Yeah, I know there are probably other threads where I could say "wow, great game", but I wanted my own

Seriously though, this game is spectacular. I was extremely unsure about getting it because click-fest RTS games don't hold the same interest for me (there are some I enjoy, but they aren't my favorit) as games like GalCiv2. I ended up purchasing it because I decided that the space battles looked awesome (Babylon 5 anyone? heh) and I figured if SD was involved then it'd be worth it

Anyway, I got hammered in my first game and definitely felt overwhelmed, not with the pace but with a lack of knowledge of "effective first steps". The tutorials don't cover that and without a campaign that introduces you to some basic strategies, well, it can certainly seem like Pirates or the Siege spam are overwhelming.

Then I saw the post (now stickied) about some starting strategies and the game opened up for me. I survived in a metal-poor, out-economied my opponent, crushed the pirate raids (hell, that can be awfully easy even if you just have two hangers w/ bombers in it) and then took over the map (small, 9 planets I believe). Of course it was 3:30am (and 3 hours after I'd started), but so what, it was a blast!

Sadly there are probably a lot of people who don't read the forums or didn't see that post and will be frustrated because they aren't sure how to get started. Hopefully they will at least get updates, so my suggestion is to provide at least a tutorial mission that helps you set up some proper defenses, then lets you play out a couple Pirate and/or Siege attacks.

Great job IC and SD on delivering a thoughtful and immensely fun real time 4x game