Combat is the biggest disappointment in the game. You spend countless turns on researching weapons and ship designs and selecting tactics for your ships (which is a cool option). Only to find that combat is not hands on. While you can watch the ship–to-ship battles in 3D space (which is aesthetically pleasing), you take no part in it at all.

The ship battles are decided before you watch, so you are essentially watching a replay. The ground combat is even less. You don’t even get a graphic representation of ground combat. So combat is basically whoever has the most numbers and the statistical advantage wins.

The best way to describe the combat is to imagine yourself as a commander in chief. You send your forces out with the best equipment and training, and you hope for the best. For a game that gives you so many options for almost every aspect of game-play, the combat system is very unsatisfying. The combat in no way compares to similar games like “Sword of the Stars” or “Sins of a Solar Empire”.

The biggest issues are the interface and the lack of interactive space battles. After investing so much time in designing and creating fleets, you certainly don’t want to be a spectator on the sidelines. You want some control over the battles, you want to make a difference. I recommend this game wholeheartedly, it’s not the best in the genre, but it certainly offers a lot for the money. And with the high level of support (so far) from the developers, it can only get better.