New empire tree, new tech tree, new diplo screen, new map features?!
And much more... Sins is now fully ponified
Complete overhaul of everything to bring it up to the level of polish neccessary for final release. Beta will look and feel "dirty" to you in about 28 days. 
I can't answer all the questions on the screenshots as there won't be any surprises but yes, you do go into the wormhole and there is some intentional inaccuracy to the Pirate Timer. Once it reaches the skull, it will start flashing and there is a random bit of time where you don't know when they will launch giving everyone a chance to up their bids.