I have been playing the game in my spare time for the past few days, and for what it's worth, here is my appraisal. I'll start by saying that I am an avid strategy game lover, at times addict, which was what lured me to this game. I have played most games in the RTS, Turn based Strat genre, and was intrigued by a game that tried to bring the best of both to the table.

For the most part, this is a great game. I enjoyed playing it into the night for several nights running. I will probably go back to playing soon as I'm done posting. A lot of stuff was done right. Here is my take on what was done wrong...

The AI is too canned for my taste. Especially when it comes to diplomacy. All the various "missions" that they throw your way, are quite lame in my opinion, and you have no way, at least that I found, to give them a mission in return. I would have liked to see some more sophisticated trade/smuggling thrown into the game, with more tradable goods, and a market that rises and falls based on supply and demand. As I understand the script a little, rather than time based contact, let certain activities elicit contact... etc.

I really don't like the way ships manuever, and even though at times, this can work to your benefit, most of the time, it is annoying. You might jump into a sector where you out number the opponent 10/1, and he flys straight for you. Unfortunately, your guys over shoot him by a half a planet distance, and by the time you get turned around, they escape. Like I say, there are times when I escaped myself thanks to this, but most of the time, it worked against me. So you wind up chasing these guys around for 2 or three planets before you can wipe them out.

These are just my first impressions. Often times I have wished for a game similar to this, and I am still pleased that it was made.