Hey Josh,
Can the LT universe be simulated?. ((Without graphics or time constraints (ship A takes 10 minutes to mine and 10 minutes to transport goods to station B...ETC.....) ) How fast can you sim all the NPC activities? Say: 24 hours of NPC mining/fighting/trading compressed into _ seconds? ?
You could have 2 programs. One running LT gameplay(LTGP) and one simulating(LTSIM) the thousands/millions/billions of NPC star systems.
When I re-visit a system...LTSIM has kept it updated...(The prices have changed...my empire has crumbled..ETC.......)
Just like a baseball sim can generate a seasons worth of stats in seconds/minutes...LTSIM could do the same. See what happens to your empire in a million years!
I'm sure this has been thought of before...but I'd like to rekindle it.