I don't know whether or not the devs read this things, but here's one hoping so.
IMO, the game is just plain great. Really. Mind you, I hate most of the indie games - not on principle, they just don't appeal to me (only other Indie's i liked were Dwarf Fortress and Minecraft).
The pacing is great, the story is well thought out and enjoyable, combat is fun, everything is cool!
Aside from a few... well, design choices.
I think the game suffers from two things mostly - thus why I call them design choices.
No-save policy - well, you know what I mean, the game is hardcore-only, you live or die permanently. I think it's not cool to include ONLY hardcore. It would be great if the game had some sort of saves - if only to find out how events would end, how the battle would go. Some players would probably savescumm the hell out of the game, but well - who cares?
8 sectors - that's a biggie imo. Even on normal, the game just... ends. It feels like a demo for a game, instead of a full-blown title. And it feels wrong. I would just love if the Devs (<3) would implement some kind of a bigger 'galaxy', with, like 100 random sectors, with some areas controlled by engies, some by federation, some by rebels, some being nebulas - a full scale free-roam. You could change the plot a bit, so instead of running the hell away, you'd gather support for federation from zoltans, rocks etc.
That are two things I think the game just plainly needs changed. I wouldn't play another game were those changes to happen.
Gameplay-wise I think the game is plainly perfect - apart from hand-to-hand combat. You have what you get, and there's no way to change your crewmen - apart from exping, but that's not what I'd want. It would be quite awesome if Devs (<3) implemented a fourth subsystem - armoury. For example:
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No armoury - no bonuses
1st level - firemen gear - +25% to fire extinguishing; +25% resistance to fire; +25% resistance to suffocation (only on ship)
2nd level - policemen gear - +25% hand-to-hand damage; +25% resistance to HtH damage; + (above)
3rd level - space marine gear - +50% hand to hand damage; +50% resistance to HtH damage; +50% resistance to fire
Well, don't have time to write more. Devs (<3) keep up the good work! :>