it is funny everybody bashes me for like starcraft but, nobody ever picks up me being ranked in aoe3 for nr and C&c3 for nr. Im not a clickfest person but, i dont have excess time either.

look at the length of the game this way:
each planet, battle, is like a small rts game out of fast-paced rts.
the bonus is, instead of the individual battles being insignificant to eachother,
they depend on each other and communicate with eachother.

this way, it doesnt seem as long. how many times over have you played an aoe scenario or a starcraft map? exactly.

I just wanted to point out that fast settings doesnt neccesarily mean a shorter length game it just means the pace is faster, and well thats not even completly true.

Fast ship speed means ships can escape engagements much much easier, why?

-DPS is not increased so fleeing fleets lose less ships on fast ship speed when retreating

-The gravwell is the same size on fast ship speed, which again means more ships can escape a pursuer

Fast research presents the same problem

-people tend to research the defensive techs first because they effect their entire fleet instead of a few specific ships. This means during mid game especially fleets are now escaping a gravwell incredibly fast as well as having boosted shields, hull, and armor, vs ships that arent teched out in offense.

Fast build speed

- a player can replinish losses much faster which can definetly prolong a game

Faster income

- same argument as fast build speed

In reality the game would go faster if you could speed up the beginning of the game (esp on large maps) and then switch to normal once mid game hits (around 15-30 min mark depending on map size. Early game fast mid/late game normal would probably be the shortest length for a game, just keep this in mind when your just de facto setting everything to fast.

Exactly and it is going to alienate a fair portion of people like myself who like it the way it is so you cant blame them for getting upset when they read about the game, knew what to expect(and yes I did know to a high degree because I watched youtube games with massive fleets and observed how it played in advance) and are now worried that its going to end up like every RTS. Considering every RTS practically but sins is uber fast I think its unfair to try and remold a game that breaks the mold. I payed for a game that breaks with tradition. I play both fast and normal settings now. I play fast not because I want to but because thats what clan players play and I want to have good replays so I adhere. You speed it up much more and normal play will never get played. Seriously as said the RTS market is saturated and you know what, I reckon at least some of the people advocating an uber fast setting , well what happens if a high portion of them leave in 1 month or so? You have lost your core gamers and you have lost your traditional RTS players. Fact is If it gets made faster MP is going to be full of fast and uber fast games . People moan about there not being enough on IC but a big part of it is , a newbie comes on who has been playing SP on the default, hes looking for the same kind of game, sees fast and is like , you know what thats some veteran that plays every day, I will just leave it. (Maybe some do play but imagine if they see an even faster option?)

And just to repeat what another says ::

I LOVE IT! great game, plays great . Battles rage a long time , not 15min material(Probably possible to kill in 15 mins maybe in the odd case but its not the norm and to me thats only a good thing after all building a fleet should take time, planning, research, resources and money )

"crappy games like StarCraft" - I don't think so, Tim.

Just to finally say Im playing a huge map on normal speed and Im about rdy to win and its under 3 hours , huge maps have their place, I hope the devs dont speed up the game with reasoning based on huge maps because I like a game to involve multiple strategies and go over multiple sittings, and times to take a turn for the worse in a game, I have to retreat fortify and rethink, it shouldnt be any other way please play on small maps , dont ruin huge maps for those of us that like to play on an epic scale. Dont see why impatience or people not being cordinated enough to utilise the save game feature in MP should be permitted to ruin the game, thats the long and short of it.

I love long games, I whish their was a game like this just longer and maybe even some fighting on the planets.    Although their will never be...   

I think games like this is fun u get 2 use stratagy. And alot of people just want 2 attack u right off back which is boring udont get chance 2 learn or enjoy game i like long drawn out games . Hey if people get tired save it and play another day .

Wait... you are willing to play the Age of Empires III Special Olympics that is a No Rush game, and are complaining about this? In AoE, I can have a maxed out army in about 20 minutes. For the rest of the no rush period, I sit and do nothing. This is boring. Sins may feel slow, but that is probably just because you have no idea what is going on. I am never less active in this game than I would be in a game like AoE (barring Starcraft, which requires extraordinary physical skill to excel at).

Personally, I love AoE, Starcraft, Red Alert, and most of the traditional fast RTS games. But I also love this game. It combines all the good parts of games like Starcraft and Homeworld with games like Civilization, and makes you feel awesomely epic.

But you people saying things like Starcraft is a crappy game really do not understand it. The Strategy in a good game of starcraft is just as deep as a game of sins - the only difference is that not everyone can execute starcraft strategies, whereas Sins requires a bit less hand skill. Starcraft is not the national sport of South Korea for nothing.

ps. Xboxerdude - if you actually want to play a game of AoE with me, just let me know. We can even play a no rush game before I teach you how to actually play.