Do I need the physical shipment?

[JonBrave]

Hi,

Thinking of buying this game. Is it one where I need the physical shipment? I suppose my definition would be "does it have a printed manual which is so useful that I'll want it on paper", else I'll do digital dowload.

Thanks for advice.

[Gil R.]

Well, the manual is quite long, so it's cheaper to spend the $10 or so extra for it than to print it in color and bind it yourself.

[JonBrave]

It's more than $10! I am UK. So, while the price difference may be $10, Digital River then want shipping & handling. Then, a further 15% tax gets added at the end (admittedly that's the case for download too [:(]). And if it gets shipped from USA, customs may decide they want import duty on it too, depending on the packaging and whether or not they are having a good day --- and if they did that, there's also a fee for collecting it! Apart from that, there's always the nagging worry that physical will get "lost", e.g. if the Royal Mail decide they'd like to play the game..... [:D]

I wouldn't contemplate printing it myself. Obviously all these games come with on-screen manual, so the question is, is the manual content important enough that I'll want hardcopy to digest/refer to?

[Gil R.]

Well, about half the manual concerns detailed combat, and some players prefer to play only the strategic layer. FOF has about 30 game options, so if you play with most of them off you'd need a much smaller part of the manual, but if you're hardcore you'll need to read most/all at some point. So I guess the answer is that it depends on your play style, and how much you can tolerate reading the manual on your screen.

[terje439]

Or you can ask for help in here [;)]

Terje

[Erik Rutins]

Hi Jon,

It does have a printed manual and IMHO it's a nice one, though with all the post-release updates you will also want to print out the update change list to go along with it.

Regards,

- Erik

[JonBrave]

Thank you, Erik. I think I might put this one "order and collect during next USA trip".

[Gil R.]

ORIGINAL: JonBrave

Thank you, Erik. I think I might put this one "order and collect during next USA trip".

You do realize that flying to the United States to save on that 15% local tax will be more expensive, right? [:)]

[JonBrave]

ORIGINAL: Gil R.

ORIGINAL: JonBrave

Thank you, Erik. I think I might put this one "order and collect during next USA trip".

You do realize that flying to the United States to save on that 15% local tax will be more expensive, right? [:)]

Ummmmm [:D] That is a reasonable point, which had not occurred to me. However, the pleasure I get meeting your warm & welcoming Immigration Officers makes it all worthwhile....

[JonBrave]

In case anybody ever reads this in the future (I'm assuming you'll archive for at least 100 years?), I just felt I ought to say: I had problems placing my orders via Digital River (may just be me), but --- although he may not thank me for saying so! --- Erik Rutins from here dealt with the whole matter wonderfully and we were able to resolve the issue with them. So, if you do come here having order-placing problems, be aware that contacting Matrix/Erik is an option that may well help you.

Many thanks to Matrix/Erik.