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*coughs* What's wrong with Starport?
MadAce
Member Posts: 2,461
In an attempt to brake away from mmo's I wanna start by placing them in the RIGHT perspective.
And in the same time do a little survey.
My most addictive game at the moment (that moment has lasted for the pas two years, but whatever) is Starport: Galactic Empires
I'd like to hear why so little people play it and why so many run away. Don't start with graphics and bullshit. I'm not talking about that. I wonder why this suposedly crappy game has eaten me up two years. And I'd like to hear why other DONT play it. Maybe some reasons why I shouldn't either.
More info on SGE: mmorpg.com
Please ignore the screens. They're from BETA. UI has changed lots.
IN SHORT: I'd like some people to try it. Seriously try it. Sorry, long term commitment here (long term = 3 weeks or something).
Comments
______________________________
"When Saddam flew that plane into those buildings, I knew it was time to kick some Iranian ass!"
-cheer leading, flag waving American
The graphics of SGE are more finished than the ones of AO, no unfinished animations and no loose ends. Pure gameplay. Besides. SGE has some of the best 2D graphics around.
Weird that's the only thing you noticed when plying it. In those 5 minutes something else MUST have struck you.
NEXT!
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While graphics alone do not make a game, they certainly help draw people in. Ultimately gameplay is what keeps people around, and it sounds from your experience that StarPort has the gameplay, but without the graphics/marketing it is hard to get new people to try it.
Hello there, adventurer!
Why I don't play EVE, and comparing to SGE:
-You can
only stand out and stop being player n°14953 if you have played for 3 years and
know everyone. But you can't catch up with the veterans since there's only one
server and training goes equally fast for everyone. In SGE you can challenge
the vets at day 1, make a name of yourself at day two and have respect at day
5, although that will be VERY hard to accomplish. Tho it has been done.
-You have
to pay for EVE, although it's fairly cheap since the (many) expansions are
free. SGE can be won with no Tokens.
-You can't
influence what will be in the game. SGE is 80% made up by players and there is
EXTREMELY close contact with the devs.
-PvP, but
not quite. There is little safe space in EVE. But on the other hand... Why
fight? The Empires in SGE are far more real. You have to build them yourself,
remember?
-Time
consuming. Everything in EVE takes an extreme amount of time. Mining: 25
minutes for a few batches, warping to battlefield: hours...
-Not
casual. SGE can be played on casual basis. EVE requires constant attention.
-Steep
learning curve. SHE has an extremely steep learning curve; EVE has a vertical
learning curve.
-Unfriendly
community. PvP so badass people. SGE is more PvP but has awesome people.
-...
You can't
enter planets, or land on them. Like you can in SGE, although has a schematic
and cartoony way to do that.The only things besides ships are stations and
warp-gates. There are many designs of space stations, but quite standard
set-ups of offered features. For example a stations with a research facility
won't be holding an industrial complex to build things. Large corps/alliances
can build their own stations, which is expensive and time-consuming.
If you want
to get anywhere then it's even more time demanding than SGE. Small-time players
can't quit for a week knowing their money will just grow, as it is the case in
SGE. They have to actively play to make money.
There
aren't any colonies, since you can't land/enter planets. But making your ship
battle-worthy or run-worthy is just as important. And possibly time-consuming.
I believe
the game isn't intended to be played solo, but you can do it of course. Mind
that it is impossible to NOT be in a corp. But there are NPC corps with few
rules, the noob corps so to speak. Some players thrive there, minding their own
business.
In two
months you could REALLY get somewhere. But be noticed? At all? No way.
Although I
managed to be in some conspiracy in the 1.5 month I was there, and I even
participated in a campaign, without even knowing it.
But do they
remember me now? No way.
What I like
about SGE is that it's... Small. One player can post something on the forums
that can mount a war in days and make turmoil succumb trough the galaxies. It
only needs one player, maybe even a big noob.
In EVE
NOW GO BEYOND THE GRAPHICS PEOPLE!that's impossible. Can you get on the real life news with your opinion? When
you're lucky, but you won't influence much.
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I played for a whole round(round 2 or 3 I believe). I enjoyed it lots and thought there would be alot more ppl coming to it in later rounds.
When I played the game was dull because there were hardly any people to play with, there were a few and far between.
The MAIN reason I quit was because I got sick of getting pwned in my Star Trek looking ship that was really expensive by a guy who donated $5 (I think it was you :-P).
Other Reasons Included
-Planet Raiding Was Too Easy. I made the perfect setup and it only took a single guy 3 trys to get it. I took everyone elses' on the first try everytime.
-Not Enough Players
-Not Enough Ships
-Every Planet Could Be Colonized and if you found a nice Sandbox you were set for life on cash.
A Work in Progress.
Add Me
But personly I don't see it as a problem, matter of taste. EVE only requiers as much time as you want to put in it. There are very few things in eve requiering constant attention, most of those are 0.0 living with POSes and conqurable stations. I have been sick the whole week, a cold that left me in bed most of the time. Only had the strenght to get on long enough to change skill training. Still the sky hasn't fallen down and I haven't missed out on anything important (other than some really cool fights but that's not something that you NEED to participate in). Agree. All these things are coming.
Planetary flight is scheduled for the next expansion after Kali and even more planet interaction are planned. Here is a quote from planned features: "Planetary RTS or other hybrid game form. Yarr. The long-term crazy professor phase of planetary interaction."
And a quote about outposts from the same page: "The current Outposts are just the beginning to world domination. They should be upgradeable, both internally (services etc.) and externally (defenses)." You don't have to travel that much if you don't want to. Most people will stay within 1 region most of the time. Gives the galaxy a sense of size.
I don't see how you can say it's a bad thing that you need to play to make money. Remember that because of the way the skill system is done in eve there are no need to play for exp, so in many ways money have replaced exp as the reward for play. If you get both money and exp offline what is the point in playing in the first place
I could say the same for SGE, you can't quit for a week knowing that your skills will continiue to grow. You have to activly play to increase your skills. It's apples and pears. It is an MMorpg after all. But as you said you can play solo if you want. Adding these toghether. Seems what you want here is a paradox. The only reason you don't have any asshats and that you can make such large influence is the fact that you have such a small community. If you get your wish to come true and more people start playing it than all these points will be equal for both games. Guess I don't want to make this a real argument because I agree that gameplay is the most important aspect and graphics comes second but EVE is in the next expansion upgrading is even now good looking graphics to look even better
All in all I am sure SGE is a good game but there seems to be very little it provide that I don't get from EVE now. The only game that might pull me from EVE are the upcoming Pirates of the Burning Sea. Depends on how they manage to pull it off. Was very skeptical about it for some time but the latest changes to the economy leads me to belive they are back on track.
"Memories are meant to fade. They're designed that way for a reason."
First of all. There are permanent servers now. Mighty empires claim arms and colonise them and form powerfull political entities.
Planet raiding is "harder". In perma's since you have aquired a lot more planets and can really fight back.
It's a thrill to have two empires of 300 planets (and YOU know what work one of them represents) wage war. It's highly strategical and requires months of in advance planning.
Indeed. The lack of players online is disturbing. Although due to the persistence (your ship is ALWAYS inthe galaxy) you're always competing with 1000 people (or more) online or not. In new perma's up to 70 ppl can be online. Doesn't sound much but you can get to some serious PK'ing.
That guy paying $5 was probably a noob since most people winning rebangs don't buy tokens. It's perfectly possible to win rebangs without money-bought tokens. Could have been me back then.
In perma's you just buy tokens for ingame money.
Funny that a guy playing the ultimate PvP game was sick of getting owned.
There has been serious balancing the past few months. Planets aren't the gigantic flow of money anymore. And some ships have been tweaked to give them a reason of existance.
yes, few ships. But all have their purpose. You saying that MORE = BETTER?
I wouldn't have thought you would give up. The key to succes i not giving up. maybe the difference to EVE is that the steep learning curve in EVE needs adaptability and the steep learning curve in SGE needs persistance.
Someone played the up to date version?
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Qustion: Why play bad games when you can play good games? I am sure you will have tns of input on that as well, but I am not interested in your little manufactured tales, I want you to ask it to yourself.
Persistence.. Its not about that. Most people can put an X somewhere on the line between:
Free----------------------------------------------------------------------Quality
A few are happy just as long as their X lands in the free box, but MOST people want to be slightly above that and look for some quality, even at a low cost.
For you "Free" equals "Quality". And now you wonder why so few others think like you...
I do not think anyone else need to ask themselves if they have a problem here... So start talking to yourself, I think the answer is there somewhere
"This is not a game to be tossed aside lightly.
It should be thrown with great force"
-You can
only stand out and stop being player n°14953
if you have played for 3 years and know everyone. But you can't catch
up with the veterans since there's only one server and training goes
equally fast for everyone. In SGE you can challenge the vets at day 1,
make a name of yourself at day two and have respect at day 5, although
that will be VERY hard to accomplish. Tho it has been done.
This has been proved so many times to be false I am not even going to bother commenting on it.
The matter of the SP race veterans vs noobs is indeed very subjective.
-PvP, but not quite. There is little safe space in EVE.
But on the other hand... Why fight? The Empires in SGE are far more
real. You have to build them yourself, remember?
There
are lots of player built empires out in 0.0 in EVE. I fight daily to
defend the region of space I call home. Seems to me you have missed the
best part of the game
I've been in the Empire managment part of EVE trough a mates account and indeed it was very much fun.
Tho I feel that the possibility to be able to BUILD (or invade
-Time consuming. Everything in EVE takes an extreme
amount of time. Mining: 25 minutes for a few batches, warping to
battlefield: hours...
Agree but you should switch it around, a few hours for meaning full mining and maybe 30min to get to a fight.
But personly I don't see it as a problem, matter of taste.
Mmmh. SGE can be just as time-consuming actually. I sleep 3 hours a night. Point not given but still taken.
-Not casual. SGE can be played on casual basis. EVE requires constant attention.
EVE
only requiers as much time as you want to put in it. There are very few
things in eve requiering constant attention, most of those are 0.0
living with POSes and conqurable stations. I have been sick the whole
week, a cold that left me in bed most of the time. Only had the
strenght to get on long enough to change skill training. Still the sky
hasn't fallen down and I haven't missed out on anything important
(other than some really cool fights but that's not something that you
NEED to participate in).
I've noticed that not loggin on for a week is hellish. No details but you can be a prey for the taking...Point not given but still taken.
You can't enter planets, or land on them. Like you can
in SGE, although has a schematic and cartoony way to do that. The only
things besides ships are stations and warp-gates. There are many
designs of space stations, but quite standard set-ups of offered
features. For example a stations with a research facility won't be
holding an industrial complex to build things. Large corps/alliances
can build their own stations, which is expensive and time-consuming.
There
aren't any colonies, since you can't land/enter planets. But making
your shipbattle-worthy or run-worthy is just as important. And possibly
time-consuming.
All these things are coming.
Planetary
flight is scheduled for the next expansion after Kali and even more
planet interaction are planned. Here is a quote from planned features: "Planetary RTS or other hybrid game form. Yarr. The long-term crazy professor phase of planetary interaction."
And a quote about outposts from the same page: "The
current Outposts are just the beginning to world domination. They
should be upgradeable, both internally (services etc.) and externally
(defenses)."
Wow, didn't know that.
If you want to get anywhere then it's even more time
demanding than SGE. Small-time players can't quit for a week knowing
their money will just grow, as it is the case in SGE. They have to
actively play to make money.
You don't have to
travel that much if you don't want to. Most people will stay within 1
region most of the time. Gives the galaxy a sense of size.
I don't
see how you can say it's a bad thing that you need to play to make
money. Remember that because of the way the skill system is done in eve
there are no need to play for exp, so in many ways money have replaced
exp as the reward for play. If you get both money and exp offline what
is the point in playing in the first place
I could say the same
for SGE, you can't quit for a week knowing that your skills will
continiue to grow. You have to activly play to increase your skills.
It's apples and pears.
SGE isn't really an RPG. So you don't have skills. But you can set your colonies to generate experience (a measurement of skill in SGE) while you're away. Tho you have to be there to defend your stuff.
-Unfriendly community. PvP so badass people. SGE is more PvP but has awesome people.
In two months you could REALLY get somewhere. But be noticed? At all? No way.
Although
I managed to be in some conspiracy in the 1.5 month I was there, and I
even participated in a campaign, without even knowing it.
But do they remember me now? No way.
What
I like about SGE is that it's... Small. One player can post something
on the forums that can mount a war in days and make turmoil succumb
trough the galaxies. It only needs one player, maybe even a big noob.
In EVE that's impossible. Can you get on the real life news with your opinion? When you're lucky, but you won't influence much.
Adding
these toghether. Seems what you want here is a paradox. The only reason
you don't have any asshats and that you can make such large influence
is the fact that you have such a small community. If you get your wish
to come true and more people start playing it than all these points
will be equal for both games.
I've seen numbers in SGE fluctuate and never did people get ganked (more than within the framework of the game) or harrassed. There is player-policing. And I didn't really know that. It's common. I'm sure with more players the game would be just as friendly. I mean the people, not the game.
To conclude: The only real competition for SGE is EVE. And even then SGe has enough unique features to be able to present itself as a game to be better than EVE at some points.
Look at the game list. EVE and SGE. Forget the rest?
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I know people who spend more money on it than a few PS2 games would cost, a month.
To be fair, I've seized paying for mmo's some time ago. But I've spend a lot of money on it. I see it as my duty to test as many mmo's as I can. WoW, GW, lot's of EVE, ... And I know enough mmo experienced people that lend me their accounts so I can taste the more evolved characters in a game.
I'm as crazy as anyone can get so I have lengthy conversations with my many personalities and they all agree ("I don't!" *gunshot, silence*).
SGE offers more PvP QUALITY and Empire building than many big-budget mmo's. Read the comments on SGE in it's mmorpg.com page. Search for it online and read the ratings there. And no, I've only upped some, not all.
Now ask yourself... Do you bash other (free or whatever) games to INCREASE the value of the ones you're playing now? Wouldn't you rather go for the insecure existance of a freeloader and be rid of that monthly strain of P2P? It has been a consious decision on my part. Although I'd probably be playing paying games now if it weren't for SGE. If for me FREE equals QUALITY then I'd be playing Runescape.
Don't feel bad about yourself. People often find security in spending money. Now get to some grinding boy!
(BTW, tnx for trying the game)
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I don't mine getting owned as long as I stand a chance.
That ship was much more powerful than anything you could buy with game money. There was nothing I could do to even come close to taking him down.
Gimme a monthly fee.
or
Don't make me pay.
Chose.
A Work in Progress.
Add Me
But I should also add the in eve 99% of all people getting ganked are done so within the framework of the game. You see very little real harrasment in eve. The thing you might argue are that there are just not enough harrasment, most "ganks" are very impersonal and not done in any way to harras the target. Sometimes I would prefer it more personal but that's what you get with the size. A pirate attacking you at a gate or in a belt is not there to harrass you, he is there to make money. The alliance member killing you in 0.0 doesn't do it to harras you, he does it to make sure the territory is safe for his friends to live in.
"Memories are meant to fade. They're designed that way for a reason."
I don't mine getting owned as long as I stand a chance.
That ship was much more powerful than anything you could buy with game money. There was nothing I could do to even come close to taking him down.
Gimme a monthly fee.
or
Don't make me pay.
Chose.
You're talking about the IGS. That's a fine ship but... HAHAHAHAHAHA!!
No, it's crappy. Ok, great turning but an ISC and a Seth own it hands
down. It's just practice that makes perfect.
I wonder what you do in EVE when you are owned by a much more powerfull
ship bought with real money by a lazy player? You quit? No you train,
get better, group up and kick the MoFu's ass.
Same in SGE. And even then. I'm very crappy at fighting in the game
(tho I could beat an IGS), but I excell at long term planning and
non-violent Empire development. Just like EVE has miners who rarely
fight. Jeezes, give the current game a chance. and don't run off.
I didn't expect to hear arguments from you that are the same as those
of a 12 year old n00b. SO those arguments may have a point, but on the
other hand... Loads of freeloaders have Empires...
So we've had EVE.
Are there any other games that could compete with SGE?
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What the majority of the players don't understand is what type of gameplay the game has besides the below average graphics. In other words majority of players have a short attention span.
I must say that starports has a combat system like subspace.
----------------------
Give me lights give me action. With a touch of a button!
I'll explain.
You can buy a few items with Tokens, which you buy with VISA or PayPall.
-You can buy warp fuel. Warp fuel is rather important. If you jump from one system to the other you consume warp fuel. The amount is determined by your ship and your wisdom (one of the attributes you must give points to at the beginning of the server). Each server has a certain amount of fuel that regenerates in time. Some servers have fast regen, others have slow regen. You can maximum regen 5000 warp fuel. I'd say I usually spend 7.5 fuel per hop (jump to another system). And you can pass that 5K amount by jettisoning spice (one of the resources in the game) in space. Up to 500 a day. And you can buy fuel with tokens. BUT, it's perfectly possible to achieve things without buying warp fuel. More experienced players rarely do it, and consider it to be an extra. My warp fuel is most of the times really abundant, although I never use my tokens for warp fuel unless i absolutely have to. And... You can buy tokens with ingame money!
-You can buy nukes with warp fuel. Those are the most powerfull missiles. But you can buy them for 50K$ (that's no money) in the pirate star base and a vulcanic colony can spit out 75 a day. and it takes 10 to take out the most powerfull ships, tho you can only carry as much as 8 with you (there is a ship that can carry 24, but that ship is a sitting duck if not piloted by a very experienced playe since it has low speed and shields).
-You can buy ingame money with it. Only idiots do that since like I said before, there is a market to buy tokens with money, and the rates are really good.
-You can buy an IGS. It's a fine ship and can give you an edge in the beginning of a server. But when you get killed you lose your ships... And have to spend another 10$ (real ones).
-You can change your characters name/appereance/attributes mid-game. Rather new. Seems logical. Not really THAT big of an advantage.
Tge main point I want to say is... If you have any basic hand-eye coordination and any common sense it's perfectly possible to buy Tokens with ingame money.
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Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
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MoooOOOoooo!
I don't think any of you will try the game beyond 2 days. It's quite hard.
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Sorry, but you are incorrect.
In EvE no one, no one, NO ONE, can learn every single skill. This means a new player has a legit chance vs a vet player, no matter how long a vet has been playing. It will take a new player roughly 2-3 months of playing roughly 4 hours each session to be in position to challenge a vet player in PvP. As far as PvE? A new player should have no problems at all no matter how short, or long they play.
EvE DOES have the steepest learning curve out of every mmorpg out. And far steeper than Starport! LOL!
Next, in Starport, a new player is in a far worse situation vs vet players. In Starport (SP) one has to play 3 or more resets before getting an idea of the game. Next, one must have litterally NO LIFE because no one can log out the game. So other players can attack your bases, your ship, anytime, 24hours a day. Only players with no life have time to fortify their bases, be online to defend them, re-fortify bases as soon as possible, etc....
Players with a life have to find some place in the Starport galaxy to hide, while they logout the game, but their character/ship remains in the game. And hope other players who are online don't find them. SP would be better IF it allowed one to program their ship to fight, and what moves to do, in a que, while the player is offline, but their ship is still in the game.
Sorry, but bringing up having to pay to play is moot. Having a home computer itself is an ultra-luxery. If you cannot afford a computer game, then you should not be buying a $400.oo to $3,000.oo computer in the first place. Next, this point defeats itself! A MMORPG gives far more entertainment for the money than almost any other form of entertainement. It is litterally roughly 50 CENTS per day!!!! If you cannot afford to pay 50 cents per day, you need to get rid of the computer, and concentrate on doing your homework, finnishing school, so you can get a good career job, and then not be in danger of breaking your budget with 50 cents!
You are only half correct. Players do influence what is in EvE. Their game DEVs are very responsive. EvE does not make instant changes though. And since the game is not re-set ever month, they cannot experiment on a whim. SGE because it is sooo tiny a game, is able to do this easier. From a player standpoint, yes, it seems better... in the shortrun. But in the looong run, EvE wins. EvE has far, far, more content than SGE ever will.
EvE is now on the same level with this game feature. Actually, better. In SGE you build your empire, only to have it get wiped out after the game gets re-set! In EvE, you build an empire, and it lasts as long as you keep it up! As far as "safe space" both SGE and EvE match each other.
Sorry, but you are incorrect. SGE is far more time consuming than EvE. To play SGE, one must have no life at all. Because one can never logout their character. Other players can attack your ship, your planets, your defenses, anytime 24hours a day. If you are not at the computer, your ship will just sit there, getting whittled down, not firing a single retal shot. Your forts will never get re-fortified.EvE allows training while you are offline, away from your computer. Mining at first takes time because you start out in a wimpy newbie ship. Later on you have access to giant ships that are far more advanced. And there are other things to do in EvE also.
You are completly incorrect when you claim it takes hours to warp to a battlefield. It takes anywhere from 5 mins to 15 mins to warp to space that allows you to rip apart another player ship without having to worry about the high level NPC police ships.
I just listed why its the OTHER WAY AROUND. SGE is far more time consuming, while EvE is less time consuming. LOL! You have no idea how much it is the opposite. What is to learn in SGE? It takes 1 second to learn how to move your ship. 1 hour to learn how to do everything else in the game. Then the game becomes who has the most free time to build the most bases on the most planets. Who has the most free time to warp around collecting resources.
EvE litterally takes months to learn every single thing in the game. There are sooo many strategies in shipbuilding, ship add ons, different ways to PvP, even to PvE. No one ship can have everything, so thought must go into how to build your ship, and how you decide you will fight with the strengths and weaknesses of your weapons of choice.
SGE is ALL PvP ALL the time 24 hours. It is 75% FFA PvP. You can kill anyone, and anyone can kill you - as long as your not in the same guild. AND as long as you are online. It is near impossible to solo in SGE. If you solo forget about trying to build an empire, unless you can be online 24hours a day.
EvE has a far better community than SGE. SGE has a transient community since the game gets re-set every month or so. Plus it has a less mature crowd since the entire game is free. EvE has one of the most mature communities out of all mmorpgs because of the steep learning curve (helps weed out the immature minded). Join a corp/guild and your set with finding a great in game community!!!
You have just answered your own question. EvE has updated its game/is in the process of updating its game, to give players even more to do. I do agree SGE has a few features EvE does not have, such as landing on a planet, and going inside your planetary fortress/base.
Travel times in EvE and SGE are exactly the SAME! The warp maps even look the same LOL! SGE is the poorman's EvE.In SGE, small time players loose everything! If they quit for a week and come back, they will find all their bases destroyed, all their planets taken over, and no chance to rebuild. Because the victors are even stronger than before, and the game will end/get re-set even sooner. Also if anyone quits SGE for a week it is 99% likely their ship will be vaporized, and if it was a good one, they will have to spend tons of time getting funds to get it again. Heck, if one logs off SGE for just 1 HOUR chances are their ship will be vaporized when they come back LOL! Let alone being away for 1 week LOL!
I do agree in EvE it takes longer to upgrade to a PvP worthy ship. Which is the FUN of the game. Getting the ship is only half the work. One has to decide what mods, upgrades, weaponry, defenses, etc... to go with since NO SHIP in the game can have every single thing. It takes roughly 1 - 3 months to have a PvP worthy ship in EvE. In SGE it takes 1-3 days.But in SGE the best ship means nothing, a newbie in their pea-shooter ship can wait for you to log out your account, then plunk away at your uber ship while its sitting there, and destroy it.
As for PvE? In both games one can enter PvE during the 1st day of playing and have FUN!
It is very possible to solo in EvE. Far more possible than in SGE. In EvE, as long as one plays SMART one can solo the entire game. The fact that one can train their character while offline is hugely in line with the solo oriented player. (As well as the non-solo player who HAS A LIFE.) No one can kill you in 1 shot in EvE if you build your ship right. You have time to run away if you see 10 Battleships waiting for your 1 battleship. Plus you know ahead of time if you are going into a dangerous area and can PREPARE ahead of time!In SGE it is impossible to solo, since you can never log out your ship. As soon as you leave your computer, someone will find your ship, your planet, your fortress, your empire, and vaporize it. If you are not in a group/guild, there will be no one online to PROTECT you, your ship, your forthress, or your empire.
Also in EvE it is possible for a solo player to kill 3 other players, of the "same level" aka same ship type..... at the same time. Because since no 1 ship can have everything, the smart player will know, practice, how to operate their ship in their sleep. And know how to use every weapon, and defence, in their sleep. So a battleship can be taken down by a smaller ship. 1 solo player can "own" 3 or more players.
It is not about the graphics that is "holding SGE back". EvE simply has far more features! Far, far, more features!And they cost money! This is why Pay to Play games will always be better than 100% free games. That is how capitalism works.
One player can indeed influence events in EvE. Even better than in SGE since EvE is on ONE server. If you slay sooo many players, your name will litterally be feared by E-V-E-R-Y single player in the ENTIRE game. If you form a guild, your guild can make a name known by EVERY single player in the ENTIRE game. EvE is EPIC vs SGE.
It really comes down to this -> YOU like SGE! Nooo problem! Keep on having fun playing SGE. There are very roughly 1k players playing SGE. At its peak, maybe 5k players. EvE has roughly 50k and MORE players playing. SGE is what is called a NITCH mmorpg. EvE is also a nitch mmorpg, but not as nitchy as SGE. SGE in its current state will NEVER be as big as EvE. Never. Keep on having fun with SGE. Let us other players keep on having fun with EvE. Live and let live! You will never on your own get thousands of EvE players to convert to SGE. Sorry, but it will never happen. Just have fun with what you like, after all, BOTH players in SGE and in EvE are on the same side - we're ALL GAMERS!!! SGE and EvE can both exist, and do. If you have more fun in SGE, more power to you. But you will never see SGE get as big as EvE. Just continue having fun in SGE if that's "your cup 'o tea".
There is another space-based game that is free, and a level better than SGE, but a level less epic than EvE. I played it for a while, after checking out SGE. I played it for roughly 1 month. I cannot remember the name of it right now though. It's been close to 2 years since I last played it.
I still do like SGE. For a FREE game, it is fun, and worth checking out. But it held my attention for roughly 1 month. The re-setting of every server got to me after a while. What's the use of spending soooo much time building an empire only to know it will instantly be all gone in 1-3 months?
In addition, not being able to program ones ship to retal while being attacked makes no sense. Your offline/away from the computer/loged out the game.... your ship still stays in the game. No problem. But it sits there while anyone with a pea-shooter plunks away at it? Your ship could slay them in 1 shot, but it sits there... while they fire 25 shots at it and blow it up?!? Then when you log back in/come back to your computer, you find yourself podded?
The fact that one litterally has to have no life is what really did it for me with SE and made me refuse to play it anymore.