Really nice, I'd also like to hear your thoughts on the ruleset.
I haven’t picked up Billion Suns yet, what sets it apart for you?
I've given this spiel on various social media already so let's see if I can be concise.
You play as megacorporations, there are no victory points everything is about money, if you have the most, and are making a profit at the end of the game you win.
At the start of the game you randomly select 3 scenarios from 12, which set up objectives to score revenue. Hunt space kraken, evacuate civilians, spy on com sats you name it. Many objectives also add extra tables to the game. This can just mean over that 3 part board apart a bit or put some painters tape trough the middle to split the board. You can have one or more jump points on each board, which function a lot like jumping off points in chain of command, its where your units spawn from. You can also "jump skip" from one point to the next or to the other tables.
You don't build an army list, instead, you can jump in any number of ships you want each turn, you just need to pay their cost. (you start of diving into negatives at the start of the game)
Most objectives are multi-step, some start by paying of high and go lower, some begin low and go higher and some are random meaning you have priorities. Many objectives require Utility ships to score, either to transport specific cargo, deliver stuff or perform specific actions.
Many of the objectives will self destruct or resolve themselves by the end of turn 3. (lifeboats run out of air for example) and if 2 or more objectives can't be scored anymore the game ends. So there is a huge wild scramble to score while you can, using as few as possible ships to do so.
The way these contracts are set up you can also be incredibly cutthroat. it might be worthwhile to blow up a lifeboat and incur a 5$ penalty if it stops your opponent from scoring a 9$ objective.
Now actual ship wise there are 13 types you can jump in, 3 types of light craft (fighter bomber and recon) 2 utility ships and 8 military ships each with their own distinct stats and uses. (it's definitely not a case of ever-increasing numbers as the ships get bigger)
There is a campaign system where you need to unlock the ship classes and have a tech tree to unlock further benefits, but its the weaker part of the game IMHO. Besides this there is no fiddling with model stats or equipment load-outs. it's those 10 types of units you and everyone else has.
The combat system is very simple but fast and has some super creative ideas. To hit a target you need to roll under its silhouette rating. (larger ships easier to hit) Then every die that hit can be saved by rolling under the ships shield value. The clever bit is that weapons can have a d6 to a d12 for these rolls. So some weapons are good at hitting small targets but bad at shield penetration, and some the other way round.
You have a very simple command board with command tokens that limit how many times you can jump in something per turn, how likely you are to get initiative and boost units (double move, re-roll attacks, better saves etc) Deciding at the start of your turn how many jump-ins you will need is a very stressful tactical decision.
Added to this there is an always on overwatch system. Ships will always use their secondary weapons to target any enemy that move into range, before that unit gets a chance to do anything else, giving a real "zone of control" feel that many ship games lack.
So in short, The pros:
it's an extremely cutthroat capitalism simulator where the objective rules take up more space than the ship types. You don't have army lists instead build on the go. Its the most tactically satisfying and challenging game I have played the past 5+ years without a doubt.
Actually interesting and central objectives instead of 2 fleets flying at each other with a half-hearted attempt at manoeuvring.
Solid but dead simple movement and combat rules you won't need to look up every 5 minutes, leaving room for tactical options like jump hopping, using zones of control to attack enemies and defend your own ships in shared shields, and damaging enemies by jumping in close to them.
The cons:
It's not setting agnostic, it emulates a very specific universe and while you can use any figure you want, it won't simulate star wars or star trek at all. (unless you want to play a Ferengi civil war, that would be perfect)
It doesn't let you fiddle with model stats and equipment outside the campaign system, and that's not particularly deep either.
The fact that each objective will place a number of ships/bases on your table, and you can jump in any ship you want means you need a broad collection, or be willing to proxy models a lot.