A great space combat sim with incredible scale and replayability, waiting on major changes to achieve its full vision.

Pros:

-Scale.

A typical max intensity battle will feature 100+ ships fighting over a space station. Everything from single-man interceptors to enormous, 2km+ capital ships, all player controllable brawling in space. Additionally, every planet is landable assuming it isn't a gas giant. There are no loading screens in game. You can fly seamlessly between space and ground. And not like in Elite Dangerous. There isn't even a 5 second hitch where you "drop out" of warp. If you were flying in normal flight (not warp), at multiple KM/S, entering atmosphere, a ship sitting still would see your ship approaching and could fire missiles at you, however unlikely they are to hit. There are no reference frames or instances, which makes planetary entry and exit really refreshing and beautiful to watch.

-Visuals.

Battles are beautiful, simply put. Watch any gameplay and you'll see. Tracers of cannonfire, blaster bolts, and capital ships melting down make for a beautiful lightshow.

-Combat.

Very tight, controls are responsive, and unlike other games (Elite), there is no speed cap. Everything feels reactive and you genuinely feel like you're in the cockpit. In a bomber, my favorite thing to do is line up a capital ship at 30-50 km, begin accelerating, and release torpedoes while moving at 2 km/s. Gives the anti-torpedo countermeasures no time to react to the ridiculously fast torpedoes.

Fighter gameplay is a blast. Gimballed weapons allow for some assist, but you can't rely on it. A better pilot will win every fight. Cheese strategies are practically nonexistent. Missiles are useful but a pilot who knows how to use countermeasures will rarely suffer a hit.

I use a HOTAS, but I know people who play on mouse and keyboard, and they do just fine.

-Customization.

You can fit any ship any way you want it, within that ship's size constraints. You can create an all rail-gun interceptor for sniping unshielded targets, or mount a mix of blasters and kinetic weapons for a balanced approach. My bomber build go-to is all EMP missiles to take down shields, with a larger storage of torpedoes. Every module has mass and will affect performance. My corvette build is covered entirely in flak cannons for point defence to cover against small ships, but it's heavy as can be and handles like a soap bar on ice. This customization extends up to capital ships as well.

-Developers.

The devs are great, simply put. Very receptive to feedback and communicative. They keep everyone updated on their work as openly as they can and join in for games frequently. They're also very good at their own game, which is always a good sign. Not good when the devs won't play their own game.

Cons

-Playerbase.

This is a limited "con". Currently the player count is tiny. Like 1-2 players online small. The other day 19 players were online and that was a huge event. If you want to fight exclusively against other players, it won't happen at the current timeframe. The good thing is every battle is populated with AI of varying skill. The AI will give you a good challenge depending on rank, with the best ones able to outmaneuver me at nearly every step, and the worst ones barely able to drop countermeasures to save their lives.

This is currently being mitigated by weekly Squad-Up events, whereby a good number of players will join a server to boost its population and battle it out, so you can experience higher player counts regularly.

-Game flow

This is the next big checkbox of development per the devs. Currently, every battle plays out the same. An objective is chosen by the AI commander, and after a minute or two of prep, two fleets warp in to that station/factory to duke it out. There is no form to the battles. Just two gigantic masses of ships that crash into each other and blow each other to pieces for 20-30 minutes. It feels a lot like some star wars space battles, which is cinematic, but the goal is to have some more structure in these battles, whereby actual strategy is used. Hopefully this will be ironed out in the coming months. Despite this, the replayability is still good. Just would be so much higher once this is polished.

A great space combat sim with incredible scale and replayability, waiting on major changes to achieve its full vision. Pros: -Scale. A typical max intensity battle will feature 100+ ships fighting over a space station. Everything from single-man interceptors to enormous, 2km+ capital ships, all player controllable brawling in space. Additionally, every planet is landable assuming it isn't a gas giant. There are no loading screens in game. You can fly seamlessly between space and ground. And not like in Elite Dangerous. There isn't even a 5 second hitch where you "drop out" of warp. If you were flying in normal flight (not warp), at multiple KM/S, entering atmosphere, a ship sitting still would see your ship approaching and could fire missiles at you, however unlikely they are to hit. There are no reference frames or instances, which makes planetary entry and exit really refreshing and beautiful to watch. -Visuals. Battles are beautiful, simply put. Watch any gameplay and you'll see. Tracers of cannonfire, blaster bolts, and capital ships melting down make for a beautiful lightshow. -Combat. Very tight, controls are responsive, and unlike other games (Elite), there is no speed cap. Everything feels reactive and you genuinely feel like you're in the cockpit. In a bomber, my favorite thing to do is line up a capital ship at 30-50 km, begin accelerating, and release torpedoes while moving at 2 km/s. Gives the anti-torpedo countermeasures no time to react to the ridiculously fast torpedoes. Fighter gameplay is a blast. Gimballed weapons allow for some assist, but you can't rely on it. A better pilot will win every fight. Cheese strategies are practically nonexistent. Missiles are useful but a pilot who knows how to use countermeasures will rarely suffer a hit. I use a HOTAS, but I know people who play on mouse and keyboard, and they do just fine. -Customization. You can fit any ship any way you want it, within that ship's size constraints. You can create an all rail-gun interceptor for sniping unshielded targets, or mount a mix of blasters and kinetic weapons for a balanced approach. My bomber build go-to is all EMP missiles to take down shields, with a larger storage of torpedoes. Every module has mass and will affect performance. My corvette build is covered entirely in flak cannons for point defence to cover against small ships, but it's heavy as can be and handles like a soap bar on ice. This customization extends up to capital ships as well. -Developers. The devs are great, simply put. Very receptive to feedback and communicative. They keep everyone updated on their work as openly as they can and join in for games frequently. They're also very good at their own game, which is always a good sign. Not good when the devs won't play their own game. Cons -Playerbase. This is a limited "con". Currently the player count is tiny. Like 1-2 players online small. The other day 19 players were online and that was a huge event. If you want to fight exclusively against other players, it won't happen at the current timeframe. The good thing is every battle is populated with AI of varying skill. The AI will give you a good challenge depending on rank, with the best ones able to outmaneuver me at nearly every step, and the worst ones barely able to drop countermeasures to save their lives. This is currently being mitigated by weekly Squad-Up events, whereby a good number of players will join a server to boost its population and battle it out, so you can experience higher player counts regularly. -Game flow This is the next big checkbox of development per the devs. Currently, every battle plays out the same. An objective is chosen by the AI commander, and after a minute or two of prep, two fleets warp in to that station/factory to duke it out. There is no form to the battles. Just two gigantic masses of ships that crash into each other and blow each other to pieces for 20-30 minutes. It feels a lot like some star wars space battles, which is cinematic, but the goal is to have some more structure in these battles, whereby actual strategy is used. Hopefully this will be ironed out in the coming months. Despite this, the replayability is still good. Just would be so much higher once this is polished.