I technically am not considered a redshirt, but I did play during that time and loved it. Even though it didn't have a lot of elements it has now, I found it hard to stop playing. Back then, I didn't feel the need to expand or engage in combat (I actually didn't enjoy the combat back then at all), but now I definitely do. I started by trying to play how I used to and that was a pretty big mistake. I was quickly penned in by the Thoraxians and crushed since neither of us could understand the other. Even still, it was a ton of fun for the 150 or so turns I played. The combat is actually fun now and I want to blast my way through the other races, the city building is pretty good (I can't really comment on it, since I horribly failed and died as a result), the UI is a lot better now than it was before and the game feels like it is a full, complete game.
The biggest thing I have run into was I didn't want to start the game, the theme song was so amazing. I actually downloaded the Open Codecs in order to listen to it outside the game. I haven't had the time to hear the entirety of the rest of the songs, but the pieces I did hear are amazing! A huge shout-out to Pablo for making this! This is actually the first time I've ever really enjoyed a game's music enough to want to hear it more, which proves that having Pablo working with you is better than having millions to spend on audio.