Seeing as I tend to play the game in a rogue-like fashion, no save-scumming, currently on medium difficulty with basic platform start. I think that is a good way to give consistent feedback on the game balance.
I did a few play through's on Alpha 8 - furthest I got was just over halfway to the end of the first galaxy.
What usually got me dead was my desire for more crew leading me to get reckless with pirates. Losing a crew-member early on, so you have three, if there are no vital skills missing the game plays about the same as with four crew only slower. Fires can be more dangerous with only three crew to fight them and I nearly lost a few ships to them. Very exciting - I love fires.....
However if it were not for my risking crew with pirates, in general it is just a question of getting richer. Of course these are generalisations as a LOT depends on the mix of crew traits and skills and I only have five or six starts to go by.
I played one game so far on the experimental fertiliser update. I found another crew-member on about the fifth derelict so now I have five. Already I am seeing what a huge difference that makes.
If the dev's want me to give feedback on any particular aspect of the game while I am doing the whole scientific rogue-like play through's thing let me know in this thread and I will be happy to.
One thing would make it a lot better is an ability to have a ships log, and maybe also a character log, so we can record events and thoughts/responses - I think that would really help with the enjoyment as, for me at least, this game currently is more about following the stories of the characters than overcoming challenges.
Anyway - More soon I expect. Love this game.
