I don't like mission based scenario's in my empire building games.

There was a really old space empire game called Ascendency that really rocked. I still have it at my family home though it didn't work the last time i tried to install on XP but I keep it nonetheless, its playability has not been beaten yet.

I have Ascendancy!
It truly does rock. It supposedly works fine under DosBox, however I'd say that it warrent a dual-boot system (XP/98) as it's that much fun

Yeah the galaxy options in that were cool, starting on with a massive galaxy and the fast (blue) and slow (red) star lanes made for some serious tactical play especially when you had to factor in engine speeds.

Ahhh the heady days of galactic domination...i think i played the Chamachees (sp?) a lot.

GalCiv II or Space Empires 4 are your best bets if you want something newer.

Master of Orion 2 still holds its own pretty well though (MOO3 sucks).