Thank you all for your interest during Next Fest. Here is one more update, including:
bugfixes
improved settings handling and loading
a few small UI improvements
alien races now have different habitability values - meaning that some aliens thrive on planets humans find hard to settle and vice versa
slightly increased availability of new freighters to buy
Known issue in this build: The progress display is messed up during alien empires creation, but don't worry, it just takes a while and then continues.