From what I played, this is a very solid game even at this stage. I was impressed with the scale of the whole thing, despite the limited area of movement (see below). The thing that impressed me the most was not that there was one outstanding feature that I haven't seen in an RTS before, but the fact that the developers took so many features (though simplified from classic 4X games) and seamlessly combined it into one game. Hell, if there a ground component, this game could be the epitome of what a futuristic empire building game should be.

Now, I want to stress that the ideas below are not demands, but rather suggestions and a collection of thoughts that I wrote down as I played the demo:


I. Interface
1. Move should be more refined. I hate to say it, but like Homeworld 2, where you can drag out the path before execution so you know exactly where you are going. This really helps in moving a ship on the Z axis.

2. Be able to turn the interface off with a hotkey and do basic things like moving ships and such without the fixed UI. I can't tell you how soothing it feels to look at the game as if it were a cinematic.

II. Hyperspace
1. Stopping it. There should a button where you are able to disable your ship's hyperspace engine, whether it is in mid transit or to prevent it from using the engine. If selected, ships should be able to transit the map on sublight alone. Of course, this is best used as a game option.

2. We should be able to wage war outside of gravity wells, I just don't see what is wrong with it other than it messes up the "Last Flagship standing" option by virtue of "Battlestar Galactica syndrome" (Thereby hiding in intersteller space for weeks and months).

3. There should be an option to engage hyperspace outside of the normal travel lanes. While this likely upsets the balance of the game, this can be resolved by the likelihood of something like asteroids smacking into ships and damaging or destroying them; so over the long run, doing so may not be desirable. However, this can be used to create odd grav-well entry tactics to surprise your opponents. Merchant ships should still use the phase lanes because of the safety.

4. Explore the possiblities of interdictors: ships that prohibit hyperspace outside the well. This would be an excellent ship for pirates and opponents alike late game.

III. Warplan editor

A console like input where you pick what steps your fleet will take once it exits hyperspace. IE, you could tell to focus on space supremacy and stick togethor, or defend colonizing ships, or what conditions to excercise a retreat, and even what objectives to fulfil. It would be cool if we could name and save these plans. This would make the player feel much more like a supreme commander and having subordinate commands under him or her. Of course, you can always select ships and have them deviate from the plan, but they should go back after they have complete it.

IV. Terrestial Invasion

There should be a ship to invade a planet and take it with most of its population and infrastructure. Of course, this ship would need to linger close above the planet to do so to simulate landing and supporting troops. If this ship departs, it should be able to depart for a short time while the landed armies slowly lose. Defending capital ships should be able to bombard enemy troops on its own planets with very slight infrastructure damages.

V. Bounty Hunter Console

Be able to create specific jobs to "wack" certain entities like capital ships, facilities, etc and keep track of them (ie: adding rewards, canceling jobs). Give random names to bounty hunters to give them individuality and personality through differing AI; make them use methods like stealth, blasting through, etc.

VI. Civil Protection:

1. Cops:
Buildable ships from trade ports that are armed and patrol the trade routes. Should take the same routes that trade ships take and engage the random pirate. Should flee from conventional enemy forces.

2. Standard Warships:
Give an option for them to patrol friendly phase lanes looking for trouble. This is an excellent activity for the fleet in peacetime.

VII. Pirates:
1. Bases
Should spawn in off grav-well locations or remote systems as bases of operations for pirates. Should be the place where pirates spawn from.

2. Capture:
Pirates should capture merchant ships and convert them armed ships to prey on other merchant ships and to gain cash to buy more armed ships.

VIII. Other Suggestions:

1. Moons that slowly orbit around the planet and are colonizable.
2. Setting up space stations inside and outside grav wells to serve as bases and trade hubs. Should have a payable option to set up a trade lane to it.
3.