The idea of a 'real' galaxy to play in is good and gives the game a nice sense of scope. Could run more smoothly tho'
What I like about this game is that you can play it at your own pace. If you want to sit back and tend to your empire you can do that, but if you want to explore and meet new races you can do that as well. I'm a bit of a trekkie and I really like the idea of flying to new stars a meeting other friendly or hostile races - which there are loads of in this game.
In terms of tech tree I think it is nice idea that you are completely free to chose what tech direction you want to go, but to get to some of the weapons tech you are still forced to research some weapon types you really dont have the need for at that point in the game which is a bit lame.
Diplomacy is fine, but can be a bit confusing at first. To start out I didn't get the idea that the more your different stats align with the other races, the more friendly the become. However it's starting to make sense now and I like the fact that you don't simply spam a diplomacy button turn after turn, but that you have to think in more broader terms. I also like that some Major races might simply be too different to be within diplomatic reach – and in that case you must choose to either avoid them or kill them off
Another cool thing is the Galaxy generator. There is a big difference between a game with 5000 stars and a game with 150 stars. Right now I'm playing on maps with 300 stars or less and although i like the exploration that comes with bigger systems, the small maps have a certain intimacy and fast pace that comes from the fact that you know every other player is just around the corner and that every turn counts. It's a completely different experiece compared with the bigger maps and something I really look forward to play in multi player. A funny thing is that there already is a new generator made by the community which I have to check out :-D
All in all I think this is a nice game with a nice mood (and music). It could be nicer with fewer bugs, but I expect these to be fixed in the upcomming patch.