Honestly, I grabbed the game off my favorite BitTorrent site, then sunk 6+ hours into a single (largely exploratory) 1v1 game, looked at the clock with surprise, and promptly went and bought it. (Btw, the scene will usually release cracked patches, but rarely near the initial release, and it's less likely for smaller games). Just slightly edges out World in Conflict and Company of Heroes, and I'd have to go back to Rise of Legends to top the fun factor (in short, 5/5, and if you hate clickspam RTSes, this will balm your wounds). I hate micromanagement (WC3 can lick my taint), love the actual strategy aspect of it, and SoaSE delivers in spades. I really get the feeling that I'm directing the course of an empire, not babysitting units who're theoretically trained and intelligent but seem unable to tie their shoes, much less tactically manage a space battle. The differing courses of tech development have already resulted in unique and interesting games, and I love that just about any focus or combination is viable if played decently well. I just realized that I'm wasting time typing when I could be feeding my new addiction (thanks IronClad!), so back to managing the fate of Galactus Timmacus.