I strongly support eye candy. I love the battle viewer and often zoom in to see ships on the map. I go ooh and aah over the way moons cast shadows on planets. The lights on the planets show growth over time. And, of course, I love seeing my crazy ship models on the map, especially when the AI uses them unexpectedly. (They love my "cheep constructor" design and now they have taken to using a tiny hull design for early scouts. Fantastic!) I also like things like art work for colonization events, animated leader screens, and cut scene videos for first time events (really like those!).
This doesn't mean I want anything less than magnificent strategy interaction with endless replay value and immersion. That is what the game is really about. But nowadays, you do not have to choose. Companies can effectively multi-task. I've seen it happen! Honest! I want my cake, and I want to keep eating cake, and I want that cake to be of gourmet quality. That includes the dramatic presentation with dressed up waiters and themed fanfare. After all, this is dessert we are talking about!
At least, I want as much of that as I can realistically get with a real world budget.
It's just that I think Stardock can make this all real, given time.
Each of us tends to think we sort of represent a demographic of the customer base here on the forums. The combined result is this schizophrenic contradictory mob of "I want". To a certain degree, I deliberately embrace that. There is no reason not to want it all. There is every indication that Stardock is well aware that eye candy sells copies. They are also well aware that legendary AI and addictive game play creates invaluable buzz for the company. There is no need not to appreciate and clamor for more with both these factors and many more. I also want UI polish, dedicated hunting down and elimination of typos, snarky humor, and a good helping of subtle details I would have never thought of by myself. The difference between me and the howling greedy mob is that I try to ask nicely. And patiently. That's the real hard part.
So, on behalf of cake lovers everywhere, "Pretty please, real soon now?" 