You know, I used to browse these forums all the time, but, due to inactivity, my account was removed. Coming back,I'm glad you enjoyed the game HH. I have three level 30+ empire characters and I can confirm the distances are a pain in the butt. If you make a lot of alts, you just get used to knowing what level you get sprint at and saving up for the very expensive speeder + the training to pilot it.
It's good to see that not all the speculated opinions earlier can be changed. I remember all of the speculation before the game came out and reading your posts confirmed my thoughts that the game wasn't bad after all. It may have it's flaws and the combat may be a bit boring at times, imo, but the story elements keep me interested. I hope that the other long-standing users on this site post their opinions, if they try it. It would be interesting to read them.