I have ordered Galciv2 TA, via money order.  I ordered the digital download only option.  Does that mean after stardock sales received my order, and then i am eligble to particpate in the beta.  Or will i have to wait until the game is released then i just download the game. 

One other question, for the background to the Galciv 2 story and the gameplay, how come in Galciv 1 and 2, the terran only starts with one planets and very basic ion drive.  According to the story from Brad, should not Allan Bradley has assisted the humans by accelarting their tech development to the point of starting at least with warp drives.  Hence in game play, there should be warp drives available already.