[God Emperor]

Kagetora,
Just as a note; none of the mods in mod pack or my mods (ResearchDesign or Klingons, Romulans, Shadows, etc) actually give the AI an advantage. All they do is better optimise the way in which the AI operates - eg equips ships, does its research, reacts to political overtures, etc.

Now you can argue (with some justification perhaps) that this means that the game wasnt fully complete, but, the game architecture is far beyond any other game I have played.
Also, the willingness to undertake patches clearly demonstrates Aarons committment to the game.

The main thrust of my comment here is that the game should not be written off and assigned to the dustbin - any comments you make in this direction are unfounded.

I believe that you should limit your comments to the lack of TCP/IP support (which I would like to see at some point too) - most of your other comments reflect a lack of play experience with the game or the mods that are available for it, and appreciation of what has been done to date.

As a final comment, I too was reading the forum prior to the games release and noted the cries from people to have the game released as soon as possible, in whatever shape is was. I believe that Aaron responded to these demands to some extent and this made me wary initially of purchasing the game - I didnt actually order a copy until the second patch was released around Christmas time and I was able to assess peoples feedback in the forum.

Since I received my copy though, I have greatly enjoyed the game and many of the mods, despite some issues, and have not touched another game since.
For me (a very picky gamer), this places the game in the same Category as MOO2 and Civilisation in the addictiveness stakes.

As I said earlier, feel free to give your opinion regarding TCP/IP (in a non-imflammatory manner), but, dont cane the whole game - particularly if you havent experienced all of its potential (via mods, PBEM, etc).