I think this is cool. Campaign + sandbox = two games in one.

I agree with the others, it feels wrong somehow. Initially when I was frustrated with WoM I was like "Hell yeah I deserve free gamez!!1". But now, after following you guys through all the hard work, it feels like I'm stealing it... Make sure you add some DLC.

Meh, I have no problems taking a free game after E:wom. Giving FE away for free isn't just about how E:wom turned out in the end, it's about how it was handled from the start.

The next game, however... that might feel a bit wrong to take for free (for those of us who pre-ordered E:wom). We will see after FE, eh. Maybe there won't be a third game.

Import fee? Do you mean you had to pay to use impulse? I've never had anyone say that before. Or do you mean that your country has restrictions on imports that you have to pay for a physical copy? Hardly Stardock's fault.

And now you're hating on spreadsheets?!.... just kidding

Thanks for your kind words.  

That said, I think it's important that FE be free to those who bought WOM early on because Stardock, from its earliest days when it was just me coding games from my dorm room, lived or died based on people pre-ordering our things.  

Let me give you a specific example and it might help make more sense why we're doing this:

Stardock used to be an OS/2 developer. This was back in the 90s when it wasn't obvious yet whether the world would go to Windows (which was inferior) or OS/2 (which was superior but horribly marketed).  

When the world went to Windows, we had to migrate to Windows in a hurry but we didn't have the resources to fully develop our main product - Object Desktop - for Windows.  So we had an extended beta where our customers who had migrated from OS/2 to Windows pre-ordered Object Desktop for Windows -- sight unseen -- because they had faith in us.  Without that faith, there'd be no Stardock today.

With WOM, we really didn't intentionally release a pile of crap. As has happened to many developers before us, we mixed up the enjoyment we had making the game with the enjoyment of playing the game and having our QA process completely biased for older systems while assuming (wrongly) that if it works on crappy old computers, it would work great on newer computers (hence the memory problems we ran into -- the more onboard memory your video card had, the worse off you were [Pixel Shader 2 keeps a copy of anything on the video card in main memory, something I was ignorant of.

The point being, it is important to us that people who buy a Stardock product know we will take care of them.

1. Totally happy with humaniod races only. As much as i appreciate Heavenfalls work (After war mod is a must have for WoM to have fun), the races in the expanded faction mod do not fit in the world. (Just my opinion) It feels like they are only there to have something different. I think there is no need for that, if we have differentiation between the existing nations.  

2. I´m happy to get FE for free. Never look a gift horse in the mouth.  To say thank you for that i will preorder your next game. Believe it or not, but these are my thoughts for months now. (Not only because i read Brads post about preorder is important for SD.)

But i forgot....what was this next game exactly frogboy? I heard that Jon Shafer is working on that project. 

This!

I've been hanging around Stardock games since Galciv 2 and E:WOM wasn't my first beta. When I saw them at PAX Prime I was eager to pre-order and the early parts of beta 1 made it look like the best game ever to be developed. Then things started going horribly wrong even back early in beta 1 and it was just a train wreck.

The development for E:FE sounds a lot like the plan for E:WOM scaled down a little to be more realistic. So for me this is hopefully just getting that game I wanted in the first place and is the sole reason I didn't ask for a refund shortly after release.

I personally don't like DLC. It either splits the community or is not really worth the money. Look at CivV, why would I pay for each civilization or a few wonders? Also I don't like purchasing things online. What would the DLC even be? You can design your own new content or factions using in game tools or modding pretty easy. No stick to expansions that expand the entire game. Content is for modding.

I can easily see Elemental having the potential to go beyond even the second expansion, even if it is just through a community expansion pack. The world and gameplay just seem to me to have practically unlimited ability to grow and build upon itself. Elemental is the kind of game that ages very well, and it's not like a sequel is in the works at all.

Expansion packs that are only sold online are effectively the same thing as DLC. 

The real question with FE is whether folks who got burned by WOM are going to give Stardock a 2nd chance.  The existing fanbase that has been there since GCII, I think most off us have stuck around, we know what you guys do- we're giving you a 2nd chance.  It's the guys who don't know what Stardock did in the past.

Let's put it this way: SOTS II issues have been compared with Elemental in terms of being a debacle. 

Word-of-mouth is going to do wonders for restoring SD's reputation.  For those of us who get it free, if Stardock provides us a good game, I think the best way to repay Stardock is to put out some good word-of-mouth, so others might buy it and get a positive impression.

Sounds "promising" for sure!

The only thing I would not put resources into is Multiplayer. We all have good multiplayer games on our machines, we are looking for some good SP action with that famous Stardock AI. I can imagine that making multiplayer work with tactical battles is a real hassle.

But it's NOT free. We all paid $50 for it way back in the day when we preordered WoM. WoM did not deliver, and so we are getting a substitute product.

Brad is cleverly calling it "free", but NOTHING is free. Brad is reallocating resources. He is taking a small short-term cut in liquid cash income for an increase in long-term customer post-sales binding. It's probably a smart business move by him. Like almost all economic decision-making, which is closely related to game theory decision-making, you could probably see this as a game -- even as something in the WoM world if you like. Brad is spending a few gildar and increasing his prestige. A good move? Time will tell. I think so. But it is not "free", any more than those banners anywhere in the internet offering you "free" content for anything is "free".

Just like "no interest EVA" doesn't mean you aren't being charged more.  Just because you are not paying interest, doesn't mean you are not paying more.  The price you pay is just higher because you are not paying "interest".  What is more important, that you are not paying interest, or you are just paying a price that has been increased by the amount of interest you have paid?

Still, I don't think Frogboy's "free/replacement" product should be totally written off as a business move.  I mean, how many companies provide ANY replacement product if the original game/product was not good.  They would mostly keep the money and run.

Best regards,
Steven.

I don't think giving FE free should be considered a business move. I take it as a genuine thank you for us, and as such appreciate it a lot more. I wouldn't have any problem buying FE, but the symbolic value of how Stardock has handled all this is very big for me.