Peace Phoenix

[quote]Wouldn't you just not use this little feature then? It is optional after all. Unless you somehow want to be kept up to date without being up to date [/quote] I know that it will be optionnal. Maybe I have misuderstood what the OP says. I found it strange that we have no middle way bewteen: - you launch Impulse to see if there are updates and if you want to install them and - you use the tray application which will do the updates automatically

[quote]A tiny new tray application will be able to be optionally used to keep users up to date on updates and let them quickly and easily access Impulse features. Best of all, it’ll be tiny in memory so users will be able to manage to keep up to date more easily than ever without having to have a client loaded.[/quote] And what about people that want to know that an update is available but don't want to update yet, especially if it might render their savegames incompatible with

[quote]Do you think we will actually zoom in on the map and be able to see the full 3D stuff after zooming past a certain point? [/quote] There is something similar in Galciv 2: the map is in 3D, but if you zoom out, things reduce and finally switch to tactical view where everything is icon. And the level at which the transition is made is parametrable by the user. And the game is playable (you can easily spot tiny fighters when there are icons) at tactical level. So I expect

[quote]The other benefit it would have is if we could make the whole game play on the cloth map too, people with insanely low end systems could actually play the game. Imagine people playing Elemental on a netbook for instance?[/quote] Well, GC2 allows you to play only with the tactical view, where everything is icon. Strangely, it makes easier to spot tiny enemy fighters than when using the 3D view. And it allows to have a better view about what is happening in the game. I wo

[quote]To explain the significances of this horrendous error of judgment prices of games on steam have recently rocketed for European customers. They recently introduced charging of European customers in Euros, and British customers in Pounds. Yet the effect is to hike the price actually paid. Sure we avoid a small bank charge for changing local currency to dollars, but the exchange rate now offered on steam is a highly unfavorable $1=€1.[/quote] Well, Impulse already has regiona

[quote]Thank you for the quick replys, i have galCiv II, great game.[/quote] Only GC2? Or have you also Twilight of the Arnor (which requires GC2 + Dark Avatar)?

More GC2 back stories about Arnor and Drath http://draginol.impulsedriven.net/article/170107/Of_the_Drath http://draginol.impulsedriven.net/article/170113/Who_are_the_Precursors http://draginol.impulsedriven.net/article/170

[quote]I think, that mixing the names of Galactic civilisation and this game is not a good idea. [/quote] I am pretty sure that Draginol has the backstory of Altaria in mind when designing the world for Elemental. http://draginol.impulsedriven.net/article/171522/Of_the_Altarians And the following quote [quote]Different Precursors modified the young Altarians in different way resulting in a series of s

For those interested in Galciv Univers backstory and alternate stories, these links can be enlighting http://draginol.impulsedriven.net/article/124846/The_Reluctant_Chapters_1-6_Act_I http://draginol.impulsedriven.net/article/124732/The_Dread_Lords_the_Arnor_the_humans_a

[quote]or it's actually charging me in dollars and that's just there for reference.[/quote] This is the correct case. The order is always made in USD.

[quote]steal the beloved Frog from Stardock[/quote] One shouldn't forget that the Frog owns Stardock and is the only shareholder. So stealing the Frog from Stardock means first that another company must buy Stardock. And the Frog has numerously stated that Stardock is not for sale ...

[quote][quote]Quoting Peace Phoenix, reply 13 - open API must be enough documented, not too complex and enough robust in order to be used by the personn who hasn't coded it and can't correct it [/quote] A person who hasn't coded can't contribute to AI development anyway so it's an obvious waste of time to make it user-friendly for such persons.[/quote] I fear I wan't clear enough. The idea was to make the routines enough documented for being used by people externa

[quote] I meant C/C++ source code[/quote] Sorry, my mystake. I didn't correctly understand at which point in the following sentences you were referring to : [quote]Note that this isn't a scripting language. Our AI's are written in C++ and are, sadly, closed source.[/quote]

[quote]What's the point to hide the source code from public? [/quote] Well, is the problem to hide things or to try to have things efficient? Having the source code of the AI open to the public means: - some scripting language for the AI and some interpreters. Bugs can be more difficult to track on interpreted things than on compiled ones - scripted code can be less efficient than compiled code. - it is easier to make distinct specific AI than a gener

[quote]Will there be singleplayer? [/quote] Well, if you read the OP post: [quote]The final version of the game, of course, will not require the user to be on the Internet. We will bundle a number of the AI players in with the game to play single player, off-line games.[/quote] Hope this answer your fears ....

[quote]Every bot would only play 1 game. A robot is a virtual player playing 1 game. There'd only be up to 200 to 300 of these robots playing on-line. [/quote] how will the ability to save multiplayer game and resume them be handled in that case? Unless I have missed something, an elemental game can span over multiple hours.

[quote]Basicly, it will be a lot cheaper to buy it in stores when it somes out in Europe.[/quote] "when" is the important keyword. What would you do if Europe retail is behind in months (like it was the case with Sins of a Solar Empire) ? And don't forget that exchange rate and local pricing can twist a lot the result about what version is cheaper. For information, preorder won't be charged before beta starts. So you can't take advantage of the exchange rate available today.</

[quote]It also has an incredible sense of humour[/quote] True. I love the way they have treated dragons: - the one who want you to bring back its princess. Nice twist on the dragon - princess classical story - the one about the dragon under the orc castle in Liberty Islands. The line about dragons gathering treasure to ensure that food come to them is too funny And you can't miss the LotR allusion when you spoke about the ring to the zombie wife ;)

The problem with Impulse and offline computer is that Impulse requires to connect on Stardock servers when starting for the first time.

And it keeps the state between various forums. If your read a thread on forums.elemental.com that also appears on forums.impulsedriven.com, it will be marked as read in both forums. Very useful for threads from the category PC Gaming or impulse ;)

[quote]1. Yes. Most of the victory conditions are non-military. Some of the previews may cover this so I won't say anything until after the previews hit. [/quote] The gamespot preview http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/elementalwarofmagic/news.html?sid=6200601 explains some victory conditions: [quote]There are several ways to achieve victory, such as simply defeating all your enem

About preordering, cancelling and beta, this thread http://forums.demigodthegame.com/326561 can be enlighting. There is an official statement in reply 6 in that thread: [quote]If you simply decided you don't want it though, we can only offer 75%, as sales noted (their word is as official as anyone's, btw). While in the former case we're potentially at fault and will gladly offer a full refund, in this case, well, we can't guar

[quote]Can you cancel and get a refund if it turns out you don't like it?[/quote] I fear you can't get a full refund if you have downloaded any beta version.

With Stardock, only people who have preordered can participate in the open beta.

BTW, the latest entry on Frogboy blog for GC2 2.0 http://frogboy.impulsedriven.net/article/329034/Galactic_Civilizations_II_v20_A_Guided_Tour gives some kudos for beta testers and insists on the importance to have open beta for Stardock.