Can't download on Steam?!?!

If you have a copy that is registered through Stardock, it is not possible to use the same code for Steam. They are totally different codes. There's no plan to give out steam keys for stardock purchasers.

Especially since it would actually COST money for Stardock.

You can download from stardock AND add non steam game into steam.

You can try to ask for a refund at Stardock also and buy the game again on Steam, but that's risky and tediuos path.

On the topic of steam, will updates be available through steam?

Yes.

This is a major disappointment. I have Kickstarted at least a half-dozen indie games in the past several months, and every one of them has let me redeem it on Steam. I have purchased 7 Humble Indie Bundles, and every one has given me Steam keys for the games. None of these projects can possibly have MORE resources than Stardock. If Stardock wanted to give us Steam keys, they could, but for some reason they refuse. I would be much happier if I could register my game with Steam. It tracks my play time, it makes it much easier to manage installation and downloads, and it updates automatically and painlessly.

Please let us activate our games on Steam.

It is not gonna happen.

There is a Stardock Central, that updates painlessly. The game itself tracks your game time. The achievements are visible from the stardock overlay.

Good to know about the updates, less work for me. The star dock interface is actually really cool. Being able to still interact with the game, and keeping your little chat windows over the game while you're playing is pretty neat. Too bad I have no reason to use it over the steam version.

Indie games built through steam, with steam in mind, with steamworks.  There is a huge difference. SD has their own great manager, they don't even need steam. You're basically whining because you're ignorant. The game does all of that itself through SD manager. 

As far as I can tell, the game does not "do all that itself"; I'd have to install another program (Stardock Central) to get automatic updates.  Am I wrong?

No you are not wrong. The problem that Stardock is going to run into by giving the steam key away is the fact that suppose they do, now you have the ability to download from Stardock for free and you got a steam key (which you don't have to redeem). Now Stardock has no legal ability to ensure that the key is attached to the same person and thus you would be able to give a game to a friend. Now instead of Stardock giving away 100000 copies of the game they now gave away 200000 copies of the game. Leaving the sales they would have received to be less than the 50000 that they roughly have now... it would probably be closer to maybe 5000 copies sold.

Now provide a legal and sane way to ensure that people who will get the game for free to be able to get a steam key for their account and not give that key to a friend. The best that you can hope for is asking for Stardock to provide a discounted purchase on steam for those that already have a copy of FE, but then you again have that same dilemma that I proposed above.

@schweiz: if you add the game to steam you'll be able to use both overlays. I've tested this personally. The only thing you might miss is the shared achievements and (perhaps) shared gametime. 

Speaking of which. Maybe there is a way to merge the accounts or log into the game using steam account and stardock serial. 

@parrotmath: I believe that handing out steam key and immediately invalidating the stardock one would prevent the problem you describe. You don't need any kind of account to play offline. The power of having legitimate game lies in frequency of patches.

Speaking of reduced Stardock income I'd be willing to pay for the difference to migrate my copy to steam. Call it handling fee.