This game is a true masterpiece even though it doesn't look awfully good anymore. The biggest difference between Distant Worlds and other space 4x games is that you can automate pretty much the whole game if you want to. This gives you a lot of options on how to play. Want to micromanage almost every little thing? You can! Want to focus on building and governmental choices? Automate all your fleets and military. Want to focus on only fleets? Automate everything else? Want to RP an admiral and only control one fleet? You can and the game will sort everything else out. Want to be a captain and only control one ship? Again it's an option. It does have a very rough learning curve though. So prepare to spend quite a few hours restarting as you learn how the game works.
