Possible solution to bringing in new players

This is something any PP could do and is likely to generate active long term players. I reckon it's also a cost effective approach.

Step 1) Create a facebook type game. Something like Evony or Farmville. Making sure it's good in it's own right and has levelling up and achievements built in. Should ideally make it relevant to your planet as well.

Step 2) Offer players in this facebook game rewards of +10 levels, 1 billion wood or whatever resource it uses or other achievements if players do given tasks in EU. For example completing mentorship in EU. Killing one mob. Dropping one probe. Completing a particular quest in EU. Etc etc.

The idea is to integrate the game and EU so that there is synergy between the two and rewards balanced depending on difficulty of tasks undertaken in EU. In the facebook game the rewards should equate to high value. This is likely to attract the right type of players who like levelling up as EU has a strong levelling up framework. Somehow the players should be warned though levelling up in EU is not easy.

The success of this depends on how good the facebook game is. If it's good in it's own right it will succeed. To make a successful facebook game like evony is not too difficult there are many such "clones" which just change environment and keep similar levelling up changing a few cosmetics and theme etc. A game that builds on this genre of games would be the ultimate accolade as it would attract players from other such games to yours.