codeka
commented
9 years ago It already clears out inactive players with one star (actually, it marks them 'inactive' then new players will be created over the top of them, if they're not too close to an active player).
Players that have multiple stars or who were once active but aren't any more is trickier. What do I do if they have an active neighbour? You'll log in one day and you'll have a big empty space next to you.
Perhaps what I can do is once you've been inactive for > X months, your outer stars start to fall away, ships on other planets disappear, and the empire slowly contracts back to a single star where it can be reclaimed.
Now that 'last seen' has been implemented, it would be useful to nullify inactive stars and fleets as an enhancement. I have noted several inactive players have cloaked scouts scattered about which cannot be destroyed. This is a messy state of affairs. The bright red 'onesies' of lookie loos that just visited WW once and then left, are noted but still there also. Clearing inactives back to native territory in EVERY way would be simpler and tidier. No huge fleets to overcome. No wondering anymore...just stars for the taking. Setting a clear date of 6 months to a year, seems reasonable. Also allowing players to set their empires to 'idle' for some period less than ultimate zeroing out of everything, would be wise. There are also null/inactive alliances as well. So all in all its a mess that needs fixing.