The combat is fun and surprisingly intense, whether outmanuevering your enemy in a fragile fighter craft or playing the hectic tactical positioning game of piloting a frigate or capital shiip.
The trading is everything you'd ever want, based on actual supply and demand in a living economy which, given enough credits, you can participate in yourself by building mines, solar plants, and factories of your own.
If you are so inclined, criminal enterprises can also be quite profitable. Engaging in piracy, poaching of the endangered spacefly, smuggling, or even manufacture of illegal goods are all viable routes to wealth and power, just stay out of range of the customs officers' scanners.
Command of your subordinate ships is both easy and surprisingly in depth. Giving direct commands is useful, but with the right ship software upgrades you can set up trade routes, patrols, semi or fully autonomous traders, to name a few of at least a dozen advanced commands that eliminate micromanagement.