I have the 2.08 version patched up to 2.09 and its a brilliant game in concept and execution. Almost all of the bugs many people have complained about in pervious versions are gone and what is left is a game which will keep your attention for a long time as it is such an immense game. If you have half a brain cell it will be easy to grasp the systems within the Battle Cruiser. It takes time but is not difficult. The battles are good and the ai seems rather intellegint.
Trading is the way to go and make money and cloning provides another dimension to battles.
They are most annoying when they are destroyed early in the game and take a huge amount of maney to replace. The graphics in 3DFX mode are pretty alright though they wont blow your mind. The planets are modeled nicely as is their surfaces. The music is MIDI, which is annoying to the point of turning it off. Rather than having real war music BC 3000AD uses this MIDI which is much better sounding when it is turned off.