I tried out a test game (1v1 small, normal AI - I wasn't trying to win quickly) to see how the new stuff functioned.  I was Advent against TEC.  May I first point out though that there were no crashes at all in over 2 hours of playing. 

Here are my main points:

1.  Auto-deployment of mines should be turned off automatically (you have to turn off manually) otherwise they just get deployed on the edge of the grav well as soon as the ships arrive, which is useless.  Its an absolute pain, because you can't change this setting unless you select an undeployed squadron, which is often impossible since it is instantly deploying if there are any ships in the grav well, regardless of where the ships in question are.  Basically it should be off automatically instead of on automatically.

2.  (This has already been mentioned I think) The deep space constructor should be able to place the starbase where you want it rather than building where it is immediately you press the button (ie be placed in the same way you place buildings)

3.  This maybe slightly aesthetic, but in the empire tree, can mine squadrons be seperated even when other ships etc are grouped?  It would make deployment of mines much easier in large fleet actions.

4.  A minor bug - when I took ships to a planet I didn't own, it disappeared from the empire tree as soon as I deselected the ships, so I had to go over there manually to click on one, whereupon it reappeared.

5.  Can mines be set to return to original positions if their target is destroyed before they detonate?  Enemy scouts kept making mincemeat of my mine formations simply by flying through them.

6.  Advent mines should have even lower life (such as 50