Elemental Forums
Civ5 will be coming out this fall! I hope that doesn't cut into the success of Elemental. Maybe SD should slow things down and see what they're up against. You wanna make sure you can top Civ 5.
I'm a fan of the Civilization series but the onus is really on them to make people want to get it instead of Elemental. It's Civilization...again.
Beyond being strategy games, there is nothing whatsoever to make Civ 5 and Elemental competitors.
(And the idea of any further delays to the game make me want to punch someone in the neck.)
Some people will never buy Elemental becuase they only like the "real" style of Civ. SOme people will only buy Elemental because they only want the fantasy theme. Otehr will buy (and greatly enjoy, like me) both. Some will buy that with better mods (this one is speculation).
And in any case, Stardock doesn't need to worry about Civ V or the second coming of Elvis. CIv already has an extensive player base developed during years and Elemental is not going to get over that. Stardock better stick to the plan of "Released when ready and when it's the best we can do". That's the onyl thing they truly need.
Its true. Though one could catapult into demand for the other, in theory. I mean, really popular media of X genre creates swelling in demand for similar products. Assuming they are not released on top of each other in a why they directly super-compete. (a season or 2 apart should be fine I'd wager though)
I must agree the two games will likely be too not-the-same to really be enough competition to worry even if they are released in the same season though.
If 2K does some 'steam' or 'Ubisoft' style DRM it would be pretty easy for me to decide which to buy.
I remember when Galactic Civilizations was being developed it was supposedly doomed because Master of Orion 3 was also in development.
The two games shipped within 30 days of each other.
Which might have been a problem....had MOO3 been worth the cardboard the box was made out of...
Maybe?
Edit:
Damn slow internets! 
nah I don't see it. I mean I only bought civ in the end because gc2 was so damn amazing...I say they are islands of quality in an ocean of mario versus sonic
I'm sure I'll eventually buy the Civ game, but I am much more excited with Elemental! I mean the reason I play Civ is because it's similar to MoM.. follow me?
Though as to the original comment, I can see the concern. I've know enough people who would maybe buy a game like elemental cause they like the genre of game, but know the Civ series as "the best" and would want that much more.
That said, I don't think it's cause for concern, and maybe, just maybe, the popularity of a game like Civ5 will even help the sales of Elemental! I'm hopeful.
Maybe I'm a sucker, but I'll be buying Civ V even though I wasn't that impressed with Civ IV. I've purchased every civ game (not including expansions) except for Civ 2 and Revolution (which I don't even consider a Civ game 
) and have been upset with their steep fall into cartoony art style.. However, I'm really glad to see this because at least right now the design seems to be a step far away from that unfortunate norm. Now don't get me wrong, there's a difference between a unique art style and cartoony. I think the art for Elemental, although not realistic per say, is unique and refreshing for a fantasy game. Civ IV almost made me angry with the way they portrayed some of the leaders.. and don't even get me started on Revolution.. So I will be buying Civ V, and while I hope its the best in the series, I hope Elemental kicks its @ss.. 
I don't think I woulda been interested in Civ 5 as much till I saw the screen shots. HEX grids for Civ excites me. I know it sounds dumb, but really it allows for such awesome terrain possibilities, not to mention army movements and such. Call me a sucker from the old Mechwarrior Pen and Paper on hex days I guess lol.
I don't think Elemental has anything to worry about from Civ... But that's just me I suppose...
Provided they aren't within say a month of each other there won't be a problem. Also I suspect that at least one of them won't get released on time anyway.
Or cannot Impulse have a "Desperate to purchase" option in which you can buy a game not of your region paying your local price instead of the cheaper Impulse price? (Or have Stardock stablish a "Stadock gifts you a game not of your region that you pay us for". Not everybody has buddies in the USA... )
A lot of Elemental's features (magic, quests, champions, dragons etc) will be modded into Civ5 eventually, just as those things have already been modded into Civ4, but I'm not afraid it'll compete directly with Elemental. For one, it won't have tactical battles, it wouldn't be Civ5 if it had tactical battles - just like every previous civ game, it's going to revolve around city/economy micromanagement with very streamlined combat. Even if they mod in earth-shattering spells and dragon allies and such, Civ5 won't let you watch those things annihilate entire armies at once, and what's a fantasy game without epic battles?
So let's say you don't care about tactical battles, you don't even want to sit back and watch your dragon flame broil the enemy army, you just want fantasy-themed turn-based strategy. You're still going to play Elemental instead of a Civ5 fantasy mod - granted, Civ4 has a great fantasy mod that approximates many of Elemental's features, but it's taken them years to get that far, and it'll be a long time before Civ5 has a similar mod to compete with Elemental.
Anyway, although I don't doubt Civ5's quality in the least, I just think it's going to fill a different niche in the market than Elemental will. The only way Civ5 can compete directly with Elemental in the fantasy-TBS-niche is by being heavily modded, which won't happen anytime soon - and even when the modders have done everything they can with Civ5, I doubt it'll compare to a game designed from the ground up to be a fantasy TBS.
Someone could also just mod Elemental to be like Civilization V too. 
My space bar is going to be worn out from all of the epic TBS.
Hex or square... I don't care what shape my plate is, as long as the food is TASTY!
I feel your pain. The worst thing about moving everywhere are #&!@ region coding. I get that there's legalese reasons why they exist, but that doesn't stop them from being a royal pain in the arse.
You have to wait until lawyers become sane. So if you can't wait for hell to freeze over, you have to learn to... ahem... "circumvent" region coding.
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