Stabilizing caches is too expensive. Looks like this has already been addressed by others, so I won't wheeze on about it.
I'm not sure what the disconnect so many people are having with the Colossus sprite is. I think it's amazing. Looks old. Looks tough. Looks like a bulk freighter. One of my favorite things about it is actually the turret mounts. They look actually recessed or carved into the hull, while in my opinion too many of the ships look great, but the weapons look like they're just sitting on top. Every place there's a turret on the Colossus, it looks like it's supposed to be there. Like the ship was designed that way.
As much as I hate to admit this, because it feels like I'm asking for my favorite toy to be taken away, I think the Spark (I think that's the name, the little [REDACTED] one with the burst laser) interceptor is OP. A single drover with a carrier skilled officer and two wings of these will completely dominate 3-5 frigates. In fact, most of the time now when fighting smaller fleets I'll just deploy a pair of herons or drovers equipped with them, open up the command screen, sit back and watch all the red indicators disappear into white circles. Two wings of them will destroy most frigates in a single pass or so. It's incredibly satisfying to watch, and I'm certainly going to be fitting an Astral with a full load of them as soon as I get my hands on one.
Since we're talking about carriers, now that I've had the chance to play with them more I don't think I'll have a fleet without one again. In 0.7.2a, I would use carriers to provide escort fighters for ships with poor PD at most. They didn't feel particularly effective no matter how many wings you had, and every wing took up valuable fleet space. Now they are easier to command, feel more effective, and including a carrier in my fleet isn't a huge commitment of my available ship slots. The Drover is a FANTASTIC little ship. With two decent wings and its ship system, you can put a lot of power on the field. It's quick enough to stay out of trouble, and when fitted with 2 x Dual Machine Guns and 2 x Salamanders, is one of the most survivable ships in my fleet.
The new content has been fun too, even if it's obviously just a teaser of things to come. I'm so glad we're getting to the actual content phase of development now. I had a fleet consisting of 3 capitals, 5 cruisers, and 5 destroyers completed wiped by a full blown [REDACTED] [REDACTED] with a max level [REDACTED] commander. That was a surprise. It's been a while since I found anything I couldn't dominate with a single capital plus a handful of support vessels.
I can say that I haven't run into any obvious bugs, which is typical of FSW in general.
Availability of certain hulls and weapons is still a matter of arcana and luck, but the new salvage mechanics play perfectly into that.
That's enough long winded drivel for now. Truth is, as much as I like the release and all the great things it adds, there isn't a whole lot to say about it. That's a good thing, though, because it's the best version of "more of the same". Same game, same feel, bigger better and more complete than ever before. Another (few) rungs on the ladder to being a complete game. I'm going to try to keep my proselytizing to a minimum until release though.
