This is 100% correct. Thanks for posting this up!

Most of the online crowd want to get in as many games as they can, which is okay as far as I am concerned.

It is also possible to mix and match research rates to ship speed rates etc on top of having the Quick Start on or off. There are many ways to tailor the game play speed and balance which determines when certain power curves and play styles become available.

Personally I like to play (when I have time) on Normal ship speed settings with the Research and Culture boosted up to fast settings which does make for a longer and slower game. Since DPS does not change and ship speed has been reduced it makes strategic placement of your combat vessels and how you choose to defend and expand your empire much more significant. On normal ship speed settings, you can't just hop from one side of your empire to the other to defend it as easily.

I said that to say this, the game settings are very customizable to allow for anyone to setup the game they want to play, whether it be a 5v5 that takes 30 minutes or a 6 player FFA that takes 4 hours. In this way any single player/LAN party fan can ease themselves into multi-player and vice-versa.

Another option is to play custom maps that are designed in such a way so that rushing is not possible (opposing team is 7 jumps away, etc.).

FYI--I wear bifocals, am partially color blind and have astigmatism in one eye (since early childhood for me).

On my bright LCD screen it's incredibly hard to stare down through layers of moving, tiny, colored objects on a multicolored background and then zoom in and out and shift my view back and forth repeatedly and catch all the small details.

I'm sure lesser hand-eye co-ordination, poor quality monitors, slow gpu's and cpu's plus local lag can aggravate others just as much.

"Fast 3v3 and 5v5" isn't as fair or fun a game for those of us in this position and is something for others to consider.

There are pros and cons to this statement. Sometimes those mistakes are what help new players learn, especially when they realize the gravity of those mistakes. Not saying there is anything wrong with quickstart at all, just something to consider in certain circumstances.

This changes the strategy severely as DPS stays the same ... but you can't rush from one side of your empire to the other and back again.

Not sure what you're thinking, I found it incredibly awesome and continue on a regular basis to find it an absolute blast when our LAN group plays. It puts a LOT more emphasis on thinking ahead on fleet placement, reactionary strategy, and puts a lot more importance on which ships get built at which time because not only does it take ages to respond to a threat on a border world but it also takes ages to rebuild a fleet that was improperly placed and decimated.

Definitely more chess based and you have to think 7 steps ahead of your opponent and hope it pays off. You can't just react to his fleet composition, you have to anticipate, prepare, and hedge your bets.

I know at least 6 other people other than myself that would beg to differ and do call it enjoyable. I'm just pointing out that there are people that enjoy the nuances of each game setting. Playing on slow and normal settings across the board is a legitimate way to enjoy this game and the fact that playing on those settings forces a player to change their strategy for managing an ever expanding empire is in my opinion a different feel to playing on fastest everything.

Everybody has their own game play settings that they enjoy and each has their pros and cons depending on what style of game play an individual likes. Simple as that.

Gamespeed changes strategy significantly...

For one, not all variables scale the same...as an example, there is a 75% difference between the income levels on "slow" and "faster"...however, there is only a 40% difference between the build speed rates on "slow" and "faster"...because of this, when playing on faster speed you will find that units are more expendable and the double/triple frigate factory is a standard strategy for early game frontliners...

Many of the combat mechanics (ex: DPS) do not change with gamespeed...however, ship speeds (both phase jumping and normal travel) do change with game speed....you will find that on faster game speeds, surprise/flank attacks are much easier to deal with: the enemy fleet does the same DPS, but you can get your fleet their faster and build up defensive forces in a pinch much easier...

Specifically to what I said to Boshimi earlier, because DPS is the same regardless of game speed, slower game speeds make bombers/corvettes more important (because it takes longer to catch fleets or get across a gravity well)...

It's not just a slower game, it truly is a different game...things like when to get trade, when to get your 2nd cap, when to retreat your cap, what units to build, importance of scouting, etc. all depend on the game speed...

I personally like normal speed the best because it makes the game more relaxed but also more of a deep-thinking strategy game...slow speed though is just unbearable for me, mainly because phase stabilizers and bombers utterly dominate the game so much more than they do on the other game speeds....

To each there own! For our LAN group we kick back with some beer and enjoy the day away.

@ seleucia

exactly, the vasari are extremely OP on slow ship speed settings.  That's why fastest ship speeds in multiplayer is a MUST, or else you will just be facing an unbeatable vasari opponent.

Huge maps should benefit Vasari even more...

I am le confuze...

Rushing in this game is pretty slow anyway, I haven't had any problems with it.  With other RTS titles, early rushes are about 50% of why not to bother playing online. 

Only works if they are dumb and spam only corvettes first...even then, they can outrun your flak, limiting your ability to defend multiple gravity wells...unless you are getting lots of feed and they are getting none, you're almost always better off simply trying to outnumber them with your own LFs+corvettes....