Im a huge fan of the movies and the StarWars CCG, and pretty much everything starwars. Then i stumbled onto this game and signed up, made my Char and joined a faction. Needless to say i was very excited! I started out at the location of my faction/guilds HQ was, had time to kill and decided to go for a walk around the city. I quickly realized walking a block down the road takes 2.5 (REAL-TIME) hours to do! If everything else in this game takes that long or longer to do, i do not wanna play. But if anybody has any info to the contrary regarding this please tell me cuz i wanna give his game a fair chance before i dump it.
Everything is Delayed Real Time. Travelling across the galaxy can take days to weeks depending on the speed of your ship.
This is so that everyone across the world can play at the same pace. After all, how upset would you be if, come combat, someone was able to destroy everything on the planet you're on, brutally killing you, before you had a chance to react just because you were asleep/at school/at work/etc?
The Combine's pace is relaxed. It doesn't require staring at a screen for hours on end. Its strength is that it's a community. Instead of worrying about when you get to move/set a new course next, read the forums, participate in discussions, or even hop onto IRC and get into a conversation with faction mates.
Also keep in mind that each city "block" represents a square kilometer. While not the longest sort of branch of territory, it lets you get an idea as to the scale.