First off, I really appreciate this open Beta.
Now, the ship design screen I like for the most part, but I think there's one thing that could become tedious in the future: adding large numbers of weapons to large ships. Rather than having to select and click place every time you wanted to add something, I'd really prefer having a number next to the item description and some increment/decrement up and down arrow keys next to it. You could just click the up arrow and it would place it, the down arrow and it would remove it. Also you'd be able to just type "6" into the quantity box if you wanted 6 of something instead of having to click place 6 times. I know it may seem trivial, but I think little things like this would really make ship design go faster.
As for the tech screen, I really don't like it at all. I think the tech trees themselves look very clunky, like lego blocks set next to each other. Also, there's no obvious connection between the different technologies and what's a prerequisite for what. I'd prefer to see a real, honest to God tech "tree", or some weblike display showing all the links between the technologies.
Thanks again guys for your work, and this already looks like it'll be a really fun game when it's all said and done.
