The new game is "less brutal" to newbies... Does this mean I'm not going to die horribly dozens of times trying to get the hang of things? I hated Zombie/Non-zombie mode. Is it in this time as well? (I like being able to save my scores!)

Mark Sheeky: There are lots of improvements in the gameplay area. For a start you can turn down the damage you ship can accept, that helps. There were a few deaths in the original game that were simply unavoidable, they are gone now. Pointers to incoming enemies (which made it into the last version of Flatspace 1) help pinpoint inbound attackers. A new prisoner system stops prisoners from stabbing the pilot to death... that was just mean. Flatspace II is less frugal with the cash too, bounty hunting, trading and deliveries all pay a lot more than before and it's much easier to attain high scores.

There are almost no random elements that negatively affect the player, that was a new design rule for this game. Crew wages in the first game were just random numbers but here the cheap crew cost a lot to heal, and the more useful the crewman, the more expensive his wage. The same goes for assassination and capture missions... the price is a complex calculation that is based on how hard the mission is to complete.

Permadeath is still in there and optional, it wouldn't be like Rogue without it, but it has no game restrictions apart from entry into the high score list and that's only because lots of identical names with similar scores in there would spoil the point of the list.​