[douglas]

MoO3 was a disaster, I'll grant you that, but I very much doubt the same thing will happen to SEV. MoO3 wasn't even developed by the same company as MoO1 and 2, much less the same people, and went through many major design changes. It also suffered from a lack of dedication to making a truly good game in the face of pressure to get it out the door quickly so the publisher could make money. SEV is being developed by exactly the same person who made all the previous Space Empires games, is not going through frequent radical revisions to the basic design, and Aaron has a history of delaying release to make the game better and then sticking around and improving it for years afterwards. Even right now, the beta test has started and quite a number of the beta testers are forum regulars who have expressed some concern over the issue in the past. If the consensus is that the realtime combat engine sucks, you can depend on it that Aaron will keep working on it and improving it, taking suggestions from every fan who cares to give one, until it's great. You should at the very least give the demo a try when it comes out.