It's a 'long haul' game for sure. It will be interesting to see if people stick with it. All of the points you make are fair criticisms.

What I find most interesting is that they seem to have made it very difficult for anyone with wealth to just pay their way to the top.

The team seem quite responsive to suggestions, and so hopefully it'll survive!

I quite like it, then again I've always liked games like C and C and elite so it's my kind of thing.