Well I just preordered the game, and let me say, that I think this has the potential to be possibly the best space-based RTS to date. Now being the beta, there are certain to be some problems, and they might be mentioned elsewhere, but I feel that I should just give a complete list of some of the things that I feel need fixing before the next or final version. Here we go:

1. I have read this in another topic about the enemy just jumping to the gravity well of one planet then immediately firing up and going to the next. If you have most of your defenses in the outskirts of your empire, to protect your borders, they are basically useless because they can just jump right by you. It could be I am playing wrong or that I dont know what I am doing, but the past 3 or 4 games, the enemy has done this to me, and I cant really figure out how to defend against them jumping to my inner planets.

2. The carriers should definitely have more squadron slots. I noticed it gets up to 4 at like level 6 or so, but that takes a hefty amount of money to get to. It should at least start of with 4 if not more, I mean they are designed as an aircraft carrier, so they should have the ability to carry lots of them and have possibly less defense because of that.

3. Formations. I dont know if this is being planned or not, but I think the fleets need to be able to assume some sort of formation, at least so they move at the same speed. When I have the cap ships moving through the gravity well of a planet, the frigates just blow by and arrive early, which isnt bad for a screening, but they take a beating until the big boys can arrive. I just think there should be an option for having them all move at the same speed and possible offensive/defensive formations.

4. Fighter docking/launching. I figure this is something that can easily be fixed, but I figured I should mention it anyways. I found that fighters/bombers docking tend to just fly into the ship anywhere they can, but launching doesnt seem to be that big of a problem. This is more of a cosmetic thing than gameplay, but I figure you spend this much time on a great game, might as well fix some of these little things.

5. Starting a new game. I dont know if these options just havent been added yet or what, but the option of choosing your color for the game, and also removing AI players would be nice. I would like ot have a huge galaxy with only one or 2 more races, just some more options.

Now again, I love this game already, and I think the potential for this is amazing. I just figured I would give you guys my 2 cents. Thanks again for making this!

Mike