Better nation set up (though government and economic types aren't implemented yet), infinitely better control over your nation's economy (you build each city up individually and you can choose what they produce as they grow), better alliance set up (with a lot more flavor added in), better resource production (each region has three key things you can produce, out of about 9 in total), and better basic army dynamics (you actually have to build infrastructure to produce an army, you have to feed said army, and things like tanks and planes have to be produced and supported via resources from across the globe). There's plenty of room for improvement, but it has the basic feel of Bloc with a lot more polish.
The downside so far is the interface that makes Civ1 look modern, and the excessive refugees from Bloc that are spamming the forum quite a bit (but the latter will be going away in about a week, and actually having an admin who cares has done a lot to keep things in check).