A screenshot from the most recent build, showcasing multiple real time vacuum and fire simulations and character skills.
<img src="http://i48.tinypic.com/118db45.png" border="0" />
Here's a bit of background about the five basic starter races that are available in during the beginning ship creation phase:
Humans:
Your basic humanoid race, descendant from Earth. Begin with standard health and slightly above average guns, melee, and piloting skills. They need to breathe oxygen. They can equip inventory items for humanoid races and have the special ability of being able to commandeer MACs (Mechanized Armor Capsules) to greatly improve their versatility and overall performance with the use of the various types of MACs. There are currently three different types implemented: Combat MACs, which have a portable burst phaser and armor plating, Maintenence MACs, which have longer battery lives and repair quickly, and Turrent MACs, which do not require a character within them, but do require a character to active/deactivate them. However, MACs are just in their beginning phases of development and manufacturing and as a result are both expensive and ineffecient; MACs only have a battery life of roughly thirty seconds before needing to be recharged, and are difficult to repair.
Reptilians:
A species of bipedal, reptile-like humanoid creatures, thought by humans to be a creation of the greys to use as war instruments. They need to breathe oxygen. Begin with slightly increased health and good melee skills, as well as slightly above average guns and weapons systems skills. They can equip humanoid equipment and have the special ability to transform into their ancestral draconian form for a period of time, giving them greatly increased health and melee skills.
Greys:
The alien species that is accused of abducting humans and monitoring their activities. It is unknown if the accusations are true, but since they have started, greys have been found at multiple locations near the Sol planetary system. They are fragile, having slightly lower health than other species' and having to breathe oxygen, but they have highly developed eyes, intelligence and technology, which gives them a good starting bonus in their guns skill and a small bonus in all of their system skills. They can only equip equipment specifically designed for their species, due to their unique shape and size. They also have the special ability to control the minds of certain species' for a period of time, allowing them to gather intel completely unnoticed or cause complete havoc within a ship from safety.
Androids:
A race of sentient mechanical beings, known to be quite warlike and aggressive. Their origin is unknown, and they have only been sighted and encountered in the past fourty years. Upon inspection of a non-functioning corpse, the technology and manufacturing skill is similar to weapons that the greys have known to use, leading the humans to believe they are an invention of the greys gone wrong. They do not need to breathe oxygen and can withstand enormous amounts of pressure. They have high starting health, repair, and guns skills, and in combat fire two shots instead of one. They have the special ability to overcharge their personal generator for a period of time, increasing their shot count from two to three, but doing so may cause damage to the android and cause it to malfunction. They can also self-destruct at will.
Cyborgs:
Human cultist worshippers of the mechanical alien android race that have spent their entire lives seeking out components of dead android bodies and interfacing them with biological implements to augment theirselves. They have slightly higher health than humans and half of the skills of both human and android races, as well as the ability to equip humanoid inventory items and permenant cyborg augments, such as the laser eye or the gatling arm, to increase certain aspects of their performance. Depending on the augments used by the cyborg, they may or may not need to breathe oxygen. They do not have any remarkable special abilities other than using their augments.
Like I said in the OP, any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I'm getting quite close to completing the combat aspect of the game, so if you'd like a demo of the ship creator and combat system, just let me know.