What would be the problem with an additional DD service?  You'd still have your option to continue using Impulse.  And next April you can add the game to steam, or any other DD service that Stardock signs with.  I don't see how a Stardock store would inconvenience you.   Am I missing something?  And what happens if a new DD service should hit the market?  Should they be denied the opportunity to sell E:FE?  

And what about Stardocks enterprise software?  Seems to me that Stardock should sell that through their own store, instead of through a 3rd party gaming service.  And if so, then they might as well sell their other software as well.  They'd pay no commission fees, and users can get their games and updates directly through the developer.  Or they can stick with Impulse, Or add the game to their preferred DD service.  

As to updates, I'd think it'd be more practical and efficient for developers to release updates directly, versus having to submit them to a third party.  And from the user side, I think it would be simpler and more reliable to have an in game updater that points directly to the developer. - Users have a "Check for Updates" option in the main menu.  Users can also opt-in to "automatically check for updates".  With options to "install now, install later, or auto-install".  It's more user friendly to give the player the choice to update or not.  I think it would be really cool to give players a choice to revert to an older update.  That would be a bonus!  Whatever the case, I prefer that updates are accessed in game, and come directly from the developer versus a third party client.

This assumes a static population. Elemental WOM even at its worst had rabid fanboys who said it was the best game ever, probably because to them it was. They were also a large percentage of the game playing population at that point.

But a truly fun game attracts more players, where as a game which isn't fun scares them away.

eye vill bee deer zen.

harpo

People will not play a multiplayer game that takes 50 hours to play. Especially considering there is only 24 hours in a day. So if you can manage to create a game mode where a game last between 2-3 hours, people will play.

It worked well with Civilisation revolution because a game last in average 5 hours in single player. There was  even lightning mode that made the game progress faster.

My preferences in this regard are as long as I don't need a 3rd-party client to play the game in singleplayer, I'm fine with it.  Stardock really shaped my expectations on this.

If you go the Steam route, I hope you design the game so that it can be played without the Steamworks client running if people so choose, and you allow transferrable CD-keys.

That said, a Stardock store makes sense, even if it wouldn't for other developers, due to the non-game products Stardock has.  I'm sure not having Impulse to download updates has been an inconvenience for some uses of the software development side.

I would like to play multiplayer, but it is low priority for me. I think its more fun to save a starting position with a mod combo and give that to a friend to play. Then we can talk about how epic it was in a few months when we both finish. The different decisions we make will twist the game in different directions, while allowing us to discuss strategy for the really tough binds. 

Sounds sort of like a round robin play thru done with dwarf fortress. (ie Boatmurdered- a recommended read for the humor if nothing else)  It could have some interesting potential when you look thru the history to see the different ruling styles and how they impact the civilization.

What are you complaining about?? 

I didn't even get the newsletter

If you're not eligible to buy anything in the newsletter and they should KNOW that from your account info, then sending you the newsletter is at best a waste of your time and at worst an insult.

It drives me up the wall when this happens, particularly MMO companies who say "hey do X in game at this time and you can win something!" and you have to read through the email and then 4 pages of legalese to find out that Canadians aren't eligible... though they're perfectly happy to take my money.

The amount of money I've been willing to spend in Impulse and have been unable to due to the misfortune of having been born in Australia is obscene.  It's literally around 10 times what I've currently spent on Steam, where I don't buy a game unless I'm happy for it to be deleted when Valve decide they don't like me any more.

(i.e. every tile of terrain matters i.e. building near rivers or forests or hills and that kind of thing will matter and there are things like unrest and tax rates and that kind of thing).

Thanks. This is the kind of feature that will make Master of Magic Modding possible.

Of course, the decision to make Fallen Enchantress effectively a new game (other than art assets) has meant that its date is being pushed out to being more like a sequel’s release.

Take all the time you need if you can afford it. There is no need to hurry.

Well, that answers some lingering questions I've had about War of Magic's future and its relation to Fallen Enchantress.  It seems more and more that WOM was just a "dry run" for the real game.

Frogboy and Derek it is very important that MP have the excate say gameplay as SP. Also the game should not have to change that much simply when picking the opponets at the begining of the game you have to choice of AI or Human (For Each opponet similar to the way CIV does it) Plus choose his dificulty level and also allow the use of player creatred custom Soverigns and races.  (You can always put in an option to ban custom races and Soverigns in MP so people can choose this if they wish.

Also Tactical combat should be the same for MP as it is for SP. You can always but in options to Dumb it down to make it faster for those who do no like TC. Also you can have auto resolve (a feature I never will use but some do)

A general rule of thumb that you could go by when you create the TC is, If you ever thing 'What can spped this battle up in MP' you put that only as an option because I know that many of us will not like it if you put the idea as non-option feature.

Oh and PLEASE make Navel combat enjoyable and have a variaty of units and/or allow us to customize as we can with the ground units. Have water creatues, underwater cities etc. Also the ability to create water races would be cool as well.

And please allow multi-level maps similar to AOW:SM except allow a lot more. Also the ability to set up rules for the maps such as a Firemap does fire each turn unless you have fire protection, Water does water damage (drowning) each turn unless you have swim etc.