I started a game with the vodyani and i am very happy by what i experienced:

-i did not encounter any game breaking bugs or technical issues

-the balance overall was much better (thanks to the reworked modules on the vodyani ark ships and slower tech progression)

-the game feels like it could be released, aside from some minor missing content and text strings

however there are still some issues left:

1) some system development resources that are on a per pop basis are incredibly unbalanced:

+10 dust per pop, +10 influence per pop etc.; they should be +1 or +2 per pop at maximum

2) the game still needs sinks for influence (for non-united empire factions). it has gotten better with this patch but i still ended up with thousands of influence by the mid/end game

2a) suggestion: i would like to see all law slots unlocked the first x - laws cost normal upkeep and x depends on the government type and every law you enact that goes over the x cost additional upkeep,

e.g. the first law in a dictatorship cost normal upkeep (x=1), the second law cost double upkeep, the third law cost triple upkeep and so on;

with a democracy the first three laws cost normal upkeep (x=3), the fourth cost double upkeep the fifth cost triple upkeep and so on.

3) the vodyani need an ark module that increases the gains from strategic resources (or a system improvement).

other races have planet specialisations and are much less resource starved, especially for the last tier of resources.

4) the triangle of warfare, ship production costs and command cap feel like they could be much better:

preamble:  i played/play on large map and had a couple of wars with the united empire with my shifter  riftborn allies

-fleets feel very small until the mid/end game due to the command point mechanic

-you can produce a ton of ships

==> the result is that war feels like a lot of of skirmishes and overall attrition based instead of a few pivotal battles

4a) suggestion: heroes should add command points to the assigned fleet based on level and skills. this would make that your few high level admirals can command vast fleets.

5) heroes level way too fast as governors and way too slow as admirals (like the opposite in endless space 1). and their skill trees still feel a bit lacklustre and small.

6) ship modules:

-modules that increase weapon damage, e.g. +20% energy weapon damage are almost always worse than simply adding another energy weapon.

-some support modules are hard to justify and should be merged

-beam weapons still feel very underwhelming as you barely ever get to the melee phase. i would change them to medium phase (75%), melee phase (100%).

7) i think vodyani arks should start with one module that gives essence per turn. in the early game the leecher ships are expensive and if you loose it early or don't find a minor race to harvest you early game will be delayed by many turns.

this would make the early game a bit more consistent.

8) this is more of an request: can we please exchange hero ships with racial ships (even if they are worse)? they always look very out of place in my fleets.