IMHO Beta 5 is overall a success.   

Some key positives:

1. The AI is much better in tactical combat.      The battles are a lot closer now.

2. The visuals are improved.

3. The added set up screens for a new game give more choice and are a bit more logical in structcure than before.

4. The new random events are fun.

5. Flying units!

Two things that need work:   the first one is the more important of the two.

1. Early game construction is now much slower than before.     This can sometimes be tedious and thus takes away from the fun.  More importantly, however, is the fact that this makes us reley on hero units even more than before: there is no time to build regular army units early and still do the other things that need to be done.

2. It is still a bit too easy to move units to a square other than the one intended.

Thanks Stardock for all your hard work.    EFE is shaping up to be a big success.