Homeworld 1 & 2 were all about strategy, not the annoyingly prevelant idea of "build, build, build...RUSH!" mentality of annoyingly incompetent games like Command and Conquer.
I've been playing the shit out of the demo since I got it and, almost always, the enemy has either equivalent or superior forces to mine. I am pleasantly surprised to see that, given how the AI uses its military and production resources.
If I've got a frigate heavy fleet, I've seen it send in a whaleload of anti-cap corvettes. If I'm bomber heavy, gunships are the order of the day. Even when I've carefully blended my fleet, it's created a solution that either multiprongs my fleet to draw it apart or sends in a spearhead to open a wedge.
To the people who are saying that Homeworld 2 is a lot like the original, you're absolutely correct that it is. Yet, being the rabid, loony fanboi of Homeworld that I am, I remember clearly Dan Irish stating that Homeworld 2 would be evolutionary and not revolutionary.
To me, that meant the game had been refined and a new "chapter" in the Hiigaran race's history would be presented without looking to break all sorts of new technical and artistic ground. Which, for me, works because I wanted to the enriching storyline of the Homeworld universe...not another eye candy fest or twitch gaming all the StarWarDiablocraft Generals titles try to faust off as "new".
I'll most certainly be buying this game as I feel that Homeworld 2, like Homeworld, will actually possess something I've not seen in a long, long time. An entertaining story that brings me, the player, out of my reality and puts me in another one while making me care about the plight of the people I am representing.
*Here there be spoilers*
My impression of the game rose dramatically when I was doing the Mothership trials mission and the Vagyr started attacking me. My first thought was "Not again! The Taidanis kicked us off Kharak this way and we JUST got settled in to Hiigara!" It made me feel a lot like Moses leading the Hebrews in the Christian myth residing in the Old Testament.
For people who've never played the first Homeworld, go buy it...it's like 10 bucks at any Fry's or CompUSA. Play through it so you'll understand the history and premise of the first chapter of the series. This will give you an enormously better understanding of the game's universe than by just jumping in.