Sins of a Solar Empire and Impulse

from Stardock Forums

Stardock, you guys have made some of the best games in the 4x genre.  Your talent and dedication are exemplary to producing a product that is both intricate and enjoyable. 

Unfortunately, I do almost all of my games purchases online these days, I work nights and its just easier for me to purchase from digitial distribution sources than try to time my sleep around getting out to a store and hoping they have it, I also have a hatred for CDs/DVDs these days, they are easily lost or damaged. But if all your games continue to be on Impulse and not Steam I will not be purchasing them. 

I put it off buying Sins forever because it wasn't on Steam.  I finally purchased it off of Impulse and so far the experience has been a nightmare.  The Impulse program not only takes forever to download, but has a terribly clunky interface, that is, if you can even get to the interface.  I had to reinstall it 5 times to get it to start up.  Then after it started up it took half an hour =just= to get me logged in so I could hit the install button.  Here an hour later,I am staring at a game that is barely over 10% downloaded on a 12 meg line. 

I bought Gothic 4 off Steam last week, and it took me all of 10 minutes to download.  Please please consider steam for your next game, or at least a digital distribution that isn't run by Gamestop.  Once they get their money for the purchase, they could care less.  Thank you for your time

7,808 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

The Impulse program not only takes forever to download, but has a terribly clunky interface, that is, if you can even get to the interface. I had to reinstall it 5 times to get it to start up. Then after it started up it took half an hour =just= to get me logged in so I could hit the install button. Here an hour later,I am staring at a game that is barely over 10% downloaded on a 12 meg line.
End of quote

Funny, that was my exact same impression of Steam. Except I can't uninstall steam and still play my game, unlike with Impulse.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

I'm not going to say that everyone is going to have the same experience with either one,  not everyone is going to like Steam, and not everyone is going to like Impulse.  What I'm asking for is options.  There is an argument to be made about the uninstall, but I like Steam for the simple fact that I can keep my whole library of games organized, install and uninstalled at will, auto patching while I'm at work etc. 

And Valve seems to remember its own roots, on Steam the indy developer has a large voice, and independent games are advertised on the front page with the Blockbusters.  Mount and Blade, Light of Altair, Reccetear, the X series, etc etc.  All games that I enjoyed and would probably have not found out about without the Valve's distribution system.

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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

Indeed, what would be really nice is some sort of open source project that can manage your game library in one place, which acts through each digital distribution platform where needed to run the game, update etc.. Maybe with EA and probably other publishers setting up their own stores, I'm sure this software overload is just going to get worse. I doubt Sins will be the last game you buy that won't be available with Steam.

I don't know if this is rumor or fact, but I think part of the Impulse deal with Gamestop was that Stardock had to still exclusively use Impulse for at least one year. After that they can use whatever platform they want, though considering how much they know and are used to Impulse they may just prefer that. But you could possibly see future Stardock games on Steam. Not sure if current titles would ever be ported.

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

I loathe Impulse but love Stardock's games. I downloaded Impulse and used it to install Sins, and it never ran again until a few weeks later when the game had to update.

Work your way through Impulse, the delete it from startup etc and forget about it forever until the game needs an update.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

I put it off buying Sins forever because it wasn't on Steam.  I finally purchased it off of Impulse and so far the experience has been a nightmare.  The Impulse program not only takes forever to download, but has a terribly clunky interface, that is, if you can even get to the interface...
End of quote

Well, i have never know all problem with Impulse... only regret that i have with Impulse are these "US-only" game... on the other hand, with Steam, at boot time, i end up with a blue screen 1 time on 2... reason is know, it is the bios from my hardware raid system... Steam software try to write in reserved memory for it... and i cannot disable it else Windows don't see the 8 drive connected to my SAS interface...

Point is that any people can know problem with one digital store or the other... i have problem with Steam but it remain the main source for the game that i buy... from my personal experience, Impulse don't offert so much that Steam but it is pretty stable and work good...


Please please consider steam for your next game, or at least a digital distribution that isn't run by Gamestop.  Once they get their money for the purchase, they could care less.  Thank you for your time
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Well, Impulse was created by Stardock... so, when they have sell it to Gamestop, they have certainly secure a special deal for their own software... if a software/game is sell via Steam, Steam ask 30% for their service... so, if Sins reach Steam, it mean that dev receive 30% less of your money if the same price is used that on Impulse... or it mean that price need to be increased for dev receiving the same amount of money...

More bad, for some title, Steam negociate exclusive distribution... it is very possible that Steam refuse to distribute Sins... For example, look at the EA title who was recently removed from Steam... like Dragon age II, where you will never be able to have upgrade/patch via Steam now...

By the way, Steam download can be slow too... it is more a question of timing... download during week-end can be hell ( if you can connect at all )... late night in the week seem to be perfect... start your download on Impulse before go to bed... will be ready when you stand up in the morning...

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

Probably also didn't help that for the past 3 days servers have been getting moved to Gamestop, DNS entries updated, etc. so it's really been the worst time to try Impulse for the first time.

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Wrath89, reply 4
I loathe Impulse but love Stardock's games. I downloaded Impulse and used it to install Sins, and it never ran again until a few weeks later when the game had to update.

Work your way through Impulse, the delete it from startup etc and forget about it forever until the game needs an update.
End of Wrath89's quote

I never had a problem with Impulse or Steam. I download games from both.

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Thoumsin, reply 5

Well, Impulse was created by Stardock... so, when they have sell it to Gamestop, they have certainly secure a special deal for their own software... if a software/game is sell via Steam, Steam ask 30% for their service... so, if Sins reach Steam, it mean that dev receive 30% less of your money if the same price is used that on Impulse... or it mean that price need to be increased for dev receiving the same amount of money...
End of Thoumsin's quote

Steam takes a considerably smaller slice then retail does, and there was boxed copies of Sins. It's also true for every other dev, and it doesn't seem to bother most of them a whole lot. That's just the cost of doing business.

More bad, for some title, Steam negociate exclusive distribution... it is very possible that Steam refuse to distribute Sins... For example, look at the EA title who was recently removed from Steam... like Dragon age II, where you will never be able to have upgrade/patch via Steam now...
End of quote

That's because EA and Valve are feuding over terms of service and in game DLC purchases (DA2 breaks Steam's TOS by selling the DLC directly through EA and not through Steam). It's not because Valve woke up one day and decided they didn't feel like carrying the game anymore.

By the way, Steam download can be slow too... it is more a question of timing... download during week-end can be hell ( if you can connect at all )... late night in the week seem to be perfect... start your download on Impulse before go to bed... will be ready when you stand up in the morning...
End of quote

Speed wise I find impulse downloads fast, once they start. The "preparing" part takes bloody forever whereas Steam can get started quickly. During the Steam summer sale though... man it was slow. Of course I got a ton of games for almost nothing during that, so its hard to complain.