Frogboy

[quote who="BoogieBac" reply="83" id="2713150"] I've got the Pirated Gold Version right now, had it since last year. I can only imagine the unplayable craptitude of such a build Even 6months ago seems like ages in game-disign time.[/quote] Heck, we'll be saying that about the real gold version eventually. The original GalCiv II still gives me the creeps. GalCiv II shipped with a problem that caused high end video cards to overheat (nearly all our te

The Collector's Edition comes with a book called the Hiergamenon. It's more of an encylopedia and history book of the world.

[quote who="TCores" reply="8" id="2712580"] Quoting Kobracan, reply 3I was actually quite curious about publishing as well. When there is only like one week (and still more tweaking to go according to yesterday's post), how is it possible to burn, package, ship in such a short period of time? On-site printing has changed the way games (and most software) get shipped. No need to send out the manual for print, get it shipped back, ship to a new site, pack

I can't claim to be a full expert on it but here's how it basically works: All of the time consuming materials get sent out to manufacturing weeks, months in advance. That's one reason why modern manuals suck so bad (and Elemental's manual is going to suck out of the box, sorry I wish it wasn't so but it's already outdated based on ideas from my friends online and such). The manual was sent out back before Beta 3. ... Anyway... The box desi

Clean install is always better. I myself have run afoul of the horrible evil hidden directory c:\programdata\stardock\elemental that has crap in it from long ago. I hate hidden directories. :(

[quote who="andrewlt" reply="53" id="2712479"]I take it gold means those of us with the download version can start pre-downloading? Or soon thereafter?[/quote] No. Not yet. Unfortunately, "Gold" is a term that is losing the meaning it once had. It is simply the version being sent to manufacturing for distribution in North America, Russia, and Australia. The only people I would imagine ever playing that version will be people without an Internet conne

Hopefully beta testers noticed the pretty significant UI changes.

[quote who="Tridus" reply="91" id="2711362"] Quoting dragoaskani, reply 72Most beta's don't have you beta test the "final" version... If you want to go there, most betas also don't have you test what would by most studios be considered an alpha (at best). Betas 1 and 2 were not "beta" by the standard usage of the term. But that isn't the problem. Betas 1 and 2 got useful feedback and were productive parts of the process. Those existing was a good thing. The bad thin

Dale ALWAYS plugs Steam. He's just looking for a reaction. The reality is, and let's be real, Elemental is going to be the fantasy TBS game for awhile. I'll probably break down and buy Civ V from Steam at some point (after a lot of SC2) but realistically, you could make Ultima IV with Elemental and share it with others seamlessly. I don't see anyone else offering that. We'll have to revisit the whole beta program thing after this since people were really expecting some s

Look. I'm biased. But I've been making games for a long time. I lot of the people who buy our games are like me. We grew up on Ultima IV, we loved MoM, we loved Xcom. Some people would play those games and not like them. That's fine. There's lots of games that cater to that huge demographic. Elemental is for us. I've got years. I'm not working on any games other than Elemental for a long while. It is that good.

For what it's worth, Elemental has sufficient pre-orders such that it'll break even on August 24th.

[quote who="Dale_" reply="41" id="2710803"] Quoting AndyBarrett, reply 36Hi everyone, just to let you know that in my lastest update from Dells Alienware site there's a nice little ad for Elemental on their M15x laptop. Nice one guys! I was at EB on Saturday putting money down for my Civ5 Collectors edition, and the guy at the counter said, "Big half-year for PC: Starcraft, Civ and the Warcraft expansion. Civ is also picking up a lot of pre-orders so seems yo

[quote who="cephalo" reply="29" id="2710529"] Quoting Frogboy, reply 28 but they would also be very untested. Well, untested by you anyway. This is the way we've always done our betas. We have gotten a lot of crucial information out of the beta program. I guess only the release version will tell the tale of whether we got it right. If you guys can make me look like a fool, I would be immensly satisfied. If you've done well enou

[quote]but they would also be very untested.[/quote] Well, untested by you anyway. This is the way we've always done our betas. We have gotten a lot of crucial information out of the beta program. I guess only the release version will tell the tale of whether we got it right.

It's REALLY painful in debug. I am so looking forward to porting this stuff to Python so I don't have to reload the game when I make AI changes.

[quote who="TheProgress" reply="4" id="2710364"]In regards to the parsing issue and the amount of time it takes. One possible solution could be to parse all of the xml and produce one large binary file upon starting the game (and loading assets from the binary file). Then for every subsequent re-launch simply scan the entire XML directory for changes (time stamp changes) since the game was last run, if no changes were made use the binary file. This way you can reduce what ever I/O

I expect most multiplayer games will be co-op to be honest. My son and I expect to play online just against the AI.

[quote who="jmccrea" reply="84" id="2710222"]Will I have to have my internet up to play Elemental? I know for my beta one I have to have internet going and have been bummed about that at times. I live in ND and sometimes lose internet for hours on end and like to mess with the beta, but it wouldnt let me. Is this going to be the same with retail? Is this also what Civ V will be shipping with...that if I dont have internet at times im s o l? If so, thats a bummer.

Well said Kryo. What is best for our customers is what is best for us. Not just saying that either. It's true.

We plan to allow custom map makers to place moon gates on the maps. They wouldn't be in random maps though.

In the final version, cities can't even build on resources. You have to build on resources from the main map, not the city UI. The only reason to snake towards a resoruce would be to get it adjacent to your city so that your city walls protect it (a viable strategy but expensive).

I'm extremely excited to see it come out. First off, it's been killing me reading forum posts about people talking about this or that that aren't applicable to the final game (examples: boring terrain, bad UI, repetitive goodie huts and quests). I haven't played Beta 4 in awhile but I don't think Beta 4 even had special abilities for monsters and NPCs did it? I'm also looking forward to being able to read the forums and read people's strategies so I can do AI stuf

We agree but we took a different view of the solution. The problem is, why are monsters spawning in your territory? What's the point of civilizing the world if monsters are being pumped out wherever? In the final game, the monsters spawn only in unowned tiles.

You can't create creatures with the editors but you can create them with XMl. Here's my goodie hut in the game:

[quote who="Vermillion_Hawk" reply="75" id="2707861"]Well for starters, I don't have an online account since I normally avoid multiplayer on most games, and second, I'm running a PIRATED copy, so how does my illegal version have more priveleges than your legal one?[/quote] No.