Alstein

I'm fine with not pushing the envelope. It's also getting to a point where it's just not profitable to do so. Ironically, it's Stardock's games right now that are determining what I want in terms of horsepower.

A small mana bleed per turn would not limit big spells as badly as you'd think, especially since casting the spells would reduce the bleed. I don't see how my suggestion would make what you are trying to do unviable. Worst case- you lower the mana needed slightly for the biggest spells. Problem solved.

Most indie games would probably offer direct downloads themselves, in addition to a Steam version. That said, having Steam's competitors around to keep Steam honest is great for the consumer as a whole.

The second AI is more to help the AI out, by getting rid of the decision of whether to blow mana or not in tactical/quick battles. Right now the AI will not use mana in quick battles at all, though it did in the betas.

Some of this would help the AI out, which was my idea in the first place. Mana is collected as it is now. However, you lose x% of your mana each turn (to prevent overstockpiling). 1% I think would be sufficient to keep the numbers from getting ridiculous. Strategic spells cost mana. Tactical spells do not , with some exceptions (escape, a few other spells) However, how many spell points you can use in a tac

[quote who="larrypeters" reply="22" id="2654491"]I have to wonder if this is a test of sorts for Sony and if it works they integrate Steam further into PSN. For Sony it beats having to build their own offering to compete with XBL. Steam is already there and has infrastructure in place. Like Tridus, I also seriously doubt this will change anything for Steam powered games. Later, LAR [/quote] It would be smart for Sony

I agree entirely with this. Please implement, at least for FE. I feel this is one of the features I was most interested in when Brad announced the general idea, so I hope it comes- at least as an option.

On the RPG, if the game itself is interesting, I'd be all for it. I'm skeptical about RPG "gameplay" though. Seen too many Final Fantasy "games" to not be wary about the genre.

I think we're going in circles, so I'll stop. You have AI work to do anyways. ^_^ One question though: wasn't Lightweight Ninja just a small side project Cari did? I always thought it was a one-person project.

It's not my intention to give you grief. I've just got a little different perspective- based on what I've seen from my corner of the woods. And yes, you're right, there have been plenty of trolls out there. That said, trolling means that they care enough to troll. When they stop trolling and they stop hating, that's when you might have real problems. ^_^. That said, if I think there's a better way then what you're doing, I'm going to say something- I may be

[quote who="Frogboy" reply="113" id="2880868"] Quoting Alstein, reply 77It's easier to make a good space 4X game then a good fantasy 4X game. That said, Heavenfall's comment pretty much sums up my opinion- SD has two games to "redeem" themselves, though I believe for most people , FE is going to determine their opinion on Stardock. This is why I keep saying this game HAS to deliver. Most of my friends who I talk to who are gamers, got Elemen

[quote who="Wintersong" reply="83" id="2880587"] Quoting Alstein, reply 81It's not the intentions that count though, it's the results.Depends on context though. And the degree of divergence with the "expected" results. Or would any of you feel better if Frogboy hadn't hired Kael? (I won't mention Shafer in that question due to anti Civ V zealots ) Or if he hadn't already funded Elemental for 2011 and 2012? Or deployed a full team for Elemental? Results are what in the end we pay fo

Yeah, I agree. I was surprised myself at the aggressiveness of the moves, though it makes good sense to diversify. A profitable games division and a profitable application division would protect Stardock from a crash in either industry. It's not the intentions that count though, it's the results.

The one thing I fear about FTP are Skinner Box mechanics. I really would like to see someone like a David Sirlin be consulted on a project like this, or at least have his rants looked at- in order to preserve gameplay. I know Society is a game I expect to skip, due to distrust of MMO mechanics. the Guild Wars approach is one I would consider though.

Many studios that were considered untouchable, have made games that were crap (Civ V, Total War games past Rome, etc) . So yeah, anything is possible. That said, if I thought EWOM was going to be your typical Stardock effort from now on, I wouldn't even be posting on these forums, I'd have ragequit already. The fact is, I expect better from SD. If I didn't, I wouldn't be a customer. I expect GC3 to give MOO2 a serious run for it money- most of wh

It's easier to make a good space 4X game then a good fantasy 4X game. That said, Heavenfall's comment pretty much sums up my opinion- SD has two games to "redeem" themselves, though I believe for most people , FE is going to determine their opinion on Stardock. This is why I keep saying this game HAS to deliver. Most of my friends who I talk to who are gamers, got Elemental, and if they didn't play GCII, their opinion of SD is negative. The

I think the one thing we can all agree on is that FE has to deliver, and deliver at launch.

Snow is awesome (for once)! ^_^

[quote who="Frogboy" reply="22" id="2880189"] Oh I agree it's financially dumb to do v1.3 and so forth of War of Magic. But we don't make games for pure profit reasons in the first place (come on guys, new turn based strategy games for the PC in 2011?). Stardock. Never. Abandons. Its. Games. We make the games because we love them. If I could be working on GalCiv II right now I would be. (unfortunately, huge pain in the butt because it uses Visual Studio 2003 w

Stardock already is staying the course, by providing FE for free. They don't need to be wasting money on a game that (if SD delivers on FE, which they need to) no one will want to play once FE is out.

I'm curious over the type of RPG Stardock would make. What sort of RPGs do the Stardock team like? I'd like to see a spiritual successor to FF tactics/Ogre Battle/ that type of game. With Brad's AI capabilities I could Stardock making a very good game of that type.

Can't seem to edit post, so I'll respond here. I'm not really a fan of continuing EWOM at least, and/or making the 2nd XP a seperate game also (unless FE bombs) Let's face it, people don't like EWOM all that much. I can see backporting engine changes and/or other things to EWOM, but it shouldn't be any different then GC2 DL patches that you did once the expansions came out. Anything else is a waste of resources, that needs to be spent

[quote]ed to have a full engine to play with. You, uh, you wouldn't consider putting the Kumquat out there as open source, would you? I have a feeling you'd make a ton of easy money if you went the route of open source product + charging for support and corporate licensing. Plus, we'd get an assload of cool games from companies that want a professional quality engine without building their own or paying for one. And you'd also probably get some free developer talent p

One question- think this might be a minor bug. Wind Shield is avaliable at the start of the game- shouldn't that be a book of air spell?

1.11 did occasoinally crash for me as well. Not enough to cause massive fanboy rage, but it is less stable then the other games I'm playing. I was putting my debugs up until the official release. 1.19 is actually more stable for me from a limited play sample so far.