Updated version of the game now includes some fixes as well as a slight change to the networking code to improve the bandwidth consumption.
Well I've taken down the Empires' server for a bit. It seems that while a lot of people are signing online, no one is signing on at the same time. As such most people are finding no one on. To cut down on my energy bill as well as hopefully help people find others online, the server from now on is only going to be online from 7PM to 11PM EST.
The initial release of Empires is now available. This is a multiplayer game that can allow up to 1000 players to be online at one time (assuming that the server is placed on a powerful enough system). The game is in beta and is free to download, test, and mod to your hearts content.