First play through playing with Sophons.  Score victory after 126 turns on normal level.

First off, really enjoyed the game.  Pacing felt good for single player.   Watched all the space battles and enjoyed them.  Interesting point on this, my wife thought they were a bit tame.  Then I realised that you could hit the increase speed button.  This put a faster slant on the games battles which I thought was an excellent option to have in battle viewer.

Artwork is top notch and want more of it in the game.  

Menu systems in the game.

Would like to see empire screen management more like endless legend.  Needs to display coherent information on one screen.   Show minor races in your empire.  A list of the best star system that you have explored but not colonised would be useful.  A button that shows where all the best discovered resource systems are. 

Technology screen

One forum member wrote in a post that it looked a little off.  I have thought about this and think it is the square presentation of the techs available.  Endless legend used circles, which is a lot softer on the eyes.  Both are functional so this is just a visual preference.  Would like to see techs that have been researched removed from the list and placed in the top bar.  This would make it very easy to see at a glance what is left to research.

Ship design screen

Needs something more.  Visually uninspiring and not very immersive as it is now.  I would like to see the shipyard concept used.  The artwork on the start up screen shows a shipyard with a Sophon ship.  Its a fantastic design that would look great in the game.  Also I noticed that when upgrading hero ships the only item not shown is how much dust you have available.  I had to keep exiting out to see my dust amount.

Hero screen

Good but could be refined to put all information on the screen.  Hero portrait could be bigger as they look so good.  Hero ships and skill upgrades on the same screen.  To much clicking on the mouse button.

Quest screen

No real problems here.

Diplomacy screen

Needs to display all treaty terms and how long they have to run for.  More explanation for contracts and there implications.  Ability to send envoys to other empires.  This would give diplomatic incentives and ease negotiations.  Removing an envoy would be a sign of distrust or non agreement with empire policy.  Also could expand diplomatic options.

Minor items noticed in play through

At the completion of combat the screen message (draw, victory or loss) come up a few seconds to soon.  The camera needs to centre itself on the last ship to explode.  I watched as my fleet strafed a Ark only to miss out on what ought to have been a huge explosion.  Take a look at Homeworld 2 rem and see how a mother ship explodes.  It conveys the enormity of a giant super ship breaking up in deep space.

Also the Ark engine sound was non existent.  This is a huge ship with massive engines.  When the camera focuses on this ship we need to hear those fantastic engine sounds.

Overall presentation is top notch and feel the game is right were it wants to be.  Lots of room for improvement and suggestions from all fans.

As a single player I want to see less matching up with multiplayer side of the game.  I like to play epic large map battles that take days to complete.  Not all that interested in a fair play set up, want to have full customisation options.  More the better.  Would like to set up a race that is 20% established and they start on the outer rim of a huge galaxy.  Ability to set status as civil war on an empire.  Or be an empire that is recovering from a cataclysmic event.  An empire far away has been testing a hydrogen collider and has destroyed a sun taking out a complete star system.  Do you seek revenge, send an envoy to seek terms.  Single player game are vastly different to online play requirements.  I think single player gameplay has played a back seat with most game developers opting for a sublime mediocre compromise.  Lets make this game playable for both types of gamers.

Great game love what amplitude has brought to the 4X table.