Current planet view/map seems to have dropped the planet's view, map, continents altogether and just left hexes in place. Compared to GC 3 planet view, it feels less immersive and it does not add to the atmosphere of the game. I was expecting GC4 put us more inside the actual galaxy, helping us experience more the civilization we are shaping. But the current map feels like a step back rather than forward. 

Even worse, it cuts back on the excitement of discovering and colonizing a new planet. Because what you see doesnt even pretend to be a planet anymore, it just exposes you to a rather bare hex collection, saying 'Hey! Im a minigame'.

I can understand the programmatical complexities with generation of planet surface, its map, placement of hexes on that map etc. But this shouldnt cause dropping an important part of the immersion. There are already legions of 4x space games which are mostly menus with some images plastered on them. GC shouldnt become one of them.