There is a reason why I would be focusing on getting the player-owned npc ships as a critical part of the game.Damocles wrote:Now demanding the multiplayer to be able to handle more and more, will make it more likely not to exist at all.
Apart from the technical side (networking code, keeping persistence, balancing, handling lag and dead reckoning, server costs and administration, cheating etc...)
There is one major issue with any "smaller" multiplayer game:
if there are not enough people playing it live, there will never be enough people playing it live.
Games relying on a live audience, simply require a live audience any time a player logs in. Else they are just empty worlds,
making the players who would be a potential audience to leave shortly after.
So you need a critical mass for a real time multiplayer game to work.
Thats why Im making some more realistic suggestions to implement some multi-user interaction to an otherwise
singleplayer oriented game. (single player oriented both in design and technology).
Players wouldnt need to be as active as they could set their empire up, and it would produce two types of players.
Those building their own empires, and carving out the stars.
And those flying around working for those empires.