a couple of ideas i have for your mmorts are:
If there is not one Set Character that you play as ( like the captain of an army or Ruler of a planet ) then you are always logged in while offline;
can be attacked at any time
trade requests can still be made and will be accepted / declined when a person logs in
Can be Raided at any time
Gain resources while offline.
If you play as a single character that rules a planet / Army like you play as a single character in RPGWO then;
Buildings and Army Can be attacked at any time
Trade requests can be made but can only be accepted by sending your character to the other persons base to negotiate
Can be raided at any time, but Character can not lose items that are on the person (or can only lose a certain %?)
Resources are Collected by gatherers but are stored until you character goes to the storage facilities to distribute the resources to your collection / vault - The stored resources can be raided and stolen, and a higher amount is stolen compared to resources already in your collection / vault
The way Combat / Trading works
When a player wishes to attack another with a fleet of ships they select the specified planet and then the specified region of the planet to attack ( stronger the ships / weapons the more area you can damage in one go ) That planet is not immediately attacked, depending on the distance, weapons, Ammo being transported and the propulsion used there is a count down timer showing how long until that fleet of ships will arrive at their destination, The timer shows the time it will take for the Slowest ship to arrive at the planet and the fleet will not attack until the last ship arrives, this gives the defender time to set up defences and activate special skills?
a players main colony / planet can only be reduced down so much ( like vitae ) the main citadel can only be destroyed down to 10% ( meaning 90% less resources per hour? ) but can be repaired with a repair Bot? but other planets that have been colonised by a player can be completely destroyed with certain ships, Attackers special Skills? or one of the Defenders Special Skills? to prevent anyone else gaining valuable resources from that planet if they know it is lost.
when a person chooses to attack some one they are given a likely % of damage done to the citadel and Casualty % / mortality rate and % of buildings destroyed, but there is a margin for error as Special Skills? can be used by both Defenders and Attackers. Also Defense can call in allies ( other players ) to help fend of the attackers and visa versa, attackers can call for help from allies to attack.
When attacking your fleet will not start attacking until your ally has accepted or declined to help you and the attack will not start until all fleets have arrived at the planet.
Attacking will last x amount of time which is determined by the number of ships you have attacking and the amount of ammo they are carrying or until your fleet is destroyed or retreats.
Trading is a lot more simple, Firstly you send a friendly ship ( no guns ) to a planet to start negotiations, negotiations are done when players are online or offline ,but onlines alot quicker obviously, Once an agreement has been made the negotiation ship is sent back to the vault and a larger ship with possibly some weapons and an escort for defense only will ferry the resources over, When a trade is taking place players with fleets or planets near by will be alerted of the trade and they can try to attack the ferry to gain a % of the resources, once a trade has been confirmed the resources will go to the other player, if the ferry was attacked then that % is taken off the other persons trade to even out the trade.
What the Vulcan are these Special Skills you are on about???
Firstly, Yes i have been to see the new Star Trek film, so i feel like saying What the Vulcan.
Now onto the skills
Basically my idea is that certain ships and buildings can have certain skills that can be activated when a certain event triggers them ( they must be selected first and will be unselected after they have been used ) They can only be used if the Attackers are going to attack a planet with a certain resource ( use it to cause a chain reaction or larger explosion? ) Attacking certain ships or attacking certain buildings
Defenders can only use certain skills when being attacked by certain ships and just a general extra security thing on the vault, these can only be activated when there is a count down to an attack.
Traders: Can have extra defence or Speed to avoid pirates.
Thank you for Reading
Thanks for reading, I look forward to you reading this and letting me know what you think of it, just a couple of ideas there i will possibly post some more if you like?