Somewhat. There were several turns I handled the ongoing battles/invasions and not much else. I wouldn't mind seeing a more in-depth diplomacy options, both internal (appointing members of factions to ministers, dealing with factional infighting and popularity with each faction based on what you are doing and how the empire is faring) and external (truces, non-aggression pacts, trade agreements, research exchanges, perhaps even lend/lease programs of military hardware - hiring out squadrons to serve as mercenaries for another species or hiring their own forces for a set number of turns?, defensive alliances and full alliances), but I'm guessing that's all things to come in the future when that part of the game is filled out.
I agree that income should be somewhat flat, but given the number of empty planets I had available to colonize when the swarming bugs retreated to hibernate, being able to do so more then once every 4-6 turns would have been nice. Perhaps the cost of colonizing should be lowered, or there should be three tiers
1 - focus (full cost, occurs the quickest)
2 - encourage (costs less and is a lot slower)
3 - natural expansion - as civilians explorers and settlers and company concerns move into an uninhabited system, it slowly colonizes towards your empire at no cost to you. Eventually, they might have enough population to become formally represented. (MOO3 had this - species would naturally settle planets that were perfect for them, which allowed minor species in your empire to colonize worlds that your base species considered hellholes.)