And now they are making DLC that will cost 30$.. (wtf?)

IMHO, SotS2 has some questionable design choices, that make the game overly complex (with an UI that doesn’t allow to manage that complexity) without making for good gameplay, but the main issue is probably that the game is unfinished (and is unlikely to ever be finished as the publisher preferred to cut the funding).

Most 4X games are won via eXtermination anyway, so why not focus on it?

I personally don’t understand why would anyone want to focus on combat in 4X game (it’s not X+3x after all) but perhaps there’s some charm in you playing leader of the whole empire and ship commander simultaneously. Still I prefer ES model where combat exists to show you why does your empire loses your fight so that science, army composition and industry could change accordingly.

So it’s like Total War in space? And SotS2 is objectively inferior?

The interface might need some time to get used to, but I think it’s mostly not because it’s bad (SotS2 or Civ:BE interface is much worse), but because it does things differently.
And once you learn the keyboard shortcuts it’s mostly a breeze (way too many games skimp on keyboard shortcuts, but they’re essential once you know how to play the game and want to do things fast).
The only thing really missing is the auto-focus on next/previous event when pressing left/right button, but it’s been added by the excellent sotsqkeys :
http://www.kerberos-productions.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=428993#p428993
(see first thread post for more information)

I find the (relatively) crummy voice acting and the (relatively) cartoon graphics endearing (though there are people that find them annoying). SotS2 tried to be more serious and IMHO lost most of its charm because of that.

As for the tutorial videos, they’re better at explaining the game than simple infographics (especially because of the 3D nature of SotS) and you have to remember that the game had to fit on CD’s so HD wasn’t really an option.

Anyway, there’s just no other 4X game that even comes close to SotS spaceship combat.

Also I’ve noticed it made me a better 4X player. In Civ roleplaying affects me. I want to research Writing, not Animal Herding on my first turn in Civilization 5 cause Writing rocks, I like to write, and Animal Herding is for noobs. This is the same way I play Paradox grand strategies (but you don’t have a win condition there anyway). In ES when I choose between Quasi-Plastic Mining and Modified Nuclear Inbreeding I choose whatever is better for my strategy.