MisterDoctor

this game is pretty great if you like TBS and/or other AoW games. IMO one mistake the game makes is that the campaign starts you off with the most boring race (Vanguard) and most boring tech (Voidtech). they also start you on a boring planet that is 90% arid mountains. also, on the first campaign map the game might feel more like an RPG-ish game, with the strategy part in the background, when really it's the other way around (the strategy part is more important than the RPG part but it doesn't feel like that at first). the maps are also randomized which is both a good and bad thing. this adds a lot of replayability, but then the maps are not as interesting as they could be either. You won't be able to have a map quite like Serpent River, for example. once you start getting into other race and tech combinations the game starts to open up a lot. I particularly enjoyed Kir'ko Psynumbra and Amazon Xenoplague (also Dvar Pyro). I hate Syndicate so much though, and ended up getting stuck on the second Syndicate map which basically seems impossible to me.

things can go bad fast if your morale drops, but otherwise the events are not that bad. they tend to all tie in some way to your stats, which is one reason why your stats start out hidden. once you start to know your strengths and weaknesses, you can make better decisions in the events and get better outcomes. (in other words it's not as random as it seems once you know your stats).