Well, like Qwerk said, I can't give you first impressions anymore.
Some recent impressions:
The two extra majors increases the need for diplomacy especially in the early game at higher difficulties.
Trading techs has become more beneficial with the increase in trading partners.
The new ships have some interesting characteristics like ability to heal other ships, etc
The AI seems to be much better in AP.
The campaign is very interesting because it requires one to use different strategies to complete individual scenarios.
The custom maps provided are balanced but IMHO rather bland. They need some more stars with lower PQ planets.
I'ved tried the editors but I'm not really into map making, etc.
The game itself is remarkably stable on my computer. CTDs are few and far between.
I would advise that after playing a handful of games of AP to start adding a couple of the library certified mods every few games or so for variety.
The biggest asset of AP is the continuous evolution of the game through the updates.
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