The topic of manuals is actually one of my greater concerns regarding Elemental. In my opinion, documentation was really poorly handled in GalCiv2... there was no way to know what was up to date, with the manual saying one thing, the in-game tool tips saying another, and the wiki saying something else.
I know how important it is to update the game, to fix elements that don't work, re-balance, etc., but I personally feel that it's just as important to make sure that the documentation is kept up to date as well. Otherwise, the only people who really know what's going on are the developers
Yes, as much as I love Stardock and their games, in previous titles I have found the lack of good documentation to be the only area in which I am frequently unsatisfied with their products. In the GalCiv games, I never really felt like I had any clear direction of what to do or why until I had started and re-started a LOT of games. I know there is a certain amount of trial and error involved with learning ANY game, but I do tend to feel much more "lost" when picking up a brand new Stardock game than I do with most any other games. To this day, I STILL have trouble knowing exactly where to build influence starbases in GalCiv2 to maximize the spread of my borders. *sheepish grin*
After watching the progress of Elemental's beta, I think I finally understand at least parltially why this lack of quality documentation might occur with Stardock games. Most other company's games don't seem to change that much after entering late beta stage. Sure some things change a little and get balanced and stuff, but for the most part the game, the UI and features are reasonably concrete 2-3 MONTHS before the games are released. By comparison, it sounds like with Elemental, the game has changed a LOT in just the last 2-3 weeks since it went gold.
So on the one hand it is kinda nice that Stardock's games continue to evolve and improve significantly right up until the day the game is released (and then even more every week or two after release). But I guess there is also a cost to that: it would be REALLY hard to keep the documentation thorough and current with a game that is evolving so rapidly. So yea, I agree with how you feel and also wish the documentation was better on Stardock games, but at the same time I think I finally understand why the documentation isn't as good as I wish it was... LOL
