A little trouble getting the game to start but a check on the forum at Paradox took care of the problem.
The game is a space opera type of game, and can be gigantic in scope.
The 1.08 patch version of the game has just came out to download. In it, there is included nebulae that vary in size, color and number. These nebulae change the stats of your star system and make the game different. The AI was also tightened up to protect its self better along with its Capital. Just one of the ways to have a "Win" condition in the game. The others include Domination, Conquest, Scientific and/or Economic. The Excel 2007 files have been changed to regular Excel files so that the players can mod the game better and easier. I changed the corruption factor distance a little and the number of systems to ease the corruption a bit in the game. The other files that can be changed are *.xml files along perhaps with aspects of the interface. It will take some time to mod files. The Space Battle calcs that took perhaps 9-12 minutes on slower computers when the game first came out have been changed to be less than 20 seconds ( around 800 spaceships in those space battles) and the viewing of the video of the space battles improved. Now, since some space battles can have onwards up to 1200 ships or more in a battle, again the game has been changed and patched for such big battles and memory requirements in the game. The 6 AI players are all different and although there is Diplomacy in the game, it takes some patience and thought to play and bring out the full game even for a Custom Game. The Minor Races can vary in number and included or not in the galaxy creation along with the Immortals. The Story Game includes the Immortals and Minor Races and perhaps siding with one or the other with the Immortals, or being on your own, can mean a difficult game in the end. With a smaller galaxy it can be a shorter game, but with a large galaxy, the game can go on for a long time, a very long long time. Be prepared, for this game can be a very huge game along wtih the Space Battles and Attack Battles. Although more calculated then played, it is played that way to streamline the game, because a player may never get done with the game if it was not. And really which game is not calculated in the end despite any graphics that make it seem not to be? Thus it has a different agenda for the game and streamlines a gigantic galaxy for playing this SpaceTime Game.
In the end, the UI is easy to use, although the scope of the game can be huge, and different galaxies made with the galaxy generator. Although there are different screens that act as buttons for moving right on the main screen to the event that took place, modding some of the files may make it easier to play for such a large star number galaxy. The News is one that could be quite overwhelming at times, although with a little thought when playing the game, the viewscreen also yet can not be any more than what the technology is nowadays. Well, there is always modding some of the files!