Since the core game is coming along well, I thought to write a comment on a cosmetic issue that I feel still needs some work - explosions. Explosion and weapon effects are really important to give a game that feel of battle and immersion. Think of the feeling one gets when watching spaceships blowing up in Homeworld/Sins of a Solar Empire or tanks blowing up in Company of Heroes.

The explosion effects in AOTS have definitely improved over time but I feel that they are still too slow and lack that sense of a real explosion. Unit explosion effects look like gently expanding circular clouds, and missile explosions are slow as well. Explosion effects for the buildings are better, especially that bright flash. I think that either speeding up the unit and missile explosion animation and adding more of a flash/fireball effect would help. And it would good to have more complex explosions for dreadnoughts. A good recent example of explosion effects would be Homeworld: Deserts of Karak. The explosion effects there really capture that feel of heavy weapon impacts.

Given the massive number of units in AOTS, I understand that it would be challenging to have explosion/destruction effects as detailed as those in smaller games. But I feel that some minor improvements can be made to the explosion effects to convey more of that feeling of a real war going on.