I know. That's why I am going to give it another go when it's done. However, I felt there were fundamental things in that concept that I didn't like and that made me feel like it was very limited.



And I do like the genre. Star Ruler was one of my very best buys last year.

It seems likely to me that instead of being a hard man to impress you just don't find the genre interesting. Endless space while it does have its issues which you listed it is for me at least a very interesting and somewhat challenging game as was shogun 2. Though of course i could very well be wrong. In any case an Alpha should never be considered the final product, a lot of things tend to change or get balanced.

It's not even in beta, Antiscamp. In most cases, games that are in Alpha are not even revealed to the public. For that reason alone, there's reason to not be impressed if you look at it as an actual game. It's a concept nearing rationalization atm.