I"ve tried many online games from graphics based to text based.
A friend bugged me for 14 days straight over his MSN to try this one and I remember thinking, ok i'll go there have a look and then find one I will actually like, it will keep him quiet.
Now here I am almost one year later (in 14 days will be a year) and i'm truly addicted to this game.
The community is helpful, and its like a soap opera at times see whch federation is at war with which.
There are varying speeds of game each gving turns to use for research, building battle and infra and digging for artifacts at a different rate, making this game accessible to the busy and not so busy alike.
Slow 1 turn each 30 minutes (max at 250), Normal 1 each 15 (max 180), fast 1 each 5 (max 150), ultra 1 each 2 minutes (max 100) and Real Time 1 each 8 seconds (max 20).
I'll add here I found this game so addictive that i have a account on each of those speed games and take the time to maintain them, sometimes putting off sleep to gain borders and protect my better planets.
The races available each have their good and bad points, and i've two favourites amongst the freely available and those are Terran (all people start as this race) and A.miner (because people think its impossible to play and makes me laugh when i win a battle with a stronger race and member).
Of the paid available though most people prefer viral, I've got to say that I find Marauder the most stimulating.
A forum is available a online caht, also additinally some players have set up a IRC chat and additionally many players hae their own federation channels on IRC to assist in battle play. Also its supported by a community site which game guides and players set up and the games creator was kind enough to provide a link to where players can submit their profiles battle strategies, some players are interviewed, fan fictions submitted, battle calculators to assist and a list of artifacts found by guides and players and the formulas.
Its one of the friendliest community depsite the occasional conflicts that arise as they will in any community that i've come across, and that alone is enough to promote it. The chat is moderated so that parents dont' feel uncomfortable about their young children playing, at the same time players ages range from 5 (youngest i know so far) to 60+.
Do yourselves a favour, truly, and try this text based game.
