I pre-ordered the game two days ago on the strength of the videos of gameplay available online and frankly I'm astonished that an alpha build feels this polished. Yeah, I know there's going to be a spiffy strategic mode eventually (which is why I'm not fretting the single missions only condition overmuch - like I said, alpha!) but the balance, the visuals, the gameplay, it all feels pretty mature already. I'm having a lot of fun with the game as is, so I'm really anxious to see how great it will be when finished. I also like the direction the tactical map screen has taken - I saw videos of the more RTS style in the previous versions and read the devs' rationale for the new system and not having tried the old one, I do believe this one fits better for the game.
Edit: Also, the combat model is surprisingly deep for what's essentially action-based interaction, what with the flux mechanics, how they interact with shields, the multitude of weapon types and the rest. I like it! Are there plans to introduce critical damage (components of the ship like weapons, engines, etc. breaking down due to combat damage) at some point? I can understand if there aren't - it might be too much - just curious.
There's only really one significant issue I have with the game currently (that doesn't have to do with the alpha state) - the maximum zoom-out distance is significantly too low for my taste. It's hard to get a good tactical feel of what's going on around me without jumping into the map screen, which interrupts the flow of combat and isn't really useful for actual combat encounters. I have a feeling it may be a resolution related issue since the game seems to be sprite based - my screen's maximum resolution is 1440*900, which means that at times, I can barely see enemies before they enter my weapons range. Perhaps on larger resolutions the maximum zoom-out range is larger, but it's a problem for me at the moment. I mean, I'm not looking for a Supreme Commander level zooms obviously, but even twice as far out on maximum would be a huge help.