STRENGTHS
- numerous ship types -- different by size, purpose, and allegiance
- many, many ship outfitting options
- moderately good tactical combat game (ship-to-ship combat)
- relatively deep asteroid mining/refining game
- superb skills system (skills are learned in real time -- no grinding!)
- varied factional NPC mission/quest system
- good support for factional player organizations ("corps")
- factory system allows generation of game objects
- research system allows creation of new game objects
- good cargo trading game tied in with factory production
- price tracking data for all locally available goods
- 5000+ solar systems (with multiple planets/moons) to explore
- ungoverned areas can be controlled with player-created outposts
- easy-to-understand mechanism for travelling from one place to another
- difficulty of NPCs is keyed to "security level" of solar systems
- quality of NPC loot drops is appropriate to NPC difficulty
- 24x7 PvP generally doesn't affect those who don't want it
- dialup-friendly -- light on network traffic, and fairly small patches
- space is pretty
- 24x7 PvP -- there are consequences, but if some player wants to kill your character, he can
- space-based only -- no 1st-person planetary activity whatsoever (although some station avatars may be implemented)
- mining and ship combat are really the only things that can be done full-time
- mining is boring (so to speak) -- just turn on the mining lasers and wait
- research system is so hard that only the truly hardcore can afford to play it
- some NPC-generated market items (economy is not fully player-based)
- factory production is not very detailed
- rich backstory doesn't have many gameplay effects
- highly social -- no advanced content for the soloer
- corp gameplay can be extremely competitive and very emotive (think "soap opera in space")
- there are few activities that allow your character to express a story (roleplaying)
