jump into an already started game?

Today I was playing several FA multiplayer games.

What I noticed was that several quality games got destroyed because somebody crashed or dc-ed.

It would be very usefull to be able to reboot your computer and then reconnect to the game. If the other players could pause the game a couple of minutes and wait till the player reconnects, then the game can be continued and it is not necessary to start all over again.

Idea enable join of observers to running game.
Would be handy for casters to join a game in a tourney that is already started.

Joining in progress could be brilliant for Clan matches, or Multi-player Galactic War - say if you had three or four teams fighting over a single system on their borders.

Alternatively this could be used to create and maintain large systems and games in the Lobby, leading to semi-persistent gameplay, with Commanders or even teams jumping in on the ruins of past battles. It'd be awesome to fight among craters and ruined bases.

I too like the idea of "joining in session".

Now, it doesn't have to affect the game. Pausing and such are server side atm, just waiting for UI exposed. You don't need to add commanders or armies or anything midgame, that gets more complicated so one step at a time.

However, being able to join as a spectator is a good feature. Being able to join from spectator as a player too is a good feature. What you would do, is obviously be able to control the army you join into.

What is also needed, is to give first player listed on army, "leader", so if griefing happens he can kick or notify host, and host can kick, or something. Also, he would have to accept anyone joining in on team from spectate.

That much, sounds good. Just links players into game. Game being changed midgame is a little harder and complex.