By the by, there have been delays of my writing, but I have been delving deeper in playtest. The space combat rules feel solid, but I am getting feedback that the spaceship construction rules are overly complex, which is especially true for a 5e style game. I am considering cutting the spaceship construction rules entirely, and adding them to a second document that's just all complex fiddly bits, like itemizing and building synthetic chassis and similar unnecessarily complex systems.
General combat feels good, but I am getting a disconnect with cost on grenades. I want grenades to not entirely break the bank, but not to be quite so cheap either. With autofire rules they are not so unbalancing combat wise, especially seeing how only soldiers get multiple attacks and SHOULD be badass in combat.
Melee seems just kind of awful compared to ranged combat, which is as it should be. I am keeping that interesting with some bayonet options, but am starting to feel the lack of kung fu. Normally I am predisposed against martial arts in a fantasy game, but feel like it has more of a relevant place in sci-fi, perhaps not as a whole class, but maybe as a specialization for operative or soldier, or even just as a feat with level variable effects. Seeing as feats are still disabled for this test, I am left undecided.