The current Game Length needs to be cut by about 75% IMO for MP to be viable. On small galaxies, games should NEVER EVER take anywhere near four hours, but they are. Even the longest games shouldn't be 4 hours really. I'm not saying that this is how it should be, personally I *like* long games, but it just won't work in random multiplayer games like on Ironclad Online. People have to go to bed, etc most don't have 4+ hour blocks to devote to one game, let alone the connection issues, ie people dropping etc.

1v1 games on a small map should last at most 45 minutes, that's for a really long game, average should be about 30 minutes or less. For mediums, say at most 1-1/2 hours, and large maybe 2 hours, even that's pushing it as the larger the map the more players involved and the harder it is to get that many people who can stay connected and commited.

Just increasing the overall game speed would turn it into a horrible clickfest with no time to strategise at all, it would degenerate into what most other RTS's are, he who clicks fastest wins. I got the game when beta 2 started, so I haven't experienced the game as it was, being able to jump anywhere in a system etc, that you all say was too fast, it may well be, but I think the biggest hangup is in ship movement and combat.

In my games, taking a well defended system even with overwhelming force takes a good 5 minutes, thats waaaay too long. I'd suggest increasing ship movement speeds in gravity wells, and especially increasing the rate at which ships fire.

Maybe they should use a different ruleset for MP, keep SP games at a more leisurely pace, and make MP games faster?