Has anyone else given the beta a whirl?
I started tinkering with it on Thursday evening, and it's actually pretty fun. You command a starship, and you can also go on away missions, so there are (pretty awesome) space battles, as well as ground combat. Also, not all away missions involve fighting. I ran a diplomatic mission the other day, which was kind of cool.
You can upgrade your ship (although I haven't figured out how yet), and get new ships as you progress in rank. You can also upgrade skills of your npc crew, which is pretty cool.
Let me know if you're in the beta.