Some observations

[Phoenix-D]

"Quick question, is there a way, or can it be modfied, so that we can customize the keyboard controls?"

Yes. Pres ESC, select the controls option.

"Is there also a way to get the 'cargo' left over from battles to at least show up on the radar? Those things are hard to spot."

Not that I know of. What I do is sit still and crank up the time scale. So the little flashing lights go faster, I notice them quicker.

"And a general question before I go, how does shielding and armor work? Do the shields only work on a particular side, or are the shields cumulative and protect the entire ship, no matter where they are placed (among the shield and armor ports).. i.e. does a shield on the right side protect on the left side too?"

Shields and armor only protect on the side they are on. Look in the lower right corner of your main screen- see the green and yellow bars? That's your shield/armor strength for that quadrent.

"Oh yeah, one more, I notice that there is no difference between weapon strengths of different levels. A level 6 Beam weapon has the same damage rates as a level 1 beam weapon... is this just in the demo?"

Look closer..at the end of the range scale. The way SF handles weapons seems a bit strange, but they do improve.