I'd really like to see some gameplay or mechanics before I start getting hyped about it.    Although I do like the devs on it my expectations are pretty tepid overall until I see more. 

Agreed with DangerBay.  We can certainly be optimistic about it, but I would love to see gameplay/mechanics before getting really excited.

The trailer's interesting, glad to see the genre getting new perspectives, even if it's from vets, although judging by Steam page screenshots I'm not so sure it will be direct competition for either Civ or HK.

They have their own testing programme for externals. First round already happened and second one should be coming. From that I can personally say it has a few interesting new takes that keep things pretty interesting - era progression and production system, technology to some extent too. Not all perfect there yet, but if you liked some of the Civ: Colonisation mechanics on a larger scale this could be interesting for you.