I heard that! 
Actually, the map starts (for multiplayer) with a colony frigate and four anti-fighter frigates at your dead asteroid being attacked by hostile a militia siege frigate, carriers and heavy cruiser and several anti-fighter frigates. Nearby, each of the other players is suffering the same attack.
You don't have enough credits, resources or ships to stand and defend and the only means you have to get out is a nearby wormhole...keeping in mind that the only jump capability you have is on your dead asteroid that's being bombed to death.
Once you reach the wormhole--along with the other seven players, you jump and find yourself running a blockade headed by a Dunov and it's escorts. There are four exit points from this system but you better hurry because the only colony ship you have is sitting there now and the other players are right behind you.
Once you jump from here, you'll find a colonizable asteroid with light militia defenders--though there is some random variablity to their make-up. If the pressure is just to much for you there, you can try to move on several systems to a more lightly defended asteroid--but this will require passing through two blockaded plasma storms with possible capital ships present. The second asteroid is also nearer one of the two pirate bases.
Not much turtling to be had here. Move fast or die. More like "hurtling".
If you didn't save that dead asteroid where you started, you're going to need more worlds to get your wormhole travel back. So then you either go pick off your neighbor's nearby world or make an insane run through multiple-planet pirate and militia blockades to the only other non-wormhole accessible asteroid left. Of course, there will be up to seven other players with the same idea.
Survival of the fittest.
It is made as a long game and solo you can turtle somewhat as the AI isn't too bright but pirate raids make turtling a short-term prospect for a poor starting economy.
As busy as the map looks in the shot above, that's the "screenshot" version you get with "Surrender and Keep Playing". Most of the minor worlds are otherwise unconnected and not visible in normal play (which also reduces the graphics load).
Here's another in-game view that shows some of the "Z-action" and allows you to see how putting the systems near one another gives you some "eyeball scout" capability--which can actually end up being an important strategic element (note the two Orkulus starbases in the background which are in different planetary systems).
