SEV - to buy, or not to buy?

[Fyron]

I don't recall ever seeing "fully working product" as part of the advertisements/PR for SE5.

Dan_ said:
"No basis to compare cars and software? ... Why else do you need?"

In order to make a strong, useful analogy, the objects you are comparing need to have a fair level of similarity. The more similar they are, the stronger the analogy. The more dissimilar they are, the weaker the analogy. Apples to oranges, yes. Both are fruit, both are round, they have similar shapes. Apples to jet planes? Pretty weak. Analogy is an oft-abused tool on the Internet...

[Atrocities]

Uncle_Joe and Dan, why would there need to be a disclaimer stating that the game was made buy one guy opposed to 200?

I was simply stating fact, not making policy. If you dislike the game because you expected more, well that is your right. But if you hate the game because it reminds you of MOO3 and you compare it to such, then like with all things, you should be fully informed about the objects you are comparing.

Most games are shipped caveat emptor with little to no additional support past one or two patches. And these game developers often have large programing staffs with significant budges and they give you squat in return for you purchase. At least Malfador and SFI have on going support for SE V. The simple fact that there have been nearly 1,000 issues addressed since the games release, with more coming, should be reason enough to justify its purchase. Most game developers, the ones with staff and money never reach the level that Malfador has historically set for its game support. If there were gold medal given to game developers for superior support of their games, Malfador would have multiple gold medals.

I also agree with Fyrons comments in the above post 100%.

Given the choice between all of the 4x type games that have been released since June 2001, SE V is the best, and even with its irritating UI flaws, I would still have bought it, will continue to recommend it, and will always consider it one of the best 4x games of all time.

For those reasons I restate that despite its flaws, I would buy it again, and again, and again. It is simple the best 4x game on the market today next to SE IV.

[GuyOfDoom]

Most games are shipped caveat emptor with little to no additional support past one or two patches. And these game developers often have large programing staffs with significant budges and they give you squat in return for you purchase. At least Malfador and SFI have on going support for SE V. The simple fact that there have been nearly 1,000 issues addressed since the games release, with more coming, should be reason enough to justify its purchase. Most game developers, the ones with staff and money never reach the level that Malfador has historically set for its game support. If there were gold medal given to game developers for superior support of their games, Malfador would have multiple gold medals.

This is the point exactly. The only "BIG NAME" games I have EVER seen recieve ANY kind of patch after 3 months of release have been Blizzard Games (Diablo 2, Starcraft, etc) and Counterstrike, which initally wasn't "Big Name."

Most computer games now days are massive scams to the consumer. The companies basicly copy some other game in some form because it's a safe investment and give you a crap product because it's guaranteed profit because you can't return it. Why? Because there is the potential that you could be burning it despite the fact that a large majority of people that buy it legitimately may not get it to work on their machines.

SE V recieves continuous support from it's designer and is ever changing. The whole SE series from my understanding is an awesome investment and I have myself now ordered SE IV Deluxe.

It's appearant you expected something different when you bought SEV, but I have to say I find it amusing that you are frustrated that a TURN BASED GAME takes T-I-M-E to play.

[Captain Kwok]

Uncle_Joe, fortunately the upcoming patch will address a number of concerns including that silly 1-move early order bug and long processing times with combat execution much faster. For gameplay, I'd recommend you don't do small maps with more than 5 or 6 players. Having more than that means they start much closer together and won't have time to establish any of their own territory - this leads to short tempers between the AIs and more frequent combats - reducing their strength and making them less threatening versus the human player.

[Uncle_Joe]

Uncle_Joe and Dan, why would there need to be a disclaimer stating that the game was made buy one guy opposed to 200?

I didnt ever think their should be. But I'v seen that same 'excuse' before (it was only made by one guy, not 100s). My point was simply that whether it was made by 1 or 101, is immaterial. It is going to be judged against the others the same way (again, fairly or unfairly, that is just the way it is).

IF they had offered it at half the price as a 'public beta', THEN IMO it wouldnt warrant a lot of the criticism being leveled at it...But that is not the case.

Like I said before, I bought it solely on the strength of the reputation of that 'one man'. I would have liked to have had the game feeling more complete than it does, but I am confident that eventually, it will be the game I had hoped it would be.

[Atrocities]

I see your point. However it really isn't an excuse, it is a fact. But I again, see your point.

[GuyOfDoom]

IF they had offered it at half the price as a 'public beta', THEN IMO it wouldnt warrant a lot of the criticism being leveled at it...But that is not the case.

There have been more famous games released in worse condition that don't even get 10% of the support this game gets.

[Dan_]

I would be interested in see the results of a survey of customer satisfaction if this was possible. I don't know how you could include the people who bought it off the shelf, and those who were not happy may not want to participate either. Results from people who regularly read the SE forums is not likely to be a very true representation of everyone who bought it either unfortunately.
- Total copies sold
- # survey replies (% of customers)
- How happy they are with it
- If not happy, why
- Suggestion for improvement
- And for interests sake, how they learned of it, and if they are were involved in the SE community when they bought it.

If anyone knows of any info like this, could the post a link please?

Edit:
Mainly this is here coz I needed to upload the attached pic somewhere I could reference from the play by web game forum. I just loaded the first turn of this pbw game to find that instead of building the ships and units I had planned, the construction queue was full of other races designs, and most of the my designs had vanished. Perhaps if someone knows how to avoid this they can let me know - thanks. (I think that's the first post which passed the spell checker )