Why do I love this game so much?  I could not tell you with 100% certainty, but it is definitely one of the only board games in a while that I actually enjoy playing win or lose.  I started playing with some of my engineering friends, I'm an engineer as well, and we couldn't have had more fun.  Be prepared.  The rulebook is pretty extensive and can get complicated once you get into the advanced rule set.  We found the basic rules kind of boring and pretty exploitable, so pretty much started with the advanced rules gradually adding concepts the more we played.  Of course we found the playtime listed a little bit on the little conservative side.  Our games went on a little bit longer.