Gamestop shipping Armada already!

[cdbeck]

I agree Epsilon, PC has gone by the wayside in there. I even had to point out, to a worker at Gamestop, that he had Dragon Age for the PC (a big release) sitting behind him on the shelf behind the counter. I would have gotten it from a digital retailer, but I had a gift card I had to use.

That's why I get sick of this release date stuff. They demand equal treatment with PC games and tie the hands of the publisher (as Erik is somewhat experiencing) but don't abide by the rules set out in the contract. Here, they clearly broke contract - but still stay silent when asked if the publisher can release early to follow suit. I'm still hoping they will be reasonable and say to Erik - release away - sorry we broke street date, but at this late in the day, I'm thinking he never gets an answer.

Further, they relegate PC to small and disorganized shelves while console games get entire walls with multiple copies of titles. I understand why, the economics behind it, but this doesn't endear the PC gaming community to them. I'm to the point where I hope Amazon and Digital Distribution just completely take over PC game selling.

SoM

[neofit]

I don't see it even being planned in European retail stores, so maybe you could release it for Europe earlier? 

[Arctic Blast]

So it's yet ANOTHER broken release date by Gamestop. Add it to Demigod, Modern Warfare 2 and numerous others this year. [8|]

[Wade1000]

That seems to be Gamestop's business plan.

[Erik Rutins]

One note for those of you who've got copies from retail. The retail release is v1.00. Our online store release is v1.01 and we've already put a v1.01 update on our update server for retail customers. Just click on the "Check for Updates" link on your game menu and you'll be updated to v1.01.

[ControlledChaos]

Thanks, Erik. Grabbed the update. Awesome game so far. I'm having a blast! I love how interactive the other empires are.

[Fluffyzerg]

This is going to be a really long weekend! (except for you lucky ones that got their shipments already )

[cdbeck]

Oh great... now I get the pleasure of hearing another group of people talk highly about a game I can't get yet... [:'(]

Yup Fluffy... gonna be a long weekend! [;)]

[Erio]

This really makes me angry. I already have said I'll never buy from gamestop or ebgames again. And they still jab me. Meh. Maybe I'll just not buy the game at all. Anyone who works with them deserves my scorn.

[AminMaalouf]

ORIGINAL: ControlledChaos
Awesome game so far.

ControlledChaos, any gameplay tips?
e.g.
- what is a good start position?
- what goodies should one look for in early game?
- what is the basic mass of planets to reach?
- what techline puts you on the save side (in early game)?

[Iceman]

Martok posted this link to the Wargamer forums:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8iLEvTu27c

Sorry Martok, wasn't sure if you had already posted here too. Posted it to the Ntronium forums too. Good publicity I think.

[EisenHammer]

ORIGINAL: Erio

This really makes me angry. I already have said I'll never buy from gamestop or ebgames again. And they still jab me. Meh. Maybe I'll just not buy the game at all. Anyone who works with them deserves my scorn.

It would nice to know why you hate gamestop so much.[:-] that you will not buy the game at all.[&:]

[AminMaalouf]

ORIGINAL: Iceman
Good publicity I think.

The main map is appealing and looks better than on the screenshots.

[Iceman]

Notice thought that all UI pieces seem to be missing - including in the battle module. I think he was having problems with FRAPS or something. You can hide all UI pieces anyway, to have a larger map area visible.

[AminMaalouf]

What we haven't seen (well some of course have) are what the turn change and modul upload times are in later game.

[EisenHammer]

It's funny because gamestop already have PC games downloads.
http://www.gamestop.com/downloadnow
PC retail games with gamestop are dead IMO. Matrixgames would be better off going with Walmart for retail sales.

[ControlledChaos]

Let's see...

- what is a good start position?
In my only game so far, I started towards the bottom of the map. I guess my neck of the woods must be really bad because most of the planets were mineral poor. The AI and I fought over the two prized planets. At this point, my empire is 6 planets, but only one isn't mineral poor, i.e. can allow mines, so I'm a little strapped for cash.


- what goodies should one look for in early game?
I would say go for a mix of planets with ideal atmosphere to allow rapid pop growth, and mineral rich planets preferably with oort cloud and asteroids

- what is the basic mass of planets to reach?
Not sure on this one. I think building construction slots depend on the population of the planet. More slots open up as your pop increases. But I'm not sure what the limit is.

Edit: I may be mistaken, but looks like each planet can support up to 100 pop. However, getting there depends on a lot of factors (growth rate, popularity, etc)

- what techline puts you on the save side (in early game)?
I went for construction techs early, followed by military as soon as I ran into multiple AI empires.

[AminMaalouf]

Cool, thanks man,

if you have some other gameplay hints, next coffe break give us who're waiting some report, would be kind.

Question:
- how are the turn change and the upload times? Are they tolerable so far?

[:)]

[PDiFolco]

ORIGINAL: neofit

I don't see it even being planned in European retail stores, so maybe you could release it for Europe earlier? 

I second that, there's no retail competitor outside US ...[;)]

[Iceman]

I think CC got pretty much the gist of it. The best starting position is having a Rich homesystem [:D] Start in a Poor one and things get a bit more complicated. It's random, though the neighbouring systems will be better if you start in a Poor system.
Ideally, you'll want to find a Very Rich asap. Look for them in the hotter stars (White and Blue) and in Black Holes.
Systems are capped at 100 pop, which allows 16 structures (7 pop per). A tooltip over an empty slot will tell you how many pop you need to open a new slot.