Hey, I just wanted to say thanks.
IMHO, most of the commercial 4x games have been going the wrong direction. I see an emphasis on glitzy looking 3d space battles that are shallow and simplistic in their mechanics. Of the mechanics of worlds and their development being skewed to quickly cranking out those 3d ships for more simple, but admittedly good looking space battles.
I do a little programming myself. So, for the last couple of years I'd been making some notes on and off about what a 4x game I would write would look like. I'd get frustrated with something in one of the recent commercial games, and I'd start writing about what I'd rather do if I started programming.
I think you stole my notes!
I'd played surface naval games, including Harpoon and some WWI and WWII surface combat games, so one of the things I wanted was a combat system more like that. And, I always liked games that had ships "realistically" slow to build. Which makes the ships more valuable and not something to be thrown away in a 3d battle. And I love the system of designing missiles and turrets and the like.
I'm just starting to dive in and figure out some parts of this game. But, I wanted to say thanks. Seems like you are writing the game I've been wanting to play for awhile now.
The good news is that I can focus on another game idea of mine, and not be sidetracked into thinking about a 4x game project. The bad news is the hours I'm sure I'll have a wonderful time wasting playing your game.