As Kari stated, the Acknowledge TrueType font has been released into the public domain by the author. The eMail exchange is part of README.Debian. Feel free to contact the author separately about this if you feel a need to get separate confirmation; he's a nice fellow.
As for using fontconfig ... the game uses a homebrew UI that relies heavily on the precise font sizes, and there's no generally-available font that looks anything like Acknowledge. That said, Acknowledge itself is now public domain, so it's as Free as necessary. Patches accepted. ;) Phil B. E:S Developer -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]