I want my friends to play LAN without buying their own copy of PA.

Wrong forum, Oops!
check it here:
https://forums.uberent.com/threads/multiplayer-lan-play-using-spawn-copies.65059/

Dear Uber,

GREAT JOB on the release of the offline server. Gameplay is smoother, faster, and exponentially more enjoyable with the bandwidth handicap removed. That being said, one major bit of functionality, for me, is missing.

After several searches I have found no one asking about using shared launches for LAN play.

I have friends who are not big enough fans of the genre to go out and purchase their own copy of Planetary Annihilation just for when we get together for a friendly LAN Game. I want to be able to run multiple copies of the game for local matches.

We need something like what Diablo II, War Craft, and Star Craft had. You could run a spawn copy of the games for LAN play. It has also been done on several DS games. these games allowed a player to do a spawn launch of one copy of a game so that multiple players could share in the fun without having to own their own copy of the game.

I may have been mistaken, but when I was looking at Offline LAN play I was expecting this type of functionality.

Before you say it, I know that the majority of games released in the last 15 years, that supported local LAN play, would require each player to have their own copy of a game to play locally. However, just because the majority of developers in that time period were far more interested in profit than value, does not mean it was the best way to go. Using spawn launches is far more appealing to me, and, IMHO, adds an incredible amount of value to a game purchase.

Is this functionality going to be rolled out, or not? I would be very disappointed if it is going to be left out.

I am not going to lie. I was under the assumption, that whatever computer the Planetary Annihilation folder was on, would launch and work offline. You can't get multiple computers together to play a match despite that?

P.S. Did you accidentally in the german forums?

Yep LOL. German forums. guess I will have to duplicate it in the right place.

You can already do this I believe.

Just copy the files, use a USB drive and give them to a friend. Then host a local network, and play.

Doesn't work. There is no way to look for a local game. The UI is not in for it.

in a LAN they game should just be listed normally.