I've got a bit to say on the subject and... well
What got me into this game? I got a 66% off coupon, figured I may as well grab the alien bundle and see what's up since the description (Only AI battles, and apparently AI that isn't like the BS you find in Warcraft 3 and so forth) was pretty interesting to me. I did read quite a lot about the AI just to make sure that it wasn't stupid, and then I engaged in the tutorials to check out the game after I bought it. Simple as that. I'd been eyeing the game for quite a while before this actually, but I just never did try. It was more of me being completely sick of playing terrible RTS games with terrible AI skirmish battles and such. I was on the edge of not wanting to even touch the genre, if all it was about was PvP laddering and needless micromanagement.
...incidentally, I lucked out incredibly.
Now, I've been trying to get my friends into the game, and actually, a couple of people express a whole lot of interest. Someone I know, I tell her stories that I read here, and stories I experience, and she really seems to enjoy hearing about what goes on in the game. Ultimately, I feel like the turn off is unfortunately how complex the game is, because my friends just don't seem to have the time or drive to get into any new RTS. I would not change the level of complexity for the world, however. This game is directed to people who have a whole lot of time, and a whole lot of passion for gaming. As such, it's going to end up falling into a tighter niche compared to, say, very simple and easy games that you can play a quick session of in ten minutes.