Overall, it seems like I hit my target with the demo:
A balance between enough to show it off, but not enough to spoil it
a few quick replies:
- you generally can't install anything during combat. you need to be safe to do that.
- there are better versions of *everything*. CD 25 cloak, warp drive range 10, weapon damage 500, sensors range 7, etc.
- there are a lot of mechanics in place to (gently?) drive the player deeper into space: two of the major ones are "1 quest per sector" and "loot doesn't re-spawn". But I bet the dedicated player could last quite a while by trading in the demo...
- each kind of component goes into a specific slot (engines, shields, small weapons, large weapons, etc.) "devices" (things that have lots of different effects) all go into generic 'device' slots. But the total # of devices (and weapons) you can equip is determined by your reactor.
- time does not pass at stations. you must act!
Hint: if you kill all the monsters on a given planet, new ones will respawn the next time you visit, giving you something to do (and XP for your officers if you assign them to the away team!)