2022-01-13 FYI

[Celarious]

It should be the galaxy with the most choices. Whereas some of the other galaxies could be tailored to more narrow choices. You could turn a galaxy into a large battleground with a lot of raid-like features for those who like lots of fast action or a peaceful one where conflict is suppressed by The Organians or something.

It's supposed to be a sandbox, lets keep it that way.

The issue with that is that there aren't enough players to make those various domains lively. It would only split activity. SoH is a sandbox in which everyone should be able to interact or bump into others, willingly or not. We ain't saying "small Box where you will never be able to hide and chill," we're just arguing: "single galaxy, potentially smaller as in one fourth of its current size, which would be better for PvPers and diplomacy enthusiasts, while keeping the more solo/hiding-oriented players entertained.

Compromise is key. Not exactly what PvPers who enjoy absolute, constant chaos want, but not sheer, endless solitude either. Something in between. A MMO should most definitely not encourage features like "20 galaxies for 200 players at most", as it causes everyone to hide away because "muh me not want take risks". Online SoH with no risks doesn't exist--and that's fine. It wouldn't be interesting if it were 100% safe; there would be no stakes, no challenge, no point in being cautious or playing smart. It's just like playing GTA Online, never turning on Passive Mode, and expecting nobody to attack you.

While I agree that the game should stay a sandbox, and that there needs to be a compromise, there's another point of contention:

I have found that even if start in the frontier its not that difficult to find the core empires. Once you have warp you explore along the axis's toward the galactic center and empires turn up sooner than you think. Once located you can build forward outposts and stage your assets there.

While this may have worked during U3, early U5, and partially during U4, it unfortunately breaks down when you introduce 19 other galaxies where people can run off to. Sure, you can try to blockade the intergalactic wormholes, but that isn't really super effective from what I've heard. Just the other galaxies being present turns what would've been "core empires" into "edge of random galaxy" empires, which isn't really reasonable to locate. And at that point, there's no reason those edge-of-random-galaxy empires shouldn't just be playing Starship, since they'll never encounter another player without returning back to the Shores galaxy regardless

Edit: Didn't see your last post about too many galaxies and the PvP mechanics when I posted this, oops

[Wincil]

I don't think size would matter in my opinion neither the number of galaxy's in the end its up up to him with what he wants to do with the game

[Athena]

I am once again restating the need for f2p + patreon as the subscription model is bad.

[Haxus]

After more thought about the idea, I am not going to change anything about the way empires are created. I will not create a bunch of startup empires either. Let’s leave that stuff as it is now.

[Deantwo]

I am once again restating the need for f2p + patreon as the subscription model is bad.

Don't know if Haxus would consider free-to-play again. The most he mentioned was that he liked having a pay-wall of some kind. So I would believe it more like that he would consider a one-time purchase for account activation.

If account activation was something like $5 and empire creation was $10, it wouldn't seem like all that much. And then if Haxus wants to accept donations, I just mentioned that in my previous post.

[Zensras]

I've never thought that forcing players into certain action was the best way of recruiting and retaining them. (although I do agree that it is sometimes necessary) IMO choice paired with encouraging those actions was always the better option. I have found that even if start in the frontier its not that difficult to find the core empires. Once you have warp you explore along the axis's toward the galactic center and empires turn up sooner than you think. Once located you can build forward outposts and stage your assets there.

It's size has always been the beauty behind the "SoH verse". Just knowing that there are others out there that you can go and find if you want to is reason enough for many such as myself to pay the price of admission.

As to the notion that the SoH galaxy should be tailored to PvP'ers and that solo'ers should go elsewhere, I strongly disagree. It should be the galaxy with the most choices. Whereas some of the other galaxies could be tailored to more narrow choices. You could turn a galaxy into a large battleground with a lot of raid-like features for those who like lots of fast action or a peaceful one where conflict is suppressed by The Organians or something.

It's supposed to be a sandbox, lets keep it that way.

So couple of things:

1)  The size,  I can 100% agree with.  I understand people's complaints about the number of universes there are in SoH that it creates "foxholes" for people. 
*COUGH*DEAN*COUGH*
Now I enjoyed the size somewhat because it made some variety of systems.  The original size did as well....but hot damn traveling took forever.  

2)
We had this.   It was called Veil of Targoss.

And there were a majority of people who preferred the main galaxy because it was fun.    The very same people who said they were transferring to Veil actually had accounts on main they used the majority of the time.

[Haxus]

What if berth-a-porting and teleport invitations were nerfed?

[Deantwo]

What if berth-a-porting and teleport invitations were nerfed?

Depends on if you were planing on making empire creation a separate purchase or not. I might have assumed that since I do like that idea, it makes some of the old alt empire exploits less likely.

Reason I mention that is because it would result in more people joining the game with the intention of joining a friend who purchased an empire.

But even without that there might still be people that would like play with their friends, so some form of teleportation would probably still be necessary. It could possibly be limited to some form of building maybe, so the inviter need to have spend a little building up a city and have constructed this building.

[Haxus]

To join a friend you just have to join their empire and recall. You should spawn at their capital or one of their cities.

[Deantwo]

To join a friend you just have to join their empire and recall. You should spawn at their capital or one of their cities.

As long as we mention that a few places (wiki for example) I guess that could be enough.

Lets see what others say.