I bought GalCiv and was expecting a 3d version of that basically, which is largely what I found ..

However I was dissapointed with a few things:

1. Diplomacy is poor. Poor to the point of not being bothered with it. One of the reasons I loathe Total War games is because, in effect, you are always at war to the bitter death with everyone.

For me, I think its vital that there are several different paths to glory in a RTS/4x game. Its just not much fun to have to wipe everyone off the map ASAP. Sometimes, I want to roleplay a faction. Scratch that, I always roleplay my games to some extent. Otherwise where is the fun in being a human calculator playing with a spreadsheet? I want to play as a pacifistic trade empire as well as the all too generic kill, conquer, destroy..

Please fix that! At the very least make factions neutral and likely to honor an alliance if it is well tended. I like playing as a good guy .. loaning hardware and cash and defending my 'special friends' interests. Just as in real life; imagine the scenario in space. There will be like minded factions who form bonds.

2. Another massive gripe is something carried over from GalCiv, namely the fact in order to win you have to absolutely, irrevocably exterminate every last element of your adversary. I find that both utterly, mind numbingly tedious and incredibly boring. Any chance of more relaxed victory conditions?! What about 'protectorates', 'unions', 'conglomerates' etc. With inevtiable civil unrest, terrorsit atrocities, subterfuge, seperatist groups  etc.

3. It would be nice if diplomacy included the ability to form conglomerates, non aggression pacts, territory agreements, mutual defence etc. Also to have joint expeditions against pirates or other factions and to allow some inter-faction training and exchange of technology. I want to be immersed in the game, not just mess with micro management.

4. Planet assaults involving no troops is dull .. I really think you should consider bringing back the neccessity to 'occupy' a planet with a garrison. I would also love to see a half decent 3d planetary assault. In reality, I wouldn't have to kill every last living creature on the planet to occupy it. How about having planetary assaults conducted as campaigns? With your troops having general staff who gain tactical experience? Like a 40k scenario, where a Warmaster leads a Crusade into a star system ..

5. The game stops short of being truly 'Epic' by the over emphasis on micro management. It would be sooo much more fun to have vast  beurocratic infrastructures building up over time, where you have a pool of 'planetary governors', which characterstics, specific skills etc. I don't know if you ever played Fragile Allegiance but that was done very well. I like the idea of civil wars and/or having highly efficient government in place that I don't need to monitor constantly ..

All in all, SOASE does the RTS bit well enough, but the rest of it could be fleshed out so much more.