It always takes a long time to prepare for a new playtest cycle. While a lot of the game stays same, they are presented in a different way. For example, majority of ship statistics have been replaced by default values - something little you'll have to memorize but what you'll learn to remember very easily. After this, you know that your capital ships move at speed 3, have weak maneuverability and have 3d medium and point defense weapons and armor - any exceptions are mentioned on the ship sheet. It is heavy weapons and other abilities that define the units after all! 

Of course, a cheat sheet for unit default values which you can refer whenever you need to, but I can promis that won't happen many times once you've played a few games.

One great source of inspiration I've found recently is Eclipse. This is a great Finnish Master of Orion -type game I love to play, and it's inspiring to see another Finnish game gain so much popularity and see space -themed games being that popular too. And to be honest, if I would have been developing a 4X type game, I might well have given up, the playability of that game is as close to the optimal as it can be for the type of the game it presents. Fortunately, e2o is a space combat game that focuses on the actual conflicts and handles galactic politics only in small details like eliminating freighters and killing civilians.

More info after next playtests, until that I can give you development snapshot from current unit card!