I got this ages ago, was disgusted by it and refunded it...

Then many months later bought it back when half price and seeing that many fixes had been made... tried it a bit but the fizz had gone...

I really love the idea of games like this, but can`t seem to get back into it... I wonder if near a year later has this thing improved?

I think it has great potential. There is some fun to it. If they fix the space combat part with the coming patch, i will be spending a lot of time with it. Having a ship with 6 hitpoints that's hard to control against A.I. that never misses... well, maybe it's just me; but I'm hoping for some automated systems or anything really that changes up the space combat part.

"It has great potential" is not what I hoped to hear so long after release. That`s what everyone thought at the start. I`m not going back to that one again. I`ll wait for the patch and see how it goes then; thanks for your reply.

I've always enjoyed it, even back in the early days. Depends on what you're looking for. It's not a high-tempo FPS or an MMOG.

Explore the galaxy for an hour or so. Poke around a few planets while looking for some fungal mold or whatever. Chat up a Traveler. Engage a few pirates. ARRRRR.

Space combat isn't that bad. Might want to experiment with "locked" versus "tethered" and/or patch in a joystick/HOTAS via x360ce. In general, don't try to outmaneuver the pirates. They are (reasonably enough) optimized for combat and your ship probably isn't. There are plenty of guides out there but one that works the easiest is just to sit and spin and let them come to you. Keep your shields up. Enjoy the victory.