1.0.19 had the old starbase, the .20 seems came with the new. That shiny thing looks like giant circuit board I saw it in many other games but it looks like an unnecessarily exposed thing that would put it out of action. The new turrets visible, having PD of its own is also great. Sure it can be overwhelmed, but that is the point of it being a strongpoint being not a very easy bump in the road. .20 fixed the starbase beam and missile upgrades being available despite not having it researched.

the complaint about research, I liked the functionality of the Space Pony Tech Tree more, especially because it showed the lowest tier tech (if you clicked on the specialized trees again) the highest and it showed the number of research stations. Previously I usually managed to upgrade everything in about 4 hours now it is about 7, so it is closer to what I managed in SoaSE:R without doubling research and income speeds, which I did always.

Considering the systems now, I did no research at all in the first hour, just akkaned and upgraded cheapest planets for cheapest with 20 + cobalt escort and moved on. (good luck with repairing hull damage ) I also built no research on the surface, because it skews the ratio of research, most easy is military, due to a higher ratio of non-terran and desert. Having just 1 research queue, while 2 research speeds, not having the fast ability to queue fastest and easiest research makes it seemingly unnecessarily long. (with the cheapest and fastest to research being shown on top this helped with the most efficient research times if you wanted everything) If 2 researches were ongoing, just like those 'Age-up' or Tier-up-s, I think it would work better. Currently, it feels like something forced. And, if you have resources for the tier up, or ability to buy prerequisites, it should do so automatically without you having to click the tier-up imo. As of now, only Tier-ups show how many research stations you have.

Currently in the new tech tree - as in old Soase:R, it is hard to tell which techs you have researched already. Put some very different borders.

Too much scrolling, I would preferably condense it to just one screen. Tech tree scrolling works backward, with the mouse wheel, same instance in some other menu.

Not sure if 1.0.20 fixed the problem with starbase trade, because I built 2x of them with trade all over the place in 0.19 and it didnt work most of the time, because it could not connect with existing trades or other bases trade or something like it. From what I tried in 0.20 it seems to be working so far.

Missile retarget limit like 2-3 or some research that limits overkill could be a thing.

After playing a bit more with the new version

I like the differentiation from space and planet mining. One gives more, but is more vulnerable, and requires research, thematically, I think this is awesome.

Slowing the rush to upgrade into asteroid mining by research (and cost) imposed by 2 age ups/tier-ups, making army the more or less the only thing making sense. And expanding. With cheaper expansion, akkan supporting cobalts. At least this is how I did lately.

I ended up liking the tier/Age-up research system. However, the search function of the old was not bad. Or the thing that showed more specific research.

Starbase trade works, sometimes, it has some problems with deciding that it actually exists. Put a trade route there, it will say, all trade is used up. Sometimes it does function however, when ? I do not know. When it worked, it did so automatically.

Laser and missile upgrades on Starbase function when queued to be built. Before it is finished. Missile upgrade on Starbase seems to have very narrow line of fire to the sides, but very generous against targets that try to go above it like Flak frigates that chase fighters above. Beams have somewhat interesting behavior as well, but Id have to watch it some more. Missiles, considering they are sort of 'vertical launch' that is first ejected, then starts tracking target could make for angles that look similar to SoaSE:R. What that means, is that theoretically - look up systems from like S-300 variants, Tor-M2(U) or even nuke systems, like Topoľ, Topoľ-M, Jars (Yars) that push the missile out of container and series of explosions or mini-exhausts/engines perform the function to steer the missile (thrust vectoring) in the right direction before the main engine is fired - because at very low velocities the fins are useless. (famous on say R-73, AIM-9X) In space, control surfaces would have a hard time doing much. So, steering is not that easy, and if, then by other means- once engine runs out, the missile would tumble. That would really apply to ship steering as well, because what is visible, is only the rear engine (there seems like there is no forward directed exhaust to stop forward movement ) Then there are very fast missiles from systems like A-235 (first footage was missing a few frames so as to hide it, while it was looking even faster , that is if you notice)

Some skills, like Akkan Rate of Fire Area of Effect skill, when looked at with the mouse, does not show its 6500 radius in showing the circle around the ship.