Started trying the game out after a long break since the first alpha. Here's my early impressions on the latest build.
A lot of work has been done to increase the content of the game since the alpha. I LOVE the black holes in that they provide a real sort of terrain to the space. I wouldn't mind more such things (Come on interstellar rifts...)
On my first playthrough, I had a crash on clicking Earth's manage button. First thing I did. Other than that, it's been going okay bug wise. There are a few "missing infos" on planet wealth/manufacturing bonuses.
There's seems to be a huge distinction beween "occasional" planets and "common" planets per star. On "occasional" everything, I explored half of a small galaxy and found ZERO habitable planets other than my two starters. Each star had around 0-1 planets, all uninhabitable. On "common" planets and everything else occasional, each planet had 2-4 planets. This gave me around 7 habitable planets in my initial exploration area. The difference here is way too much for one level of increase.
Resources are difficult to get and completely opaque in terms of what they do. When I spend two constructors to get a resource, it's annoying that it doesn't seem to do anything at all. I've seen some posts talking about them being useful later in the game. I'm not sure why this choice was made. If I want to spend (a LOT) on getting the resource in the early game, there should be some early game benefit.... Not something that shows up 200 turns in. Otherwise, do as CIV and make these resources not even visible until you are close to using them.
With starter settings and medium galaxy, I'm not really sure what the AI is doing. I've explored half the galaxy, founded 8 planets... only really saw one survey ship for one of the two AIs. Other than that... Space seems big and empty. It's nice that GalCiv is flexible with its settings, but you can't expect new players to play your game for 3 hours on the default settings before they realize that there isn't any conflict in space at all. You need to guide people towards some reasonable settings for their first time through.
Shipyards need tooltips indicating how sponsors provide bonuses to the manufacturing. I can gather it's half manufacturing of the planet, but it's uncertain how distance plays a role.
I still wish the economy was more transparent. Income per turn should be displayed, as it is critical in avoiding economic meltdown.
I like the designer and tech tree. I like the shipyards.
