[Captain Kwok]

Here are some brief answers, I'm far too lazy to go into much more detail.

Which weapons from SEIV made it/didn't make it into the game?

Almost all of them are still in Star Fury, although a few have had their abilities modified.

How many ships are available for the player to use? Which classes?

Most races have a frigate, destroyer, cruiser, battleship, carrier, and a starbase - with several different hull sizes. The hull sizes also vary with race.

How many different races are there?

In the current campaigns, you've got Terrans, Xiati, Fazrah, Abbidon, Amonkrie, and the Sith'rak. Some of them are changed in appearance, but mostly the same.

Is it really open, i.e. can you work for anybody/buy any ship?

Sure. Ships available for purchase will vary depending on location, but most can be bought.

How is the difficulty level?

There are 4 difficulty levels, beg-avg-med-hard. I'd say it's difficult most of the time.

Are there fighters? If yes, how are they controlled?

Yes there are. They are launched and recovered and are computer controlled via your orders. There are also mines too so keep your eyes open!

Any rewards for completing the storyline?

Yes, in the form of money. You also earn experience points from doing most things to put towards improving your ship, like repair or offensive skill etc.

How big is the universe? Is it randomly-generated or fixed?

It's fixed based on the campaign, the largest campaign at this time has 80ish systems...but I'm sure lots more than that can be added.

Is trading a venerable way of raising cash a'la Elite, or is it just a minor feature like in, for example, freelancer?

There is no real trading, but you can make good money performing cargo runs, hunting pirates or being a pirate, and collecting components from destroyed ships and selling them at the spaceport.

And finally, seeing that it is in 3D...how easy is it to mod? Again mostly text files, or is it more complicated this time?

I'd say some of the files are more difficult then your regular SE:IV, and those are usually ship related files that need to correspond to each other so it's a bit easier to make errors. All the files are text files though, that's good.