I've been thinking about running a multiplayer game of Aurora, with say, 4 people playing nations on Earth. I'm posting here to gauge interest, and lay out a feature of two that should make it interesting, if it gets off the ground.
The problem with Aurora multiplayer as I see it, is that even if you're mailing screenshots and such around, there's just a ton of times when someone might want to react to something the other players do. This makes things very slow unless you're playing at the same computer. To minimize this, I'll be implementing a fog of war. Players get to react to things detected in their capital system, but otherwise, I'm in command. What this means is I take orders and run with them. If the orders provide for something, I follow them, but otherwise have free reign to do whatever seems to be the logical thing from that fleet's eyes. Should make things interesting.
As part of the fog of war, I've decided to also have things not known to the players unless a ship that was in-system when events happened reaches Earth. If a fleet is wiped out to the last ship by precursors, I won't tell you. I'll just inform you it has missed its check in date, and is now MIA. Doesn't mean it's dead either. Could have encountered something and been crippled, forced to take an alternate jump path home, etc. Who knows? You don't till you find it, or its wreckage, if there is any, and send a ship home to tell you.
What does this all mean? It should leave players to decide strategy, R&D, stuff like that, while leaving the small stuff to me. Also, it presents some interesting options for backstabbing and general deviousness. As long as no witnesses survive, you get away with it.
Anyway, give a yell if you think it's an idea worth pursuing, or would be up for game like this. Also, questions. Questions are fun.