A friend of mine told me about this last week,so I got it and started playing it.
So far its been a really interesting game,but man,what a refresher course on stellar flight school....it ain't nothing like freelancer,but mining is way easier...pull up to a rock,turn on the mining laser,kick back and watch what comes into your hold,grab a beer,do laundry,make a sandwich...the ship does the work for you.
Its a game that can be played as single-player,or multi-player,but the number of players is dependant on the pipeline your connected to.I think a T-1 connection would allow 25 people to be on the same server.
Interesting point about it is teh fact that no matter which mode you play in,single or multi,you char equipment and cash and etc....follow you.
Would be like having your , say LR GB on Disco GC follow you to another Disco server,so you still had your favorite ship to fly.
With the server apps for an online server,you,as the player,can construct new trade bases,ore processing facilities,research stations,sensor platforms.
And you can customise all the goodies on your ship,by adjusting the X,Y,Z axis for the objects placement on the ship,as well as stretching or squashing the objects size and shape.
Server files are in the game,so you and a couple buddies can start a server and play for a few hours,then save it,shut it down,start it up again at a later date,and all the stuff you built is still there.
By building the different stations,it affects the trade in the system,the research stations affect the items you can buy as well as the cost...more tech at a cheaper price.