Should I buy this game or not? Help me decide.

[Ithirahad]

Letting the players force game changing effects to be flippantly implemented into the game (Im looking at you power system) was the death note, in my opinion. Good bye Starmade!

Sure, except that's not even what happened... Schine actually almost never does things just because the community wants them, at this stage of development at least. They wanted to do a power revamp anyway, and they of course looked at player concerns when trying to design the system. They were, perhaps, the wrong concerns, and regardless not handled particularly well, but there it is.

 

[Valiant70]

1. What does a crew do?

Right now not a lot. They can stand around and act as security guards, or follow you. They will fall off the ship if you use a jump drive or warp gate.

2. Can you have multiple ships with some commanded by Ai?

You can add ships to a fleet for AI control. Right now you can't pilot them manually if they're in a fleet, so you'd have to just follow the fleet while giving orders. The fleet system is buggy and some features don't work. An AI rework is something the community has been pushing for a long time.

3. Can you start colonies and build an empire populated by NPCs?

I think that's a planned feature, but don't quote me on that. Don't expect to see anything like that for at least a year and a half. (Just a ballpark guess; it'll probably be longer.)

4. Why do you enjoy the game?

I've always enjoyed merging aesthetic and functional building on a single project. That's kind of difficult right now for a variety of reasons.

I'd wait a bit on buying the game. Maybe wait for the weapons update and see how you like it then, or even longer.

 

[Apollo Tyrannos]

1. What does a crew do?
2. Can you have multiple ships with some commanded by Ai?
3. Can you start colonies and build an empire populated by NPCs?
4. Why do you enjoy the game?

1. Crew does nothing, they are an unfinished feature that serves zero purpose
2. Yes, they are very buggy and broken but technically you can
3. You cannot populate your empire with NPCs but you can build a colony for roleplay purposes
4. Im a bit hit and miss on this game, but I have started to dislike more as the community got smaller and updates began ruining the game for me more and more.

I myself do not recommend you buy this game, watch the steam stats for signs the community has stopped dying and read both the positive and negative reviews on steam until you think the game is in a good state. Currently I would avoid this game but it may get better.