This game is clearly a MOO2 remake, from the race customization screen to the way science tree is organized. So what is different? 1) UI: more cluttered than in MOO2, but useable. Some workflows are improved, colonies need more micro. 2) New concepts: a) "infrastructure": the number of building is limited by "infr. level", which makes you waste more time on micro-ing colonies. New "infr. specialization" system is nice, but the absurd part is that because infr.level is the limit most of the time, often a player is forced to use first few specializations to gain extra building slots, thus kind of cancelling both new features b) "exploration": once a star system is visited you learn only the basics about it, you don't even know if a planet there is "rich" or "poor", you need to "explore" further. To me this introduces more micro and more randomness on top of random planet distribution - are you lucky to colonizee the best planet without exploration? or are you lucky to explore (which is slow, not just fly there) the right system? c) new science tree: I like many of the changes. But as a ship design fanatic, I find that in my ISG games I usually have less (than in MOO2) weapons and special systems to pick from d) new spy system: still learning, so far liked the MMO2 one more 3) Missed opportunities: a) Diplomacy is very similar to MOO2, only with more restrictions, e.g. you can't offer a research treaty until a certain level of relationship with another race, so - unlike MOO2 - you are forced to first have a trade treaty, and only then a research treaty and only then can trade techs b) I feel like even "strong" AIs are weak - AI ship designs often suck, AI tech selection is often non-optimal, AI may attack the same star base with the same type of ship 4 times in a row, each time losing a ship. MOO2 was about the same, but in 2020s one can expect to get a good AI in any game - This is still one of the better MOO2 clones, but with a lot of missed opportunities
