First, to the OP: you probably will. I've played MOM, MOO1&2, Civ 1 to 5, Alpha Centauri, AoW 2 and AOW: Shadow Magic, HoMM 2 to 5, Fallen Enchantress: LH, Endless Legend and Space, Space Empires 4&5, GalCiv 2, Star Ruler 2, and probably a dozen or so other minor 4Xes I mostly forgot the names of. (Why so many? I easily get bored :P) Out of all those, SOTS is my favorite :) I also played SOTS2, but it's much worse (pressure from publisher, rushed release), only thing better than this one is graphics.
SOTS has a heavy combat focus, with most techs being combat-related. Weapons, shields, armor etc. It has the widest range of weapons I've ever seen in a 4X, with many soft counters. Also, the economy is very simplified - three sliders per planet, mostly set-and-forget. There is barely any micromanagement on the economy side, so it avoids the late-game micro overload that's typically a problem in 4X games.
I'd say that the two main pros of the game are randomized tech tree and unique FTL travel for every of the six races.
About the random tech tree: tech locations are always the same, but the availability is randomized. Aside from a few core techs you always get, it's not guaranteed you'll get a certain tech, and you won't know if it's there or not until you research the prerequisites. Check the tech tree, linked below, for racial probabilities. If you don't have some key tech but your opponent has, there is a chance to salvage it if you win in combat. You need repair ships to salvage techs.
The unique FTL also determines strategies. I'll give you same examples.
Humans use nodelines: heavily limited routes, but very fast movement. Only race that has chokepoints :)
Morrigi (dragon-crows) flock drive increases FTL speed for larger fleets. Solitary ships are second slowest in the game, late-game huge fleets are the fastest in the game. Very vulnerable early game, difficult to scout even late game.
Hivers (bugs) don't have an FTL drive, but have a gate network. Once your gateship slowboats to a star and you open the gate, you can reach it in a single turn from any other gate. Open gates are a priority target for all AI players. Very strong on the defense, but impossible to surprise an opponent when attacking. Bring enough ships.
There are also Liir (flicker drive, slow near stars, fast in deep space), Zuul (use nodelines like humans, but they create their own with boreships) and Tarka (warp drive, the only classic one). Tarka are recommended for beginners.
Check techtree on
http://chariot.nickersonm.com/ANY_TechTree.html Also, wiki on
http://wiki.swordofthestars.com/sots1/Main_Page The tech images on the techtree link to the wiki, but the wiki has moved in the meantime so the links 404. I wrote a short Greasemonkey script that rewrites links to point to the new wiki:
Strijkbout: I played it for over a week, I remembered there was some tech you could research to increase the shipcap but gog doesn't allow me to edit my review.
Check the above tech tree, C3 section (a bit to the right of center, between Ballistic Weapons and Xenotech).
Also, if you outnumber the opponent, you get bonus command points. According to the wiki, "every 5 ships that you outnumber the enemy gives you 2 bonus command points, no matter what size those ships are", though the comparison is capped at 20 destroyers, 70 cruisers and 120 dreadnoughts. The cap means that if your opponent has 15 destroyers and you have 30, you still get only (20-15)'s worth, or 2 CPs (one bonus destroyer). Some relevant links:
http://wiki.swordofthestars.com/sots1/Command_and_Control http://wiki.swordofthestars.com/sots1/Command_pointsStrijkbout: I know there is not a single best weapon and I never said there was, but it the endless possibiltiy of combinations where only very few work, that is why I said best tech but the game does not do a good job explaining what you're up against. Also I had spend a lot of time watching YT tutorials which I loathe if I have to turn to that.
You don't
have to watch YT tutorials. You can read wiki or official forums, if you prefer reading as I do :)
Also, wiki (yeah, I know, I'm becoming obnoxious with that) does a pretty good job with explanations of various weapons and defensive techs. A lot of information up there really should've been in the game, like damage, reload time, range, which improvement techs apply, which defensive techs act as counters etc.
One more thing that may help you, research the Data Correlation tech in the C3 branch. Check the icon on the top of the screen that looks like a magnifying glass, between diplomacy and ranking. Without this tech you can see only your own data, with the tech you see known enemy techs and most recent 20 or so designs that you have encountered.
I have many more tips & tricks, maybe I'll collect them later in a post... If someone needs anything specific ask :)