Purchasing GalCiv2 Online vs. Retail

sorry for double post, the speed on these forums is quite slow, i thought the submit didn't go thru

I got the game online, then they sent me the really nice new collectors edition box/dvd through the mail. Great game company. Very talented people who actually appreciate their customers. The popularity of GC2 and all this Starforce crap is really gonna test their patience though.
I may decide to reinstall from the box DVD, because I have no interest in the actual Stardock Central stuff, that has a lot of pc utility downloads and a chatroom and stuff.

Stardock has to price direct sales at SRP so the retailers don't throw a fit (especially since the retailers have already had supply problems, which isn't an issue for direct-downlaods). The retailers though are free to price it lower if they like (and most have).

I'm curious about this as well.  I can pick it up at Amazon for $40 with free shipping.  I've also considered buying it from TG.net for $70 with their tokens thing, but I can't seem to start any new threads, only reply to them, so no one is answering my questions about TG.net.  O'well.  Maybe the poor way TG.net is handling this *is* the answer...

In case people wanted to know what my questions are here they are:

I'm considering joining Totalgaming.net as a method of buying Galactic Civilizations 2, but I have a few questions first.

1. I realize that it costs $70 for a membership and that I get 10 tokens which I can spend on games. GalCiv 2 costs 5 tokens, so I'd have five left over. How long are these 5 tokens good for?

2. How long does my membership to TG.net last?

3. If I use up my 10 tokens and want to buy more, how much do they cost (I looked all over your site, including the forums and the FAQ but NOWHERE does it state this cost).

4. How long have you been using your forum software? Your orgainization talks about having experience with being a community but your forum software is very crude by todays standards! Would you consider upgrading it to something that is more modern with more features like Vbulletin? Frankly you're way behind the times community-wise when you cripple your community with lousy software like this. It makes me a little nervous to join your community when I see software like this instead of something that is more user friendly and has more features.

Thank you for your time.

Shannon

Huh?

Totalgami...tokens?.....wtf?

Let's not over-complicate this. I agree that the forums could use some more bandwidth, but that beside the point. All you have to do is click the link on the front page to get the game, enter info. and the Stardock Central app. downloads the game for you. Be sure to get all the multimedia and the patches as well. Very simple.
Then they will send you a box/dvd set of the game you just downloaded.

1. I realize that it costs $70 for a membership and that I get 10 tokens which I can spend on games. GalCiv 2 costs 5 tokens, so I'd have five left over. How long are these 5 tokens good for? 2. How long does my membership to TG.net last?

Indefinitely, as I recall.

3. If I use up my 10 tokens and want to buy more, how much do they cost (I looked all over your site, including the forums and the FAQ but NOWHERE does it state this cost).

Calling it a subscribtion is more a carryover from the pre-token system than anything. You just buy more tokens at the same price as before, and they last until you use them.

4. How long have you been using your forum software? Your orgainization talks about having experience with being a community but your forum software is very crude by todays standards! Would you consider upgrading it to something that is more modern with more features like Vbulletin? Frankly you're way behind the times community-wise when you cripple your community with lousy software like this. It makes me a little nervous to join your community when I see software like this instead of something that is more user friendly and has more features.

Years. Stardock uses a custom-built ASP/ASP.NET forum software across all of its sites (JoeUser, WinCustomize, TGN, GalCiv 1/2, etc). There have been many complaints but Stardock will most certainly not be converting to a forum system produced by someone else, especially one written in PHP (Stardock is a pure-Microsoft shop). The best that can be hoped for are improvements or (slim chance) a total rewrite based on the same database.

Thank you Darth Kryo for the info.

There's still one thing I don't understand.  You say tokens are the same price.  Does this mean I have to buy them at $70 for 10?  Can you buy them a token at a time and is the price $7 per token?

Thanks again.  So far you've been the only one that seems to understand this.  I appreciate your help!

Shannon

Well, almost the same price. The first time you buy in it's $70 for 10 tokens. After that you can buy 5 for $35, or 10 for $65.

Thanks Darth Kryo.  That helps a lot!

Shannon

If you want to buy it in-store, Futureshop has it for 40$CAN, instead of EB's 45$CAN.

well buying it again would be quite pointless, now.

Ahh well, chauk it up to impulse purchase. Game is still quite a bit of fun.
But as Daffy Duck would say, "I am Happy Miser..."