nexus, killertomato, et al...just a quick reply to say thanks for the suggestions. it's hard as an artist to take criticism but almost everybody's been positive so far and i fully agree with most all of the suggestions.
re: lightmaps (etc) - yes, this beta was just a run-of-the-mill compile. I was getting frustrated working on this thing since last jan (read: 12 mos ago) and not releasing anything. I'm surprised i've not had bigger goofs (but there are some). I'm no expert, but I'll try to get the lightmaps and other polish items under control by final release.
Thanks again, all!