sorry, this is late, but i was having troubles with my ancient intel extreme II grafix driver.

grafix: constant crashes on the intel extreme 2 integrated graphics (which worked fine with GC2 apart from some tiny glitches). i've reported this already, but just in case it's still a prob - what made the crashes go from every turn to every 5-10 turns was: turning the frame throttle off, downloading latest iteration of directx9c, turning auto-save off. the crashes 'seemed' to be something to do with being 'clicky' with the mouse eg missing a button, or hitting a button when not ready, or selecting something when something else selected.

templates: love them. wanted them in GC2, got 'em in DA, happy as a pig in poo
improved look: great
specific racial qualities: cool
mega events: excellent
new colonisable planets types: nice
balance: better research/tech balance, better economic/morale balance, bette trade balance. game arc feels smoother, more sensible.

bug? if you add a survey sensor (which seems a little under-valued) onto a constructor and build a starbase, on tactical it's a survey ship.....

throughts: like the new asteroid mining, really like their weaker loyalty (wondering whether that can be added to starbases), but feel that they kinda do the same job as part of an economic starbase?

is it possible to get a list (there may be one but i couldn;t find it) or your asteroid mines. i had a mesage come up that said "evil roy, u iz so h'influential dat mine 28 iz now sendin you all it's special 'erbs" but couldn't find it. of course, it was in the Wardell System........

the other thing is entering leaving asteroid belts/Yor special ability. is it poss to get a special message to say "u iz h'entering da h'asteroid belt innit" or some sign on your ship that you are warp inhibited - i kept forgetting...

i have some more, but someone's opened a packet of biscuits and my mind has gone pffft

evil