It's not at all the same kind of game (it's a "turn by turn" 4x game where turn passing is tied to actual time in the real world), but it's really simple and at its core is based on the same thing: diplomacy through the simple but effective messaging system between the players.
A game last days, but will only require you to play a few minutes every dozen hours or so (sending fleets to attack, etc ... Will take literal days to happen, which seems strange at first until you realize it's to give the diplomacy center stage, giving real people with real lives the time and opportunity to exchange and plan and backstab together.
It's also extremely fun with friends, in a mario kart's blue shell kind of way. 90% of the fun is the pretenses and backstabs, don't play with friends who don't like losing, nor with people who let themselves lose on purpose if against their SO etc ... or the experience drops significantly.