Many people criticize the base game for a repetitive game play and very little to do besides to deal with the spamming missions and to mercilessly kill off the hapless main races, not to speak of the meaningless weapon upgrades. This allows for for some very good scenarios Mass Effect style, where you wander around the galaxy and will try to gather allies for the fight against them. Even then, it is still a risky business, especially if they will be able to tech up and build their specialty ships. (Larger maps will lend to this greatly) Weapon variation is present and will mean a lot when dealing with enemies as they have weaknesses for certain damage types. Too many rockets? Feel free to use EMP or remote mines to clear them. Thermal resistant hordes? Not a problem, they die to kinetic weapons easily. Missiles are useless and slow? Get fighters and swarm your foes. Huge amount of armor? Deploy boarding marines who will gut the ships from within. Invasions are adding further immersion to the game, not allowing players to sit back and rest. Not attending to your nurtured and powerful race can result in spreading infestation, declining economy which stops them being effective in wars or push the empire to the brink of a civil war. Challenges to unlock further races is a nice side activity when you are not aiming for higher levels in the campaign. If you can get this when the sale is on it is even better.
