Something Serious

[Saxon]

Shrapnel has a great record of supporting games, which are very modifiable by the players and should be rewarded for their championing of a good idea. With that kind of innovation comes the curse that someone else is going to copy you, which is generally good for the consumer, if hard on the innovator.

That said, the idea needs to be backed by strong initial design. SEIV is great, but Armies of Armageddon left me cold. In fact, it left me so cold that I wrote a review against the game and Shrapnel demonstrated their integrity by leaving it on the reviews page. Runesword, AOA and SEIV all use the modifying concept and, as Richard says, there is no harm in having a similar game out there. This new game happens to be in the same genre as our beloved SEIV and is with a different publisher. Let us see if it has an initial design to match (or beat) SEIV or if it is an Armies of Armageddon. The competition is going to come no matter what (MOO3 anyone?) and the SEIV team (and community) will have to rise to the challenge.

Given their past record, I don’t doubt they will.

[Richard]

I just noticed your place of origin was Kenya. Wow I am impressed, I know we sell games everywhere but I don't think I can remember a posted from Africa before . Or maybe I just haven't noticed .

[Grayhorse]

Shrapnel Staff rock for all their great support. I have never not had good contacts with them. They are always curteous and informative. Heck, I had been screaming for a tcp/ip play for this game since I bought the original way back when. Shrapnel staff didnt have to email me to tell me about gold, but they did. Just goes to show you how great there staff is, and there concern for there customers.

Keep up the good work...

[GhostBear]

I am a big fan of 4X space games. I don't mind paying to support an "indie", in fact, I've been playing Starships Unlimited: Divided Galaxies and find it quite refreshing. However, STUN G has proven to be ultimately limited in its replayability due to its lack of depth. But, for the first three weeks or so its a bLast, well worth the investment.

So, when I saw the GalCiv post, I went and looked at the website. Sadly, (I cut this from their site)

Combat is Galactic Civilizations is simple. Two ships intersect, there is a very brief battle and one of them is destroyed. There are no “ranged” attacks and no “fleets” in the traditional sense. Two ships simply intersect and one of them is destroyed. The other one may take damage as each ship has so many hit points allocated to them. While this may seem simplistic, in actual use it plays very well as there is no issues with “unit AI” and there’s no such thing as “rushing” since even a unit not doing anything will automatically defend itself and swarms of ships do not give any advantage to the attacker.

So, I won't buy it.

Long live complexity!

GB

[Saxon]

Richard,

Yep, Kenya is home, but place of origin is better described as the more prosaic Canada. As far as I know, I am the only African on the board. Probably something to do with the shipping and handling charges, corrupt customs officials and thieving mail room employees. Actually, I have not had any problems with ordering computer games, though other bits of mail have gone missing. When I ordered SEIV, I had no problems with customs, but I did get asked if I was a devil worshipper when I had Diablo II shipped in!

[Mephisto]

quote:

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Originally posted by Saxon:
When I ordered SEIV, I had no problems with customs, but I did get asked if I was a devil worshipper when I had Diablo II shipped in!

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LOL! You are a bad boy to do such a thing.

[PvK]

quote:

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Originally posted by Saxon:
...When I ordered SEIV, I had no problems with customs, but I did get asked if I was a devil worshipper when I had Diablo II shipped in!

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Did you tell them that no, you were a devil-slayer?

I guess they don't mind if you're a galactic-scale megalomaniac!

PvK