Build your own units.
Weapons feel high-tech without being instant death (most weapons cause an area of effect f.x.)
Reaction fire is present but not over-powerful.
13 or 14 different alien races, drawn from various scifi archetypes (if you want your 40K eldar to battle Mass Effect Turians and the Strogg from quake 4, you totally can)
A decent handful of human troop types.
Rules for animals, ice worlds and other space adventure stuff.
Psionics.
Leaders that actually do stuff other than give you +1 morale.
Points system and campaign bits if you want those things.
No compulsions on either part.
Short stat-line (5 stats total) (Yes! It has stats! I know right? Some people were starting to wonder what I have against stats)
And a 4 step D100 table for coming up with keywords for a quick scenario.
I just rolled and got:
A Starship crew and some Nomads are fighting.
The objective is to capture a a box of loot and the battle takes place in an overgrown ruin.
Unknown to either side, a local predator is prowling the ruins.
(Keywords: Starship crew, nomads, box of loot, overgrown ruin, predator)
That do it?
