Man, I wish I had both the time and patience to play more games than I currently do. This update actually looks pretty interesting:
https://www.silverlemurgames.com/2022/07/08/stellar-monarch-2-version-0-75/The dev has put in a bunch of work on noble houses this time around. Dang near every feature added, removed, or changed in this update is related to them. I'm really glad to see the kind of detail he's putting into this.
On a tangential note, I find it interesting that we've seen a slight uptick in "feudal space empire" games as of late -- there's still not many out there, no, but they're not extinct either. There was the first Stellar Monarch title, then Star Dynasties, Alliance of the Sacred Suns is due out later this year, and I'm guessing Stellar Monarch 2 will release as a full game sometime next year(?). Honestly, it's nice to see this niche make a bit of a comeback, however tiny.
It would be especially cool to see a comparison done between/amongst all of these games (once they're released). Realistically, though, I would almost certainly have to sit down and write that piece myself, and that might require more energy -- and patience -- than I can muster.