I've made this comment before and I still beleive it holds true. SE5 is orientated toward modding, rather then playing. It's a "dream come true" for all the modders out there and a "nightmare" for players. Overall, SE5 is NOT as well balanced on both sides as was SE4!!!
The game is playable, but not as playable as SE4. The game is easliy moddable as most of the text file structure is still intact from SE4. The 3D graphics have required new picture files which lost us some great ship sets. The GUI is all but smooth! It needs a lot of work and some total overhaul in areas.
If you want to make the complexity level of a game better, you don't have to have "glitter and glitz" to do it. KISS
is the key word here!