please do something about the manual - the online version would be enough.
This is the first AGEOD game which I've found to be unreservedly disappointing. It's partly because the engine (as is) is unsuited to the topic. It's partly because some of the systems seem not to have been fully thought through - I won't nominate them because the count's still rising. But it's mainly because the documentation is execrable and I'm spending more time trying to glean essential information from the board than I am actually playing the game. That doesn't leave much room for a satisfying, let alone joyful, gaming experience.
I understand that Altaris has other commitments and that the game is being re-shaped within those, but I fear that by the time that's done it will have acquired such a bad rep that the effort will have been wasted. The single biggest thing that might be done to avoid that is to give players the information they require to make a decent fist of playing the game as it stands - and that means directing effort into a comprehensive revision of the manual.