Hi just finished a game in the Beginner setup and here are the problems I faced and my thoughts on them:

- Number of Probes on ship: you can only see them when you are in space, not while building or choose a fitting

- Old problem form ES1 :  Ship repair, ships should auto repair even if little and repair costs are far too high not fun having fleets stopped

- Ship decommission you don't get dust from scarping ships you should get some

- In ES1 you could produce Dust/Tech on systems which I find useful now you can produce nothing (better than EL) but still not fun

- Concise information, I have played both ES1 and EL and still have trouble understanding you: "+25% Defense Modules damage reduction on Ships" which I read as +25% Efficiency on Defense modules but it is not clear, "Flotilla Damage +12%" there is an obscure mention to flotillas on the manual and another on battle reinforcements but that as well the Battle Mechanics (Which again I am counting on been like ES1 eg. Shields protect against energy) are not explained at all. I run into couple of icons I never saw before and are not explained on the manual and because of the way they are displayed i cannot mouse over them and there is more and lack of good info was always the biggest problem I had playing your games.

- Battles have too little interaction on ES1 you could change cards mid-battle here all you can do is cheer, the battle camera sucks it do not give you an overall view as in ES1 too focused on individual ships, one of the things some friends of mine didn't like in ES1 was the battles as being too boring, ES2 is far worst in that regard. 

- Planet production I am supposing that every planet has a fixed amount of FIDSI and each pop gives +1 to FIDS modified buy its race, but again I am guessing it was far easier to see it on ES1 (each pop gives X)

- Quest rewards due to the way they are displayed you cannot mouse over specifics and again lack on information

- Elections seem too random parties come out of the blue and carry the election too easily

- The UI and Color paletes are too soft

- End of turn events keep popping up as you try to solve them annoying

Overall I think the game is Ok and I like the new exploration mechanics a lot. 

Now I say the game is OK I fell like its something missing some difference to make it better and to stand out.

I hope you find it so that the game becames Fantastic.