I''m developing a basic space-exploration game, the player controls a fleet of space ships, explores, mines, fights pirates, acts as a pirate, etc. The game will have a web-interface (thus, low on the graphics) and is turn-based. The idea is that the players log in once every day or two and spend a number of turns that accumulate over time. So Joe Smith logs in one day, he has 7 turns, so he gives 7 orders to his ships which are carried out instantly. This has a weird effect in that the ships are at a stand still in real-time until suddenly they move around 7 turns worth. This game is multiplayer, so there is interaction with other players (before anyone brings it up, combat is automatically done for defending players without using their turn to prevent hit-and-run attacks). Earth 2025 has a much similar interface to this. My major question is, should the game have a map with specific XYZ coordinates that ships/players occupy? Or should I go with a geographyless design? There isn''t much to see with a map, just an image that shows the radar screen. The geography one would allow generic commands such as "find mine" or "attack this specific ship". This design would shift it to more of an order-giving-and-reporting style game. I''m also afraid that with a map would come with complications such as tracking the entire fleet in the game world. However, a problem that could occur with a mapless game is, if a mine is generically stated to be XXX kilometers away from home base/planet, then it would be tricky to generate the distance between different points since they are all relative to homebase. And deciding where other players are in relation to the player''s ship would be tricky to determine as well. Any thoughts? Ideas? If any of you have played Earth 2025, you''ll prolly have a better idea of what I mean.

most games like this I know are without a specific geography, however most of these are strategy games, in your case it would probably make sense to have a map... on the other hand, a map creates a number of additioal problems you´ll have to take care of.