Combat-oriented 4x experience. Game is about designing ships and bringing them to RTS-styled battles.
More than 3 hundred techs in the tech tree. You are only guaranteed to get small portion of core techs. Chances to get everything else depend on chosen faction.
Different modes of FTL travel for each of six playable factions. Ships have different amounts of weapon slots and hitpoints, and different fire arcs depending on a faction.
Very well balanced (though you see it only after a few games).