Here's a radical suggestion - WHEN THE PATCH COMES OUT, DON'T APPLY IT UNTIL YOU HAVE FINISHED YOUR GAME!!!

Si!

I would like an option to turn off just the voice overs.  They are not very good to begin with and the same old things getting said over and over again is annoying, but I like the music.  As an alternative I can play the cd of the music and turn the sound down, but then I miss out on the battle sounds.  If this could be done I would even try the Vasari, who sound like angry lizards and the advent, which sound like angry women.  I listen to way enough angry women, what were the developers thinking?  PMS in space is just as bad.  I can see why the tec left.  The tec likely told the advent they were going out to get some cigarettes and never came back.  Now the meet up witht he advent again, and guess what, they are still mad.

oh, in that case never mine.

by mod you mean blair and his dev gang? or the stardock crew?

in any case, they read more than they post (obviously), but they usually drop by every once and so often. actually, the current silence is somewhat suspicious. like the calm before the storm ...

but if you have some thing to say or discuss, don't hesitate. most ideas with merit usually get discussed and have a good chance of being noticed by them.

oh crap, i didnt even think of that!!

please SD/IC, dont go under!!!!

well, sins cost them $1,000,000USD to make. assuming ~$20/unit(lowest cost[digital download]) @ the reported 500,000 units sold, = ~$10,000,000USD. net profit, $9,000,000USD

not only that, but also retailers and intermediary parties, transportation, etc. for boxed copies. and don't be mistaken, these things still make a big share for games. digital sales IS a minority as far as I know and most of those people posting here would be online biased towards it, so I doubt a forum enquete would bring accurate results on the total population. I think I saw the same pretty oversimplified calculation elsewhere, so I'd like to do calculating of my own:

I think assuming 100.000 digital sales and 400.000 boxed sales is somewhat realistic. I'm not sure, I even think I saw some offical using these numbers.

now, with digital sales, the publisher of course gets an amount. you know, for marketing, pre-financing, organising distribution (with retailers but also via impulse, I imagine you'd have some find of fee). but other than that ... I think no one gets a share, which is the good thing for the devs. so, out of 40$ digital price, you'd have some 25 - 30 $ remaining, at least that would be my assumption.

now, for physical copies, as said, there are a whole lot more parties taking a slice in profit. I read an ex post developer diary by frogboy after they completed gal civ 2, where he pondered and discussed all those things. very interesting stuff. I think he said that as a dev., you usually end up netting only 8$ or so for a 40$ game. considering all those shares, tbh that does not sound too surprising, but it may still be different. nevertheless, you gotta start somewhere.

so, in sum: 100.000 * 25 + 400.000 *8 = 2,5 M + 3,2 M = 5,7 M. you'd have to take away the 1M in costs in making the game, but it does sound like a positive endeavour.

and judging from how content both SD and IC were with the game, and that I pretty definately heard that it did break even, I doubt they are in serious trouble. it may get more difficult, but from it whom it does not? besides, if the next pack is again 10$, that's really a small price most people would be able to afford. if not, you have other troubles anyway.

and yes, I know the prices are rounded up, but I'm not writing .99 all the time.

edit: further the 'fear' I think is undounded, blair said they are crazy doing new things and adding stuff etc. so, I doubt it's trouble, it's just that the whole team is very productive and too busy running around explaining what they are doing. an update would be nice by now, but I'm also not unhappy if 100% effort is put directly into getting those new backstabbing tools out.

Was there any figures released for the uptake on Entrenchment?

That would be my business concern given the strategy to release micro expansions for their hit title especially given the Demigod affair, who knows maybe they have been helping them out.

As I understand it, Ironclad produces the patches, Stardock does QA on the things before they are released.

If Stardock is frentically trying to fix Demigod, they may simply not have time to do the QA on a 'minor' update for sins -  and it would simply be rude of Ironclad to show up on the forums and (even if politely!) badmouth their distributor's lack of support when they know damn well the distributor is frantic elsewhere.

I'd like the ability to create 1-3 default "fleet" specs and then be able to command a planet to build the entire fleet in one click, rather than having to individually select each and every ship I'd like built. For example, if I wanted a small fleet to guard a planet to star at the beginning of the game, I could go to a menu and comprise a fleet of 8 Corsairs, 6 Javelins, and then click on a planet and order Fleet Selection #1. It would produce the fleet and automatically organize it into a fleet, etc. The player could set up various combinations of fleets that he/she personally rely on without having to take the time to individually assemble them. Also, maybe it could display the total number of needed resources required to build the fleet and also have the option to automatically replenish the any lost ships in the fleet. Maybe another option could be to set the replensih shes to attempt to join up with the main body automatically on production. Just thoughts, but that would streamline the process somewhat.

Love the game! Thanks!

What would be the max number of different ships you can set? 27?