I'm looking for a game (on GOG, please!) that has sort of...civilization or building elements like an RTS, where either there is extremely limited combat (i.e., less of an emphasis on it) or perhaps where it can be automated - I love the sandbox feel of putting together a smooth-running city, and find the combat parts to usually be confusing and annoying, or even downright upsetting when they destroy my beautifully designed bases, so I'm hoping there's some game out there that will let me play around like it's an RTS, but with political or economic goals in mind. Thanks in advance!

Oh, and as another caveat - I really need it to be netbook-compatible, so if it can't run in small widescreen resolutions it's not going to work...but since this information's such a pain to find, I didn't want to include that requirement in the question itself.

I think Caesar 3 would be closest to what you're looking for, although I'd also highly recommend Evil Genius (although there is some combat, a big part of the game is designing your base so that intruders are dealt with without having to send your minions to duke it out).

I love Evil Genius, I believe that was the first or second GOG game I bought - that's kinda what I'm looking for! I vaguely remember having played Caesar once or twice, not sure which one, though - that sounds like it might be what I'm looking for, assuming it has a sort of 'sandbox' format and isn't entirely mission based.
Now I want to play EG again...but I don't think it runs on netbooks >.<
Darn.

I'm fairly certain Caesar III has both missions and a sandbox mode, although it's been years since I've played it so I can't guarantee it.

You should check out Tropico Reloaded as well. Its got missions and a sandbox mode. You pretty much set your own goals in sandbox, both political and economic. It can have some combat but only from rebels so it plays a smaller role in the game. If you keep a strong military you can take care of them easy or just keep everyone fairly happy.

Caesar 3 has both a campaign mode (with set objectives for each map), as well as numerous maps for free play, where you're free to build your city however you want with no goals whatsoever.

Oh that sounds super! Now I have to go see if the internet will reveal the system stats for it - I need to know if it supports widescreen :D
edit -> No, it doesn't, but it supports 640x480 windowed, which is as good or better! Thanks so much, folks - time to check who said 'Caesar 3' first...
:D

Enjoy. Also, make sure you check Tropico Reloaded - you can play it in any way you see fit, which is great, and I *think* it runs fine at 640x480, though don't quote me on that.

The lowest I got tropico to was 600x800.

I highly recommend Tropico. Very minimal combat. It's usually only a possibility if you piss too many people off anyway.