awww that sux.. that mos def woulda made this game better
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It kind of does. I'd have liked to see multiplayer but the devs felt they should fully develop the single player and ai first before going through the rigormoral and expense of multiplayer. Do what you can when you can the best you can. I can't disagree with their reasoning at the moment. Finding players to committ to the time it would take for a tbs true internet multiplayer would be maddening.
Getting your friends into your own empire sounds like a good Idea. Not quite as good as becoming a G.R.O.S.S. pirate but hey, I'm a little biased.