While you sleep, your space ship travel at lightspeed.
your ship will encounter planet, harvest it with drone,
produce drone and so on..

when you log in, you manage your ship, your ship is either in orbit of a planet or docked on a station.

if you are in the same system as another, you can communicate, trade or spacefight.

when you are asleep, you can get your ass kicked, because you cant reach a ship at light speed.

people who play often may be more powerfull than thos who play punctually, but they go farther than those who play every day