I am a returning player from 20 years ago, and the current state of the game is concerning. Back then, universes had 10,000+ active players; today, many servers (like Sombrero BR) feel dead, with players hitting the Top 50 in just two months due to massive player churn.
Two main factors are killing the game: extreme Pay-to-Win mechanics and a completely broken Honor System.
Currently, a Top 1 player with 500M points can attack a player with only 2M points, and the system still considers it an 'Honorable Combat.' This is mathematically absurd. It doesn't promote competition; it promotes bullying and forces mid-tier players to delete their accounts, further emptying the servers.
My Suggestion:
The Honor System needs a radical overhaul based on point proportion, not just static military ranks:
Dynamic Honor Scaling: Attacking a player with a massive point deficit (e.g., more than 5x or 10x smaller) should result in massive Honor Point loss, regardless of their military rank.
Meaningful Penalties for Dishonor: Players with negative Honor (Grand Emperors/Bandits) should face severe debuffs that impact their safety, such as:
Increased debris field percentage when their own ships are destroyed.
Higher plunder percentage for anyone attacking them.
Attack/Defense debuffs when engaging significantly weaker targets.
Incentivize Fair Play: Give real buffs (resource production or research speed) to those who maintain high Honor by fighting players within their own point bracket.
If OGame continues to allow 'top predators' to wipe out the remaining player base without consequences, the game will soon have no one left to play but the Top 10. We need a balance that forces top players to compete with each other, not just farm the few active mid-tier players left.