after playing a couple games now the whole dlc thing just feels like all they've done is made the game take longer developing your economy. It doesn't really add anything strategic wise, it's just "oh, here.. take another hour+ handling all of the upgrades so you can get the new planets and max out your economy."
Expansion is slower due to all of the different planet types, some of which can spawn right near your homeworld on random so that t2 civ upgrade doesn't guarantee you getting all of the planets in a 3 jump radius, now you need t3-4 civ, logistic slots are pretty hard to come by right off the bat.
I almost prefer the pre-dlc, though it is kinda nice mixing it up. I give it a 2.5/5
That's just my two cents.
