Give me your thoughts on my massive galactic war idea...

And what if I'm going on an overseas cruise for a fortnight? I won't be at my computer for ages; the game can't progress.

What if my computer explodes? Or the power goes out? Or I'm just working late the next night?

My point is: eventually, someone will have better things to do, and others will lose patience in waiting and go start another match.

Play-by-mail Chess works because it's both, 1) turn-based, and 2) between two people.

My original thinking was that each player could set it however they like and it'd apply only to their tanks. So you could want yours to wait for your return, but your teammate's will donate over to you.

I can't foresee any technical reason why someone couldn't code all three options to work at the same time. If I made that, I'd also try to set it up so that I could change my settings mid-game.

There should be a difference in discussion between:

A big organized game, that is propably going to end. Like a 40+ people clan match. The 24h of Uber. Or something like this, which could actually be played with the ruleset of PA as we imagine it in "normal" mode.

And on the other hand persistent games: There you need sit in and out. You need protected zones where the player can spawn without getting killed immediately. You need other aims, for the player to encourage to play and keep playing. No one will join a Server where 2000+ Planets are played but a group of people allready covered more than half of the universe and there is no chance in defeating them.