Multi-faceted game that has something for everybody.
the game is interesting on many levels. apart from the main space strategy / simulation appeal, there are other mini-games embedded within, like RTS planet-based battle; planet based text games, and even arcade games in hyperspace.
granted, while these other 3 features are not developed in-depth (nor as i suspect, were they meant to be), they add enough variety and "spice" to keep things interesting.
this is by far, one of the best games in the space genre that i've ever played; the only downside is that the retail version is encoded with STARFORCE, which is a royal pain when starting up...