Alright, started a game as the EuroSolar Union.
First thing I noticed once I started playing the game is the infantry units costing one population point. Numerous other modders have tried this for years now, and the AI just can't handle it - they build up huge armies and their cities fall to sizes 2-3, at best.
Also, the end-of-turn time seems outrageously slow. This could be because of the aforementioned build up of infantry-based armies by the AI, and a certain large amount of scout ships that a certain someone has from the start of the game.
Another (very) small issue is that the Astro-Indus' and the Stellar Socialist's colors are very close, and its hard to differentiate, especially on this background.
The game is very, very, slow at the start, since there isn't much to but build up infrastructure and wait for a settler to be auto-produced. Once you have your settler (and a transport to put it on) is where, I feel, the game actually starts. Of course, you're pretty f-ed if your transport 'sinks' in one of the hyperspace lanes. This, of course, happens quite often - and makes the game fairly boring as you just sit there, doing nothing for turns on end, watching your one and only city build a lab, or decide what to research next. I played for nearly one hundred turns, and never was able to establish a colony.
Finally, when I had made it into the 2nd age and researched the tech that would give me a unit that could travel to other systems, I got this;
That's next in the Greek alphabet.
So far, except for the few things I've mentioned already, the game is fairly fun and seems extremely well done. I definitely get a very strong 'hard s-f' feel when I play.
