So i guess i'm a total freakin noob at this game, but i can appreciate what you're trying to do.
My last RTS i'm playing is SupCom: Forged Aliance, and i'm beating cheater AI's, so that's no fun.

Yet this game, on easy, seems to hand my ass to me. Okay so i need to get a feel for it, develop strategies, plot what tech to upgrade first. Decide to fortify of expand.

i played an easy game being TEC, and actually won my 2nd game, after 7 hours.
Now i'm playing Vasari, which seems a nice faction for me. I can get a decent economy up, i read that they have strong ships (haven't noticed myself though ).

So i lost about 4 games. Thought it would help me to noob out and play a 3 player map with one player as my ally. all on easy difficulty.
Lost another 4 games
This is starting to frustrate me very fast. Okay i'm noob, but i'dd like to think i can strategize a bit too. Yet what you can't strategize against, is if you're just beginning the game, upgrade here and there, a ship here and there, and you see your allie with 20-30 ships
So, on an easy difficulty the AI still seems to outbuild, out resource, out colonize me.
Is that the definition on easy??
Easy is to learn the game mechanics and best route to victory, so you can take on harder opponents. Yet also on easy, even with an ally, and with pirates attacking my (our) sole enemy, he still manages to have the dreaded 20+ siege frigate attack spam?
Ow, did i mention i was playing on easy difficulty?

Sorry, but i just had to write that off of me.
If a game isn't perceived as fun (and yes, i'm willing to give this time and multiple tries, and i know it's a 4X (??) type game)
than it will be dropped and/or get a bad rep to the point that this product isn't well supported(funded), which would be terrible since i find your active participating in forum + community very refreshing let alone AWESOME!

Now on to some things i've noticed.
That ally of mine let's me do quests to keep up allegiance. Okay, i can dig that.
Yet the quests he gives me are far from do-able in an early stage.
How can i destroy 10 enemy ships when i don't even have a fleet.
Destroy 6 civilian ships? Sure, but what if that enemy doesn't have a trade port or refinery? How am i supposed to get to 6?
Also, the quest is either do or die. It can't be bargained with. It can't be paid off.

What are those "give resource" buttons doing there than?
Sure, my ally says thanx, but it doesn't seem to do ANYTHING, other than display a thank you message.

Can't i at least buy off part of my quest? How about give resources for a lower penalty?
Why can't my allegiance go up if i donate materials?

i very much like that i can buy my way out of a pirate attack, but why can't i be that corporate power that let's my ally do my dirty work for me. Now i'm only the heel for my ally in stead of paying him to run errands. I'dd like to be an economic force that can (at least for a period of time) throw money in my enemies and allies faces alike, and tell them to fuck off with their quests. At least something other than being someone's dog and lose allegiance over it.


Pardon me if there's some poor grammar or other language mistakes, English is not my native language. Further, i hope i get some building criticism other then nothing but flames.

GreetZ.