Unfortunately the "bugs" and balance problems are all part of Alpha status, "place-holders" which will be fixed and optimized at a later time.
It appears Schine is working on the next step, hence this Thread, where all the background work that has already be done is listed.
As normal players we do not really see all that goes on "behind the scenes", we just see the problems, bugs, and missing features.
Coding a game of this magnitude is not a "light" undertaking, and the team is small.
Generally, (aside from the bugs, balance issues and half implemented stuffs) Starmade is still in a very good state, most stuff does work very well and new features, server-configuration-extensions and the move towards custom content / modding is getting better!
Considering the Multiplayer server aspects; Starmade still needs lots of optimization and fixes, but is for the most part, quite stable!
Looking at other games in alpha status, some even beta or released... it's really no better elsewhere...
Last but not least, it is often easily overlooked, StarMade leaves a lot up to the players, build up the galaxy as you would like it to be...
ohye.. and its still free!
Support developement... buy the game!