I just preordered and downloaded the beta. Sandboxed for about an 3 hours on the smallest map(Close Encounters) and noticed a few things with the graphics that bugged me. Its nothing game breaking and I don't think any of them are bugs and they may be fixed in the final version but I thought I might bring them up just in case.

1. The lighting on the ships seems to be really dark making it hard to see the models except at just the right angles. Not sure how one would go about fixing it since the game seems to use the environment to light the models but its one of those cases where realism doesn't seem cool.

2. The level of zoom where the game switches on the icon overlay for the ships/structures seems low to me, there were times when I wanted to see the entire battle from a distance but when I zoomed out all the smaller ships became icons, I don't want to turn the icons off(I think theres a way, haven't checked) because they are absurdly useful but it'd be nice to have some way to scale when they show up for those times when you just want to watch an epic battle without having to put the camera right in the middle.

3. I think I read this elsewhere in the forum but the fighter contrails seem somewhat too thick when zoomed in but pop away too soon when zooming out(related to the icon overlay I think), fighters also seem to suffer most from the first point of my post, making it hard to see them except for the occasional blazing trail.

As I said I haven't spent too much time with the game yet, it's shaping up to be the best game I've played in years however as I have been itching for a good 4x space strategy that uses real time combat and this places above all the ones I've previously played; no annoying load screens and lack of depth like Sword of the Stars, balanced unlike Hegemonia's pump out the biggest ship you got until their dead mentality, and it has multiplayer and feels much more accessible than Galciv.

I will also say the level of polish you have on the beta itself is simply amazing and you should be commended for your work.

EDIT: Playing at 1280x1024, 2x anti, Highest Textures, all settings on.