Looks like an interesting MOO2-esque game, think I will check it out.
Question: Any chance you can allow larger map sizes with more stars and planets? I get annoyed at MoO2 for not letting me do this. I'm the kind of player whose philosophy on 4X map sizes is "the bigger the better". Heck, give us customizable map sizes, I remember SMAC let you make some HUGE maps.