Totally agree on the projects con. Can't wait to table it! ... Was it easy to track everyone's level of influence on the different planets? BGA has the summary thing at the top, and that's where I check it. I guess in person you just scan the board to see where everyone is at (important when it comes to medals).
I'm really liking this game on bga. It has a lot of layers the more you play it. Projects are important to pay attention to if they fund. I scored 20 points more than the next closest opponent on projects during my last game.