If you like the Supreme Ruler series and want something with a slightly different flavour (namely a spacey flavour), I would definitely recommend it. This game does streamline a lot of the resources compared to SR, but this just allows for more focus on the other elements of the game, but you absolutely still need to manage your resources properly. In fact, watch the opening video as it tells an important part of the story (namely the Merchant AI, and energy). Is the Merchant AI good, bad, neutral? That's the question, but you will absolutely be dependent on it at first (or maybe forever).
When it comes to gameplay, I would highly recommend using hotspots and ensuring your ROE settings are good (medium initiative is a good start). Using the hotspots, you can have your AI manage your units as you see fit. For example you can set a defense hotspot near your enemies planet (not too close), that will have the AI continuously send units, which will give you a decent recon. And of course setting a hotspot to guard your own planets. The AI does a pretty good job, but of course at anytime you can just take over if you want to manage them yourself. I would recommend combining these tactics to some degree.
Exploration is fun, and just like above you can even set hotspots to this for you. Watch as you find out whether or not any of the planets in your system are good enough to keep you going or if you need to develop FTL and explore the rest of the galaxy.
Combat is good too, watching the ships shoot each other, the sound, etc, all well done. Another tip here is using formations (it'll be in the orders section on the left side). Put your units in the formation you want first, and then use the formation command. This is a great way to ensure that when you're navigating to your enemy's planet, that they don't have units that get by you unseen.
Trading and resource management, while streamlined, is still a key element of any SR game and this is no exception. If you don't pay attention to them your economy, and thus you, will get crushed. You will need to manage your resources both on the planet side and the space side, as some planets cannot be landed on and can only be extracted from using an orbital station. Ensuring proper supply via Supply Depots is also very key. If you have 10% supply to an area, expect 10% production from it. As for your production itself, you will want to ensure that you set the proper import/export levels, production levels, etc, to ensure you're getting maximum efficiency out of them. So again, while it's "streamlined", it's still absolutely critical that you pay attention to each of your resources and what they're doing for you.
Haven't done much diplomacy yet, as the "first stage" of the game can be somewhat tricky... so I haven't gotten that far, but it looks to be the same as SR. I can't speak to the AI's diplomacy skills, though as I simply haven't gotten to the point where it becomes a factor beyond war or no war.
Overall, this is a great standalone game from the SR series. If you prefer space to planet-side 4x games, and you like SR, it should be a no-brainer.
More bonus points for this game I would say is the music (it's good, and it dynamically may change depending on the situation, such as encountering enemy units). As well, I mentioned the intro above in terms of helping to understand the storyline, but the intro itself is quite enjoyable (not too long either).
Highly recommended to any Supreme Ruler fan, or any 4X fan for that matter, especially if space is your forte.
