Peace Phoenix

[quote]BUT as stardock/impulse is US based the $US price should be the one applied as the transaction is between stardock & customer, NOT kalypso[/quote] Stardock is the distributor in this case. Kalipso is the publisher and set the price. So Stardock has a contract with Kalypso for selling their software through Impulse. And if the contract says that there are regional prices, Stardock can't change that fact. And if Stardock goes against the contract with Kalypso, it won't be abl

[quote]as an example the tropico3 pre-order for $33.99us stardock's price to australians is $61.54a at a current excange rate of $1A sould be aprox $0.85us which suggests the price in $a for the tropico3 preorder should be $39.99 even if the $a dropped to .8us it still would be $42.50A.[/quote] Have you tried to see if the base price for Tropico is based on European price? (35.99 EUR) Since Kalypso media is an european company, having its costs in euros, they may choose a worldprice i

[quote]Anyway I hope I'll get a straight answer as for why there is such a big difference in prices.[/quote] It is very simple: the publisher has decided to have regional pricings. One for North America, one other for Europe. This happens on all Paradox titles (which is an european publisher). The publisher can also decide that the default price is in euro and that north America has a specific regional price.

[quote]Do we need impulse etc to run the beta, it would be verry convenient if we could run it from an usb stick[/quote] use "the download and archive" option in Impulse, put the archive file on an USB stick. You restore after that from the archive, without needing to download the game again.

[quote]The "in theory" part sounds so sinister.[/quote] It is since nothing can really be certain when computers are involved ;)

[quote]BETA OBJECTIVES BETA 1 Initial Build: Basic Compatibility [/quote] I understand that there will be threads with configurations that don't work. But doesn't the fact that the game works on some system useful too? In this case, we need some threads with configurations that were successfull.

[quote]RELEASE When the consensus is that this is the best turn-based strategy game of its kind available. [/quote] That would be without any problem IF the game is download only (like it was the case for the Twilight of Arnor expansion). But if the game is planned to hit retail store, I fear that it may be another story: when starting manufacturing process, delivering to retail store ....

[quote]Wait, if I got this right, if I just preordered just now I wont get to beta?[/quote] Well, if I understand correctly the OP: [quote] For the rest of September, new users will be able to pre-order and join in as well [/quote] People preordering before the end of september will be able to participate in all beta 1 step. People preordering after the end of september will be enter in the beta phase starting at beta 2.

I don't think that it will compete with SoaSE since the armada site http://www.ntronium.com/Armada2526%20Home.html state that there is a turn based strategy map (which reminds me a lot of the map of MOO2). The single player mode could be more a threat for Galactic civilization 2. It looks like some people are trying to a get another successor to Master of Orion 2

[quote]Until someone finds a way to power tech more effeciently with magic than, say, batteries.[/quote] Looks like you aren't in the Arcanum universe (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcanum:_Of_Steamworks_and_Magick_Obscura ) where magic and technology are exclusive

[quote]no space strategy game seems to be able to surpass MOO2 success[/quote] what about Galciv 2?

Well, as long as the beta is before 21th of september, they are still correct when stating on the elemental homepage: Elemental is scheduled to go into public beta during Summer 2009.

[quote]And where do you get this information that this is the way SD is doing the "pre-order"? I see you talking but I don't see any documentation.[/quote] Well, you should look at this page https://www.elementalgame.com/purchase.asp You can't have full refund for a beta. This means that money is taken when you get access to the beta. But Stardock knows if you have downloaded a beta or not. If

[quote]You obviously know nothing about BETA then. lmao. Betas have always been free to play. I've played them since the mid 80's and never paid to play one yet.[/quote] Well, SD beta aren't usual betas. It is more alpha since lots of code is not yet. For example, the first GC2 was near one year before the retail release date and was more about engine testing than gameplay. So expects of lots of missing functionnality or bugs. Like Bras said in that thread <a href="https://forums

I see that the price has category like $9.99 or less. How does it works with other currency and regional pricing?

[quote]My mate, in the US paid $14.95 for game, yet when i fired up Impulse i get $21.30USD ($26.04AUD)[/quote] Sadly, you don't have provided the screenshot giving the detail of the "*" near the price ...

[quote]There are no humans in the game. There are men but they aren't humans. That will be understood better later.[/quote] Does this mean that they are in fact Altarians ;) ? See this thread https://forums.elementalgame.com/335522 and reply #23

[quote]Aw. No EU3: Complete Edition? [/quote] Are you looking for that http://www.impulsedriven.com/products/ESD-IMP-W189 ?

[quote]Only to match steam's price [/quote] Well, on Steam, the price moves down from 37.99€ to 34.19€ which corresponds to a 10% rebate ...

[quote]So thank you stardock.[/quote] As the publisher sets the price (BTW, have you read the small letters associated with the * near the price ), you have the following choice when there are regional restriction for Europe: - Games only published in North america - Games with a regional pricing for Europe, with the publisher generally deciding that 1USD = 1EUR since it will give nearly the retail price used in Europe for that game. If Stardock doesn

[quote]I am still hesitant because of that limited activiation.[/quote] What do you means by exactly limited activation concerning GOO?

[quote]Weeeee, I speed built 20 cities....at which point the unstoppable Player/Channeler who hoarded his Essense walks in and takes them from me.[/quote] I am wondering how you are getting spells in Elemental. It would be strange that having lots of cities don't help you to gain spell very fastly ...

[quote]LAN almost certainly. Hot seat maybe. PBEM, not sure yet.[/quote] I guess the main problems lie with tactical combat. But if they are solved with hotseat without requiring to change too many times users, PBEM should be workable

[quote]Similarly, if I want to make a magic sword that requires Aegeon crystal to be turned into a magic potion then as soon as I build 1 Alchemist lab in any town, then any town can build magic swords at a base level. If I build 2 alchemist labs, I won’t get any further bonus unless I control more than 1 Aegeon crystal.[/quote] Will there be penalty for having in your example 10 towns building magic sword at the same time? [quote]6. Cities can optionally build warehouse

I like option #3. I think that we need more than a on/off toggle to help set priority. Something like a recap screen, with a row corresponding to a city and the way to set a priority values for various ressources, in order to ensure that a particular city with a blacksmith get only iron while another get only copper. Given the number of possible ressources, it will be more something like choosing a ressource in a combo box and assigning a priority value. It may