The game itself took a few minutes over 6 hours to complete, but a 4 player game seems to take a little longer than a 5 or 6 player one. The one thing that I love the most about this game its details. A couple of times our political assembly was destroyed by an assassins bomb (the assassin was a bomb-Nekro Virus), literally with the death of all councilors.
I ended up winning a close game playing the Yin Brotherhood. Here are the races that were present
Yin Brotherhood... who's forbidden technology of cloning was a means to save themselves from a degenerating disease.
The Mentak Coalition... A race of rogues and usurpers. Great Race with excellent Cruisers and Destroyers
The Embers of Muaat... Sentient beings with bodies slowly consumed by a fiery heat. They possess the technology of Warsun (warships the size of a planet)
The Nekro Virus... A race demented with the purging of its own flesh, replicating itself with the purpose of destroying all organic matter.
Highlights of last nights game included accidentally igniting a supernova with the destruction of a Nekro Virus Capital ship. A follow up included blowing itself up taking two Muaat Warsuns and a Dreadnought along with it.
Far too many assassins making the Galactic Assembly a dangerous place to be. I was down to a single councilor left, and I know the last two rounds, only myself the Yin Brotherhood and Mentak Coalition were able to send representatives to the vote during the political phase of the game.
Many heroes were killed last night. One of which saved the Nekro Virus's home worlds from me. It cost the hero's life, but I was closing in for the kill.
Probably the most defining action of the game was a law passed that enforced peace across the galaxy. Breaking it would cost a full victory point to the aggressor, so it took a couple rounds for someone to get desperate enough to break it. The problem being, that in order to gain victory points, most of our public objectives left were geared towards combat.
Overall if you have not tried this game, it is something you should do. Just remember to get at least the first expansion, as it balances out the game, and there are some errata fixed from the original box set.