Well, I honestly thought it would take me until summertime to get the Galaxy released for BC. I'm quickly finding out that it just isn't going to be that long. Not even close. DO NOT quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure it will be a March release.
The Venture is in game and fully functional. The MVAM is awesome, and really adds to the ship. I've managed to find a balance where separating the saucer really does boost your chances of survival. I've done this by adding the hidden torpedo launcher to the saucer undercut, and increasing the maneuverability of the drive section in separated flight mode. Overall, it works out really well.
The Galaxy is an offensive monster if you want it to be. With the Venture, because of the extra two phaser mounts, the dorsal phaser coverage is exceptional. They really make a big difference. As per the ST:TNG Technical Manual, I've made the main saucer phaser arrays more powerful, and lowered the strengths of the other phaser arrays accordingly. Basically, the really short arrays are less powerful.
I've also tried to make its torpedo capability much more true to the show. This has been a bit of a trade-off, because since there are now ten HP's for each the for and aft launcher, if your torpedo launchers get damaged, it's a lot of work to repair them all. That being said, I think that's fairly realistic.
The ship moves like I think most people would expect. You should really be able to feel the size. It's not sluggish, but it's a good thing the phaser coverage is good, because you're not going to be keeping up with bugships and birds of prey. I've also compensated for this by ensuring that the torpedoes track accurately.
As of now, the venture, as I said, is fully functional. I've made icons for all the ship's components, however I've been having some trouble with the weapon arc display. I've been using the Tactical Display Editor, but there seems to be some kind of error, because when I select an icon for some of the phaser HP's, they don't show up, and it seems to foul up the HP.
Anyhow, that's what's going on with things right now.
