Wow, much more fun than Stellaris, the Endless 4x games and the new MoO. Unfortunately it hasn't attracted as much attention as it should from the community.

This is probably the best 4x space game available. What makes it so good?
- Planet build management is not tedious and has an easily seen impact.
- Planet population management is of high importance.
- Research choices have impact when achieved.
- Ships have various slots where you place weapons, shields and other items.
- Space battles are fairly quick and usually fun. Think the graphics, sounds and interaction are a large part of why this is fun.
- Hard difficulty does not give the AI large cheats and is a good challenge. Get a bad starting location on hard and its caused me to restart.
- The developers, with substantial assistance from a modder, have improved the AI in key areas.
- Each race has different advantages and disadvantages. Some are more difficult to succeed with than others.

Areas where the game needs improvement.
- Space battles have a poorly explained user interface. It would be helpful if a tutorial or help screen was added for new players. For example, shift drag will let you drag select a box around multiple ships. Had no clue for the longest time.

In general the game has a good interface where you can do things quickly. You always have something to do which has definite impact. No irritating fluff, just a very focused, fun game which produces a great 4x experience.

Note that this game is still being actively updated by the devs. Also a 2nd DLC is in the works. There is an in_development build available on Steam if you want to get the latest version.