First patch is out. Expect patches 2-3 a week. Hopefully the road to recovery is quick.

link

Also for the DLC fix

Yeah, the comparison isn't really fair between SotS and Sins. I'd say Sins gameplay is much closer to Starcraft than SotS... trying to build up masses of regular and hero units to throw at the enemy in the fastest way possible. Its pacing is slower for sure, but you're doing the same thing.

In SotS, battles are much more reliant on tactics and loadout than numbers (although numbers do help) and reflex/micromanaging hero abilities.

I never really got the branding of "4XRTS" of Sins, I guess they were just trying to get gamers from both camps. If Sins is a "4XRTS", then so is Starcraft, Star Trek Armada, Allegiance, Hegemonia, Star Ruler and every other space based RTS.

Clearly you have never played a competitive Sins battle.

lol srs

Sins battles are nuts. 

SotS is mostly "spam ["

Along with today's patch, KP put out a much more robust manual. It's full of typos, but the information in it is infinity better than the first edition, especially for players new to the series. It will also give people who haven't bought the game a better idea of what it's like.

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=41901&d=1320071925

6 hrs of gameplay 5 1/2 spent looking at a black screen while the computer runs AI vs AI battles in real time because there is no autoresolve. The rest of the time you either madly clicking directions for your ships since there is no combat automation or trying to figure out what all the pretty numbers mean because there are no tooltips, or other describers. 

If the head of the company is using terms like "cockup" - well, for 1, I love the guy.  2 - they are offering refunds if you are disgusted with them (honestly, you kinda should be, but fair enough).  3 - just leave it be - come back to it in a month, even if its your super favoritest game on earth.  I'm pretty sure they will do everything in their power to sort it. 

After dealing with the excitement with Demigod, I can say I'm glad I stuck with the game and love it - but frankly, I'd have been much less annoyed if I just waited a bit for things to get better and then dove in. 

Commentary - here's what I don't get - companies release games that are in shite state.  Now honestly, if you believe these guys released this game knowing it was a piece of crap, then you should not buy from them again.  PERIOD.  But if you believe they just didn't know it was a piece of crap... well, that's another story.  That's my take on elemental.  I'm completely confident that SD felt they were releasing a solid game when they launched.  I personally am 100% sure that if Brad thought the game was a POS, he would have not launched it even if it meant a loss of money or looking stupid or whatever.  That said, if these guys are in the same boat, then I say support them.  If they are crapheads that decided to just release it because they needed to meet some bottom line (eg suckers that buy the game retail before reading any reviews), then screw them. 

The real story, though, is that companies like Kerberos and Stardock need better practices in place to ensure that games are solid on multiple platforms BEFORE release and they need to be held accountable.  Brad - if you don't have a QA setup using intel/amd and nvidia/ati setups... well shame on you.  And the QA should cover win7 and win XP (dual boot or multiple boxes).  That's how QA should happen.  Anyway, fingers crossed for Fallen Enchantress.  I really hope it won't have any of the issues that were present in Elemental. 

And last - I really do love both companies.  I really want the best for them and for both companies to release solid games and be highly profitable.  I just am sick of seeing "cockups."

Generally speaking, all software is released with bugs, and in some cases: no user manual. Daz3D is notorious for this, buggy and no user manuals. The software? Carrara 8/Pro, Bryce 7/Pro, Daz Studio 4 Standard/Advanced/Pro. What they do instead, is point to a manual that is a version or two older and them have you watch these small YouTube videos on the Cool New Features! Then there is Mac support. The software does not work in OS X Lion.

To be fair, that's not what he was doing on day 1. It was actually a lot like WoM in that way. Some denial, and then "uh oh, it really is screwed up." That's when the apology came out. Initially they were just banning people on the Kerberos forums who complained.

It really hurt in Demigod's case because the game itself is really good. The botched launch hurt it's long term viability though.

 

We saw what happened with Stardock where they got too wrapped up in their own work and didn't have anybody at 5000 feet above it to say "hey guys, WTF?" That's a risk when you self-publish.

In this case? Paradox's job as the publisher is to step in and say "no this is not release worthy". They failed, as Paradox ALWAYS does. Depending on who you believe Kerberos either just lost sight of it or had to release due to lack of money. Paradox has no such problem and this debacle ultimately rests on them.

If I was running Paradox, I'd be setting up one of my own QA guys to look at every project and empower them to put the brakes on a launch when it's this far from being ready. That's the only way to improve their reputation as a publisher that throws anything out the door.

Fair points.  Anyway, hope they manage to salvage the game and turn it into a lot of fun.  I'll certainly be staying away from this for a bit at any rate.

I'm a huge fan of SOTS. If you haven't played it, go buy that and enjoy.

SOTS ][, unfortunately, was released in what I'd call early-beta condition. If you haven't already purchased it, I'd advise you to wait a couple months and buy it around Christmas. It certainly has the outlines of a good game, but it's still buggy and feature incomplete.

OTOH, it you player SOTS prime and want to make sure Kerberos has the cash to finish the development of ][, go ahead and buy it, just do so realizing that you're financing the creation of the game you want (a la Minecraft) rather than purchasing it.

I bought SotS2 on day 1, but waiting a month or so until it stabilizes. I'm keeping track of the patches and will play it when the emergency patches stop rolling in and the dust settles. I'm kinda past the time where I get mad/frustrated about this at this point.. it wasn't a full $60 priced game, and from their previous release I know it's going to be supported so eh. Sucks, but if they fix it, that's what I care about.

This I believe is the truth. I could go into descriptions of likely what, why, and how but I don't feel that it would be beneficial. I honestly believe that they took the actions they took, knowing they would have to bite the bullet of the pr nightmare, because they had absolutely no other option. Poor management aside, that's likely how it stands.

They've got the money flowing in, they've commented that they understand if you want a refund but that they will indeed 'feel' you voting with your dollars. They have enough capital now, hopefully with the patches they can get things back to the way it ought to be.

I would agree that the game is still in some kind of unfinished beta state.  I was patient with the bungled launch (seriously though, compiling the wrong version of the game for launch day is pathetically sad), but even after the initial patch the game has so many problems and feels unfinished.

Even beyond its unfinished state, I'm concerned about the added level of complexity with the fleet management system.  Maybe it will make end-game fleet management easier, but for me it just feels like an added layer of complexity.  I think they could have added detail to a modernized SOTS without the Fleet Mission system.

Most of these games when I first get my hands on them I can't stop playing, and for SOTS2 I feel like I'm forcing myself to play waiting for something cool to happen, at which point I encounter a bug / broken feature.

Please don't take this as a rant, I'm sure they are going to fix things up.  I'm pretty patient overall, but this is indeed one of the worst game launches I've seen.  If you haven't purchased it yet, give it some time before you spend your money.

I'm also pretty annoyed it was not clearly marked as requiring Steam, a company I choose not to support.

Finished downloading SotS II during the night and just started it to see what it looked like, and it looks just like SotS on the surface.

SotS is a deep game with TONS of customization and features so hope more people buy V-2 and give the game a chance.

Does the game play only in Windowed mode, not fullscreen? (Option button is grayed out at the moment).