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I'm working on a board game idea in which I want to include a LAN/Internet component to have P2P and Client/Server options, but I am converting my DBPro source to DarkGDK once I get the BASICs down... (hahahhah pun intended)

I wrote many of the routines for my board game using my Mac Quadra 610 and ChipmunkBASIC back a few years ago. I am bringing this source to DarkBASIC Pro and altering the many pictures I drew for the game (also on the Mac), after converting them to bitmaps using the free trial of GraphicsConverter by LemkeSoft, LLC. I used DAVE from Thursby Software to transfer files from Mac to PC and back.

The game is a spin-off of my RPG. I call it, based on a quote from my late best friend Al: "Fine Red Mist". I have 12 races, 24 occupations and a Galaxy to explore! My board game is my RPG resource-using endeavor. I want to allow upto 128 people to play, possible P2P (but seems to be Server/Client may be a better way to do this) and allow everyone the same interactivity no matter if he/she plays alone (at home with CPU opponents) or online/LAN.

Any ideas for implementing this would be extremely helpful.
NOTE: I am looking for certain informational paths-- books, personal experience-- and NOT necessarily code.

Mostly, I am looking for LAN/Internet P2P and Client/Server stuff... Where do I look? Any suggestions?

Because I'm using DarkBASIC Pro and DarkGDK, I'm tentatively calling this project "DarkTrader". Here's a couple of screens I plan on using for the game...

The first one is the title screen.
The second one is the game screen.

There is a certain theme I'm trying to evoke, and a feel I'm trying to create. By looking at these screens, you should be able to see what I'm getting toward.

Moreover, there are different modes:
(1) Single Player Mode: 1 player (you) and upto 8 CPU players.
(2) Team Conquest Mode: Teams of 2 Players taking it to the others, in paired teams-- no more than 4 Teams, consisting of 2 Players.
(3) LAN Mode: Each player on his/her own screen, but can see who owns what, where each player is on the Game Board, and whom is 'up to bat'.
(4) Multiplayer Mode: Primary Player creates the game, from Team Conquest to Free-For-All, altering the numbers of players per team (upto 8) and changing the Game Board to a Galactic Board.

There are Different Difficulty Levels, too. I'm just not sure what I want to include, or leave out. Any suggestions on what to call them?

I already have some pictures of the Races, three of which are robotic.
I have planet pictures, but I also have to figure out how to animate them. Should I just animate the planets' rotation, only for display that you, as the player traversing the board, would see upon reaching the next location? This method sound easier and should be easier to implement. I'd even do something during trades: animate the planet behind the other player's Racial pic, and transact business. How does that sound?

To all of you whom have perused this tidbit, please let me know what you think.

I am open to suggestions. I'd like to have this available to as many people as possible, and possibly as an MMO, with a whole galaxy to explore.

Maybe even trading and transacting in spacefaring vehicles, weaponry and crew... Maybe.

Please, let me know.
I also would like to know if I should include 'quests' and 'missions'. I know some people like these types of tasks, but I never really liked to trudge out and find those few scarce items, then to be told upon return that I "...don't have enough of Twistberry Root." or "... You must take these ingredients to <place fairy-tale sounding name here> in order to heal <another name>." These things generally sucked when I played RPGs on the SNES and Genesis (MegaDrive to those of you in the UK and abroad), and were not much better with the Sega Saturn, PlayStation 1, and N64.

Please...
Drop me a note on what you'd like to see in a well-tooled MMO like this.
I will accept lists of things, just try to give a description of the task/feature you'd like to see in this MMO.
(Also note: I'm still creating the design document and any ideas would be greatly appreciated.)

Thanks for browsing.