I know it is early and the beta patch will probably make a big difference. That said, here are some observations.

1) The AI is just plain bad. I am sure it is being worked on.

2) Research seems to fly along after a while, but buildings take forever. Upgrades also seem insanely high.

3) Larger ships seem rather steep as well. Perhaps I am doing it all wrong. I put about even weight to manufacturing and research. I guess I could use the planet sliders to focus on buildings OR ships.

4) As has been noted elsewhere, if you target a ship to move to the other side of a range barrier (think of a U shape where the middle is out of range, you are on one side and want to go to the other) The ship will go through the space it isn't supposed to be able to go. It will also sometimes cross the border when there is a nebula, planet or star and it goes around.

5) The combat notification really stinks. I have no idea where the battle is taking place or what forces are involved.

6) The Drengin attacked a scout ship of mine with 2 units (or perhaps fleets, I was zoomed out) and I had to hit the battle confirmation over 20 times to get through it!

7) I really don't like that you or the ai can colonize a planet in someone else's influence zone.

8) How about a notification when enemy ships are sited in my areas?

9) I am not fond of the new planet mechanics. So now I have to build food and hospitals for making my population grow as fast as possible. Err, ok. Once I have the population limit for that planet (where is that info anyway?) then I am supposed to bulldoze those farms and growth improvements to build factories, research facilities or other things to make it more productive? Seems like busy work.

10) I don't understand why in the future when automation will probably run factories with almost no workers, my production is based on the number of people. This doesn't make sense to me. I can totally understand my tax income being based on people. I can understand food being important to my population, even though there doesn't seem to be anything telling me what this does to my population cap. I don't understand why factories are somehow only a small multiplier to the number of people. Just look at a car factory. Less workers than ever assemble more cars then ever because of the technology of the factory, not the number of people!

11) Why can't I at least see the type of star in unknown areas? It seems I would want to explore stars that have a high chance of a habitable planet first. Why would I go to a gas giant? The star names and types should be seen on the map regardless if I sent a ship there or not.

12) Planetary invasion being in the second age seems ridiculous. I have the tech to take civilians millions of miles to start a new colony, but I can't load a ship with troops for an invasion of a planet right next to me?

13) Starports need some defense when built. I like the suggestion of having planetary defenses covering the starport if it is in orbit. That makes a lot of sense.

14) Why can I build unlimited star ports on a planet? What is the purpose. I have to pay attention when building things that a planet that already has one. However, it doesn't show up on the colony screen!

15) I agree that the sponsor button should also be on the colony screen. It is a pia to go to the starport, unsponser the planet, then go to the other starport and add the sponsorship.

16) If there is a way to upgrade a ship to the latest design, I haven't found it yet.

17) Why is the manufacturing capital improvement so ridiculously expensive?

18) Seems I can research orbital manufacturing, but can't use it to make  orbital factories FOR a planet. If you want to make food so important, give me somewhere where I can build more factories please. Perhaps a limit on them.

19) Early game feels like playing whack-a-mole with ai scout ships running everywhere. Perhaps there should be something to respect other factions space and not go through? Is that in the diplomacy in beta2?

20) The ai never seems to build fast ships. It also seems to rarely add defenses either. It will even attack your fleet when it has no hope of winning.

21) It seems too easy to fill a planet up and then you have nothing to do. I don't mind the idea of tiles, but it seems there should probably be double what they are now. Perhaps lower the benefits a bit if that messes up the balance.

22) I can build ships with obsolete, but cheap, stuff. However, a new planet HAS to build the latest and greatest of everything with takes forever. Please allow basic buildings so the colony can get up and running. I can upgrade it later and use the benefit of having the cheaper building aid this.

23) I agree with others that a list of starports and what they are building is needed.

Perhaps some of these things I am just doing wrong. There isn't much help built in at this time. Overall the game is pretty stable and most things seem to work as intended. Overall, it is a good start and there is a lot more going up to improve it. These are just my observations of things that could be better.