The 5 things that made the FE launch for me:

1. Download and installation worked perfectly.   No issues.

2. The game is rock solid.    No crashes - no blips - it just runs.

3. The balance achieved with the last few beta versions has made the game fun and a real challange.    The AI is good - much better than many other games that I have played.    As much I really like MOM it does not have an AI anything like FE.

4. The game has depth and a lot of "replayability".  I discover new things every time I play.   And thats without any Mods.

5. This fame is fun, imaginative, and deep but most of all its represents Stardock keeping its promise to all of us who jumped into WOM.   I don't know of any other game company that would do this.

In another post someone said FE is the best game of 2012.   I respect that opinion but I don't know about that - I have not played all the games released this year.   However, I do know this is the best game I have played in many, many years.

A big thank you to everyone at Stardock and all the others who have helped get FE to this point.