It's best described as Star Control 2 meets Armored Core. This game is clearly a work of love by the creators and is the single best spaceship customization game I've played ever.
The one problem is, the game requires a shitton of grinding for parts, just like Armored Core. The designers realized their mistake after-the-fact and added several pre-made ships to allow players to jump into multiplayer from the start.
I've beaten the campaign on normal, so you can take your time and get familiar before we get crazy.