1. any news on more direct negotiation with the pirates/rebels/militia? what were the main aspects (you chose to alter) of negotiation that were a problem in beta 4 (and other games)?
Negotiations?
Puh-lease, they are barbaric and must be destroyed.
2. i love huge maps. whats the max number of planets we can expect to see in the final release? does it number in 100's?
You can make it as large as you please, and then some, cause the game is totally modable. I remember beta 1-2 people were able to make a stable game with over 1000(or more).
However, note that a game with roughly forty might take a week or two. Any more then that would take months.
3. what kind of graphics enhancement will we see? example surface damage to planets/atmosphere, damage to ships etc..
The game boast very high end graphical options. Well, the only limimts is your system.
Right now we can't say though, becasue most of the Beta's graphical features were just placeholders.
4. in terms of modding how accessable will the game be? interchanging unit abilities and more importantly creating new models and textures? (current models are great just most games are a pain when it comes to adding new ones). will you offer any post-release kits to ease the modding of the game(even at a cost)?
The game already has a map editor and maker, all created by the community. There are several mods in the works just with the beta and essentially everything about the game could be edited and modded.
5. finally one i don't expect an answer for (or expect that answer to be "yes" if i did get one). any chance of seeing a planet killer ship (deathstar style)? just thinking of the possibilities of creating choke points on maps by destroying grav wells.
Welllll... Now thats a deep subject.
Around Beta 3 screenshots appeared of the Novalith, the TEC superweapon. However, no further details were available besides the fact that it was rumored to be able to kill planets. Not kill kill, more like kill everything on it, and from quite a distance too.
Nothing has been heard of the other factiosn super weapons though. So its up in the air at the moment. But I wouldnt expect any actual planet killers cause it would totally be a game breaker.