ADD is under-diagnosed. This is why we have this problem.

I am with "Fractallicon" this game has more depth than the other RTS games. I like to think of myself as a real or true RTS player and when I was looking for something a bit deeper than a StarCraft or WarCarft or Command and Conquer in a hairy. This games fills that rule and more.
Like "wildsage" my fleets have never been longer than the AI or anyones for that fact after learning the best tactics and using this game to its full I really did not need the 1.04 patch the game was balanced for me a few bugs does not kill a game. if deploying tactics after you have tried to do something does not work for you try something else or just us that single player game that you just hold down the mouse button "and just hold it we will tell you when to stop just hold".
I really loved "ShadyZu" commit on ADD its truely a BIG thing.

P.S on that subscription idea you can stuff that to.

ADD

If I can beat you on the smallest map possible, the bigger map will just make it more one sided. No point in dragging it out for 4 hours. Anytime I play a big map I get so far ahead of people they usually quit before we fight. Or quit as soon as they see my fleet for the first time. At least on smaller map I get to kill few units.

And whatever you feel the game was envisioned to be, it is my game. I paid for it, and I will play it how I like it.

Focus fire is partly to blame. Shield mitigation was supposed to make this less viable, but as is there is no point to deviating from a certain selection of ships given a map with an enemy in your star system.

Massing DPS is the most viable strategy. light frigates -> long range frigates -> heavy cruisers. I used to play around with drone hosts in 1.03, but that was because I thought the illuminators were not worth it given the research investment and the fact that they couldn't stand up to the enemies long range frigates.

Other than those three dps oriented ships there is almost no point to getting the other ships in many cases. Subverters and guardians are fantastic and are usually included in fleets at higher levels of play. But even then you are looking at a handful of these ship types compared to the dps ships.

I do love the game though, you see me playing a lot under the name Torandel. I would like to see shield mitigation increased somewhat in order to diminish the effectiveness of focus firing and allow repair skills more opportunities to function. But other than that there's not much else they can do. The game is about conquering your opponents, and people will do that in the most efficient way possible because they want to win. Currently DPS does this and support ships do not (except for guardians and subverters).

If these games took any longer, nobody would play them at all! As of now, there are usually fewer than a few hundred people playing online at any given time. I think the reason for the lack of players is:

1: minidumps, and the generally unwieldy online experience.
2: most normal people don't want to spend 4 hours in a game.

I think the ideal amount of time for a single game online in any RTS is 45min-1.5 hours. After 2 hours it just gets boring. Everyone has all the tech by then, most people have effectively infinite resources, and things just grind to a halt. Even if you are clearly winning it can take forever to finish things off. This is the reason that EVERY online game is set to "fast" speeds. People don't like being bored.

Regardless of what a few people want (no offense, but they are the uber-gamer computer nerds), this game simply cannot be focussed on any longer gameplay than it already is. It would lose it's entire mainstream (i.e. casual gamer) online fanbase. Then, once they're gone, there would be so few people left that nobody, including the uber-gamers could ever find a game.

As of now, good games can be played online in like 2 hours in Sins. The main obstacle that I see in improving this is the startup time. Those first 3-4 planets take 30+ minutes to colonize, and all of that is before you ever see the enemy most of the time. That's 30 minutes of wasted time. Maybe we could speed it up a tad? Like make the first ten minutes of gameplay go 30% faster than the rest of the game?

Interesting ideas...

Perhaps an option could be added to the game to increase the number of starting planets that a plyer controls e.g. instead of colonizing, start off with 3 or 4 established planets. Perhaps this can already be done - if so please tell me how

Blindside (if i remember correctly) starts with your homeworld and a colonized asteroid. I like that because it suits those people looking for a faster game and battles tend to occur sooner than on large maps where you only start with your homeworld.

I think it could be nice to vary the number of starting planets...what say you?

just saying if you want long games try stardock chat or ask clans on this forums
they have all kinds off people who like short and long games this is how i get players when i am in the mood for a long game

heres another overlooked option...

Turn down the settings, when you host. Theres no law saying everything has to be cranked up to fast. If you want more plotting, slow down the pace before you even start.

If anyone who is worth thier weight in salt will look at the options before they "sign thier name up to play"... Then youll have what your looking for.

It's not really a direct parallel to fps run'n'gun mindless shoot em ups.

Unless you're only a few jumps away from your opponents, there a number of strategies that are viable on small maps. On large maps, yes there more strategic options, but the same skills/strategies/tactics needed to survive and do well on a small map also apply to them. Thus, playing on large maps only drags out the inevitable. The player with better strategy will still win. The player with better game understanding, scouting, etc, will still win.

For those of you saying sins is much deeper game than Starcraft, I really hate to say it, but I don't see that being true. There's not that many strategies in sins and attacks are much more predictable. Don't get me wrong though, sins has had a great start and I'm hoping expansions and patches give it some much needed enrichment (ie, more units, better tech trees, alternate ways to win, alternate ways to attack, etc... in other words, more variables to the overall game).

As much as I would like to agree with you on this, I do find that mid game, a huge LRM wall is strategically viable. However, late game if you don't mix it up, you just start a massive war of attrition with a planet by planet grind, essentially you make a 5 hour stalemate.

I agree with Fractallicon and by the time all the so called balance tweaks are done the game is going to be speed orientated.... utter crap.