Hello SF guys, been awhile.
I wasn't able to participate in the last alpha test but I did manage to get on this one (after a several hour download :P) I'm going to list bugs and feedback below. They are listed together because at this point it is hard to tell what changes you made on purpose and which are bugs.
[Rich Bug]
The fleet I started with (Deprived if it matters) can only carry 26 resources according to the UI. But if I shift click on a resource from a colony I can grab up to 999 at a time and haul back 10,000's of ore back to base with only a minor speed penalty. Once I get back to base, which is likely right next to a colony, I sell the ore and gain 50,000+ credits. I've done this at least three times and my reputation is amongst the highest. Only topped by one person who likely also discovered this glitch.
[Ping and Crashes]
Now I could be recalling this incorrectly but I believe there were servers to choose from in the first alpha test, or in the least, less ping. Now I have anywhere between 250-900 ping and the game often freezes and/or crashes. I would say 80% of my playtime has been watching the game crash.
[Survival]
This was the highlight of the first alpha to me. However now on top of horrible ping this mode has become quite boring. Enemies often circle the map, not attacking you. Enemies seem to take a TON of damage compared to your own ships, even the small enemies, and overall there's just no excitement to the mode anymore. It used to be a constant struggle to keep an edge over the enemy. Now it's just spamming ships until the enemy is dead.
[Faction Wars]
I've yet to see another player and I can't seem to go to territories owned by enemy factions. Not sure what the point of the Faction Wars alpha is if there isn't actually any faction wars.
Overall I still have a lot of interest for the game but this alpha seems broken and should have been polished a lot more before release.