Hm, I may as well chime in also, for what little good it'll do. On both multiplayer in this game, and just in a general sense.
One of the biggest things in there I agree with is:
Keith Pops By: "Multiplayer is always a rat hole "
That's pretty much how I tend to think of multiplayer much of the time. Which can be... frustrating. I think my biggest problem with it as a whole is how STALE it can get. I do fighting games as the genre I'm best at by far, moreso than the shmups. And that genre NEEDS multiplayer to work; I've not found a single fighting game where the AI isnt dumber than a sack of hammers. And I need a challenge to hold my interest. Theoretically, this means multiplayer will give me what I want. In practice though? Nope. Because it just gets so freaking stale, due to how the majority of players treat these games. They gotta use the BEST combos and characters only. Which, I point out, are determined by a pile of numbers, not by anything else. And because of this, nearly all opponents arent really thinking for themselves; they're just copying what the well-known ones do. This is amazingly boring to deal with. And with the fact that they're the "best" ways of doing it, you'd at least think it'd provide a challenge, yeah? Nope. Seen those tactics too much, my own screwball ways of playing, despite not being made of numbers, usually win out in the end. But that sort of opponent will JUST KEEP COMING. Over and over. And over. Each time, it gets easier to beat the character in question. Yet there remains no deviation.... even against the same opponent again and again, they're so used to the tactic that they didn't even come up with that they dont seem to be able to do anything else.
And that carries on into every genre. Doesnt matter which one, it's going to be there. And generally, I get piles of insults thrown at me if I'm not doing things the "right" way, even if I'm winning. Which just adds to it.
For co-op though, it's even more annoying. If I dont play the RIGHT way, even if my way of doing things does the trick, nobody will want to team up with me. That I dont like the "best" tactics and also that they often just dont work for me simply doesnt matter, I get shoved away anyway. Games like the Monster Hunter series, I've seen this so often.... good luck getting a party going if you arent using exactly the super specific equipment to take down the specific monster you're up against.
And with turn-based games, those tend to be the sort where the numbers really are very important, though in a GOOD one they'll be balanced out so that there's still a ton of viable ways of doing things. Yet even so, there'll be that ONE way that everyone tends to do it, co-op or competitive, and if you dont do that, out you go! After the proper set of insults is thrown at you as required by multiplayer protocol, of course.
And considering that forced multiplayer in games that do not absolutely NEED it tends to take away time/resources that would otherwise go into the basic design, well.... yeah. You often end up with a good game that could have been a GREAT game. With Stars here, I sure as heck wouldnt want to see that happen.
Also bad, at least for me, is.... well, this is turn-based. Turn-based multiplayer is a big no-no for me. It's possible that you may, perhaps, have noticed that I'm not exactly the most patient individual. If it's not moving like a greased lightning bolt, I'm probably bored. So having to freaking WAIT for my opponent/ally to VERY VERY SLOWLY take their turn so that things can continue is super frustrating. Honestly, I just cant tolerate it. I've tried it before, and just.... arrrrgh. It causes me to play the multiplayer only a couple of times, and then never touch it again. I dont understand at all how people can sit through a multiplayer game of Civ. Or even worse, one of Paradox's grand strategy games. And they do it with like, 8 players at once! I just... I dont even. Does not compute. And you're right, the ratio of players that actually DO that is typically very low when considered against the overall community size... and the slowness probably ALSO pushes away even many players that normally like multiplayer games, which just shrinks it that much more. And all of that then causing time and resource drain on the developers.... ugh. Really, really dont like the design philosophies that cause the decision to include such a thing in a game that seriously doesnt need it.
So yeah, that's my own thoughts on that. I can definitely agree with your decision to do this. Yeah, it'll irritate some, but I think it'll be sooooooo much better off for it. And an example that I wish devs of other 4X games could learn from.
Good job on the detailed explanation of all of that too, it's interesting to see that decision-making process from the developer's perspective.
....there, I'm done rambling now. Probably.