So the one and only time the game froze and bugged out was while completing the feedback form. Seems a shame to not record some thoughts:

First few turns: Whole thing felt a bit lifeless, I bounced off it a couple of times

Middle scenario: So, So good. It manages to find an excellent balance between peril and opportunity and every decision seems to matter

End scenario: From turn 100 onwards I was just mashing end turn and building wonders. Lost a bit of edge and interest.

On polish, I had the turn by turn panic that another empire was going to exert their influence over my cities/outposts, but it wasn't ever particularly clear what the impact was once it had happened - I was still in charge of the place so what does it matter? I was deliberately not looking on here or digging too deep to understand what was happening, i  wanted to come into this as a tester.

On AI, they seemed incredibly passive, so all the things I did that should have provoked a response just didn't. I made a point of having almost no standing army and just had other empires fawning over me, this needs to change if the game's goijng to provide a challenge and replay chops;