Recommend it but i hope they improve it in the future.
Cons:
no real diplomacy between factions. it doesn't matter how much you align with another faction (rebels and humanity first should align fairly closely), they will always be your enemies.
necessitates the need to "protect" your assets. on that point, ai is predictable and will always try and go after any unprotected assets no matter what.
tech is kind of funny. you research for the whole world in 3 slots, but you research for yourself in one (with 2 being unlockable).
the bonuses you get for being #1 for the world unlocks seem low. It's not as if you have a lot of tech to spare for a long long time, and even end game it's not something you can easily raise. why would you help unlock world techs? just let someone else do it.
Also with techs, you have an absurd amount of techs that do very little diff from one another. All the drive techs are mostly garbage with only a few worth getting. I know, realism or something with iterative designs but all that research for something you will probably never use because it's outdated before it even gets used?
ai is keen on space materials and will build them up as soon as possible sometimes leaving you with very little sites left.
the pacing is off atm. the game is set up for a very long sessions. great. but as soon as the alien faction gets a foothold it's basically game over. you can't fight them with their absurd bonuses while also fighting off every other faction.
crashes after space battles randomly.
space battles need a bit of help. no matter the armor ships get blown up in 1-3 missile hits. pd can't keep up with aliens since they fire 3-4 missiles per every one of yours.
ai controlled combat focuses on rotating your ship in whacky orientations making the nose/forward cannons typically doing minimal damage
no automated tier 3 space hub?
space ships and bases can be stolen easily by the enemy factions (how?) this is super frustrating. it doesn't matter if you have marines on them, they can somehow board ships and just make them revolt.
direct investment needs truckloads of money. you can earn something like maybe 20 a day end game. the US will take 181k to max boost (200) 1 category. Like if you max out boost for 1 year you might get an addition .1 boost.
control points put a hard cap on available countries to control. If you go over this, it's basically suicide as you'll starve out of influence which is a critical resource. there are techs to raise it but it's very costly.
antimatter is rough to farm. (as far as i know) you'll want to build a base in low orbit of Jupiter. However, without fail, aliens will always attack it 3 months prior to it being build. It also takes anywhere from 3-5 years to build the base. you need anitmatter to build end game ships. so you have a issue with not being able to build anything to defend the base that creates the stuff you need to build ships with.
there's also an issue with bases that are being build. for example, the base build in low orbit jupiter will have a presence on day 1, meaning aliens can attack it immediately if they want to. this makes no sense. it would make more sense if it was empty until delivered. that way it might be possible to use base defenses to defend a base that's under construction if it's put together fast.
aerobreaking is in i think, but gravity boosts aren't?
early/mid game ships are too slow to intercept aliens orbiting the earth. it'll take weeks to move in the same orbit to intercept. aliens will (for some reason) crash their ship into earth before you make it to them.
no way to cancel orders of ships. If i have an end game ship that can cruise at 2g and i want to intercept an alien ship coming from a distance away, i can intercept them once, then i'm in for a long ride from where they came from. i cannot tell them to redirect to another planet/base.
intercepting in low earth orbit is broken? Can only chase for a small delta v when i have 6k delta v. meaning dodging while bombarding is what the ai does all the time and there's no way to force a fight.
there's no way to refuel i believe? if you use all your delta v chasing someone, you're dead in the water even if you're next to a starbase. no tankers or way to share fuel is awkward.
for all the realism, resources are insta transported? actually, please never change this.
It is a great game to play. xcom married with (insert your favorite grand strategy game here) is a great concept. The fact you can start mining ceres is awesome.

Recommend it but i hope they improve it in the future. Cons: no real diplomacy between factions. it doesn't matter how much you align with another faction (rebels and humanity first should align fairly closely), they will always be your enemies. necessitates the need to "protect" your assets. on that point, ai is predictable and will always try and go after any unprotected assets no matter what. tech is kind of funny. you research for the whole world in 3 slots, but you research for yourself in one (with 2 being unlockable). the bonuses you get for being #1 for the world unlocks seem low. It's not as if you have a lot of tech to spare for a long long time, and even end game it's not something you can easily raise. why would you help unlock world techs? just let someone else do it. Also with techs, you have an absurd amount of techs that do very little diff from one another. All the drive techs are mostly garbage with only a few worth getting. I know, realism or something with iterative designs but all that research for something you will probably never use because it's outdated before it even gets used? ai is keen on space materials and will build them up as soon as possible sometimes leaving you with very little sites left. the pacing is off atm. the game is set up for a very long sessions. great. but as soon as the alien faction gets a foothold it's basically game over. you can't fight them with their absurd bonuses while also fighting off every other faction. crashes after space battles randomly. space battles need a bit of help. no matter the armor ships get blown up in 1-3 missile hits. pd can't keep up with aliens since they fire 3-4 missiles per every one of yours. ai controlled combat focuses on rotating your ship in whacky orientations making the nose/forward cannons typically doing minimal damage no automated tier 3 space hub? space ships and bases can be stolen easily by the enemy factions (how?) this is super frustrating. it doesn't matter if you have marines on them, they can somehow board ships and just make them revolt. direct investment needs truckloads of money. you can earn something like maybe 20 a day end game. the US will take 181k to max boost (200) 1 category. Like if you max out boost for 1 year you might get an addition .1 boost. control points put a hard cap on available countries to control. If you go over this, it's basically suicide as you'll starve out of influence which is a critical resource. there are techs to raise it but it's very costly. antimatter is rough to farm. (as far as i know) you'll want to build a base in low orbit of Jupiter. However, without fail, aliens will always attack it 3 months prior to it being build. It also takes anywhere from 3-5 years to build the base. you need anitmatter to build end game ships. so you have a issue with not being able to build anything to defend the base that creates the stuff you need to build ships with. there's also an issue with bases that are being build. for example, the base build in low orbit jupiter will have a presence on day 1, meaning aliens can attack it immediately if they want to. this makes no sense. it would make more sense if it was empty until delivered. that way it might be possible to use base defenses to defend a base that's under construction if it's put together fast. aerobreaking is in i think, but gravity boosts aren't? early/mid game ships are too slow to intercept aliens orbiting the earth. it'll take weeks to move in the same orbit to intercept. aliens will (for some reason) crash their ship into earth before you make it to them. no way to cancel orders of ships. If i have an end game ship that can cruise at 2g and i want to intercept an alien ship coming from a distance away, i can intercept them once, then i'm in for a long ride from where they came from. i cannot tell them to redirect to another planet/base. intercepting in low earth orbit is broken? Can only chase for a small delta v when i have 6k delta v. meaning dodging while bombarding is what the ai does all the time and there's no way to force a fight. there's no way to refuel i believe? if you use all your delta v chasing someone, you're dead in the water even if you're next to a starbase. no tankers or way to share fuel is awkward. for all the realism, resources are insta transported? actually, please never change this. It is a great game to play. xcom married with (insert your favorite grand strategy game here) is a great concept. The fact you can start mining ceres is awesome.