What Timstone said.
Also, be sure to load the latest patch. It have some sort of skirmish mode in which you can play as one of the minor alien races, if they can be called that.
The campaigns are fine for a while, but eventually you'll get bored. The game is too light compared to SE4.
Plus:
1- Have a megaevil race from the very start. I don't remember their name, but you'll know because you can't used spies on them. When you find them, kill them, or else.
2- Spies were rather cool.
3- Tactical ground combat (though very limited)
4- Pirates!
5- Mercenaries!
Minus:
1- Ship design. You are not free to design a ship as your wicked heart desires. Ships have slots in which you are force to place a single kind of weapon. I.e. Torpedos in the Torpedo slot and bLasters in the bLaster slot, and since your options are limited to torpedo level 1, 2 or 3, you will always chose 3, of course, which make ship design extremely boring.
2- Every system have....one single planet!?
3- No infantry or militias.
4- 5 classes of ships only, each rendering the previous class completely obsolete.
5- No carriers. Fighters just fly alongside the capital ships.
("Captain, I need to piss". "Piss on you pants, lieutenant. No more stops until next month". )
6- No design of fighters.
And many more little details that I don't remember now. In general, the game sux after a couple weeks.
[ April 29, 2004, 14:31: Message edited by: Yef ]