Perhaps the most conflicted I've ever felt about a game. I really wish they have an "Eeeeeeeeeeh" rating. I haven't played DW:Universe (the previous game) so my perspective is relatively fresh.

Pros:
*Tons of fun designing ships and determining fleet doctrine. There's so many weapon paths you could conceivably play 20 games and never use exactly the same trees.
*Excellent in game wiki that explains most concepts (although some are missing).
*Highly customizable automation interface. You can rule in absentia in this game, and that is hilarious.
*You really feel like you're managing a huge empire with dozens of science and construction ships, which the civilian economy and their ships really reinforce. I like to stress this point, because this is really where the game's advantages over, say, Stellaris lie. By the time I reached 1/10th of all galactic territory, I had more government ships than an entire galaxy in Stellaris, and my Civillians were legion.
*I like the pirates. No real reason, I just think they're funny. Giving them military refueling and putting them in contact with all my enemies, then watching their reputations drop as their ships raid the heck outa them will never cease to amuse me.

Cons:
*The automation AI can sometimes be remarkably stupid. Please stop loading temperate species colonists onto the ships bound for ice worlds. This nearly bankrupted my empire before I could fix it.
*The automation AI sometimes overrides you decisions and make bad decisions as a result. STOP BUILDING BARRACKS, I ONLY NEED 1 TYPE NOT EVERY SINGLE ONE.
*The game is laggy and prone to crashes. Really laggy. The research screen is somehow the laggiest thing of them all, and it's not even rendering 500 civilian ships! I've only crashed a couple times, but good grief.
*Diplomacy needs a real rework. I can be 400k score positive in a war with an empire and blockading all their planets, and they won't sign anything more valuable than "White peace and we give you some tech". Frankly, foolish reptile, if I weren't a democracy I'd be bombarding your planets into extinction. They really need an option of " Cede these systems and the stations therein to us". I'd have taken "You're my tributary now"!

If you love 4x games and have a PC designed to fistfight God, buy now and work through the bugs. If you're still interested, give it 3 months and come back. If you despise jank in all it's forms, yeah maybe don't.

Perhaps the most conflicted I've ever felt about a game. I really wish they have an "Eeeeeeeeeeh" rating. I haven't played DW:Universe (the previous game) so my perspective is relatively fresh. Pros: *Tons of fun designing ships and determining fleet doctrine. There's so many weapon paths you could conceivably play 20 games and never use exactly the same trees. *Excellent in game wiki that explains most concepts (although some are missing). *Highly customizable automation interface. You can rule in absentia in this game, and that is hilarious. *You really feel like you're managing a huge empire with dozens of science and construction ships, which the civilian economy and their ships really reinforce. I like to stress this point, because this is really where the game's advantages over, say, Stellaris lie. By the time I reached 1/10th of all galactic territory, I had more government ships than an entire galaxy in Stellaris, and my Civillians were legion. *I like the pirates. No real reason, I just think they're funny. Giving them military refueling and putting them in contact with all my enemies, then watching their reputations drop as their ships raid the heck outa them will never cease to amuse me. Cons: *The automation AI can sometimes be remarkably stupid. Please stop loading temperate species colonists onto the ships bound for ice worlds. This nearly bankrupted my empire before I could fix it. *The automation AI sometimes overrides you decisions and make bad decisions as a result. STOP BUILDING BARRACKS, I ONLY NEED 1 TYPE NOT EVERY SINGLE ONE. *The game is laggy and prone to crashes. Really laggy. The research screen is somehow the laggiest thing of them all, and it's not even rendering 500 civilian ships! I've only crashed a couple times, but good grief. *Diplomacy needs a real rework. I can be 400k score positive in a war with an empire and blockading all their planets, and they won't sign anything more valuable than "White peace and we give you some tech". Frankly, foolish reptile, if I weren't a democracy I'd be bombarding your planets into extinction. They really need an option of " Cede these systems and the stations therein to us". I'd have taken "You're my tributary now"! If you love 4x games and have a PC designed to fistfight God, buy now and work through the bugs. If you're still interested, give it 3 months and come back. If you despise jank in all it's forms, yeah maybe don't.