In that case it'd be lovely to be able to read the first copy, before buying the rest.
They have free fly events all the time. I expect that to continue in some way even after launch.
Also, I don't follow enough to know if they've said anything about this so this is just IMO. But I imagine that the main game will be one of those games that soft launches when it reaches a certain state that the team, has deemed to be enough within their vision of playable and then just continues from there with updates. Kind of like how it seems ark is being handled but on a much, much, much, much, much, larger scale... It seems that is how they've created the game, where it can be continually updated with new content and even tech as time goes on even after launch. Don't know about squadron though.