Hi,

After 4 games, the last of which was won against 4 Hard AIs, I've jotted down my thoughts on Sins of a Solar Empire for discussion. I'll look forward to being torn apart. Thanks in advance.

1. You've done a great job, guys. The game is fun, and the engine is amazingly stable for a beta--I haven't experienced a single crash (a few apparent bugs, but only minor things, described below).

2. The beta would benefit from some documentation beyond the tutorials--some discussion on the different win conditions would be nice (assuming Beta 2 has win conditions, of course; the win seems to be allocated a bit randomly at the moment).

3. Pirates should be an annoyance/distraction, rather than a serious threat.

4. Cruisers seem to be useless--the cost of capital ships is offset by _not_ having to research cruiser technologies. For cruisers to be useful, they need to be available from the start, just more expensive than frigates. This would also make the early phase more interesting, I think.

5. Given the time-scale of the game (compressed hours or, at most, days), the colonization dynamic seems contrived. I realise it's a game and an abstraction, but I can't help but think that having each of the planets already colonized (neutral nation-states, perhaps?), and then conquering them with troops would feel less contrived, be more involving, and more fun. If players really wanted to destroy a colony completely, the cost would then be that that planet is denied to _all) players. Just my two cents.

6. An additional Food resource could provide an additional weapon to players: sieges/blockades and starvation.

Hope this feedback is useful.

Cheers!
Mark