Rather than releasing a expansion pack with more ship hulls and ship jewelry for $8.95, I would rather you release it as part of a larger $20 expansion including expanded diplomacy, etc. This would mean a greater percentage of players would get the ship content and lessen fragmentation (e.g., players will start posting ship designs using this content that players who did not purchase the new content won't be able to use).

I'm not interested in multi-player, just single player improvements.

I would rather have this extra art content coupled with the expansion. If the expansion is $30 instead of $20, so be it.

That would be the best way to make sure I don't buy it. I could care less about the look of ships. I play because I enjoy the game. Don't make me pay for you to play with ship designing.

I don't think paying $9 for a package of hull/ship pieces is the problem, but rather, some people would prefer gameplay improvements rather than more stuff to play around with. If this package would have no impact on the content of the expansion pack, which would contain improvements and the like, then I don't think it's much of a problem. The people who want more stuff to play with can get this, and those who don't really care for it can just hold off on it or ignore it.

I think some people may think that this ship content might interfere with the creation of gameplay content.

I agree, and voted yes! Paying the "piper" is required if your going to hear his music. Pocket change shouldn't be an issue for new things. And like the post just above this, getting parts out quicker rather than waiting for a large whole can be more advantagous. If you would take a full expansion pack and split it up into it's component types it would average out about the same for each area as this idea is being priced at. Look at the whole picture from each point, up close; not at a distance.

Component wise, some extra jewelry would be nice, but more so the need for hull variance. And my idea would also be to split up each hull (existing and new) into seperate components to be used (Like some of the cargo hull fronts). There has been parts of each hull I have wanted to use, but having it as a complete hull makes it harder to bring out a specific part of it for your use.

As far as packaging? It really doesn't matter too much; best way is how the game itself is "published" - online and in stores (or at least ordered on CD). I understand peoples fears of doing online purchasing; and this fear will never completely go away. I've had bad and good experiences with online purchases, but I still buy online and in stores.

So, I would urge this possibility to go forward, because there will be enough people who want this much now rather than wait for a big release later. There can still be a combined release later for those who choose to wait and pay all at once.

GC2 team - You go!

Winners forget they're in a race; they just love to run. If you're doing it for the adulation of your peers, you're doing it for the wrong reason.

Whats this supposed to mean? I'm playing the game for the wrong reasons? I play the game because it's fun the gameplay that is, and the looks really don't matter to me! I play most of the game zoomed all the way out to the game board look, (which was a great idea to add to the zoom levels by the way!) But if I was playing online I would spend a lot more time designing my ships. Would I be doing it for the Adulation of my peers? You bet your ass I would!!! Thats what makes MP fun.

Yes, absolutely I would pay a measly ten bucks for hulls and jewelry. I find the ship designer to be as much fun as the rest of the game. In fact, I think of this as two games for the price of one! The same folks who want expansions for free just parrot what the rest of our society has learned--that they are entitled to have others labor for them for FREE. Get off your entitlement high horse people and cough up ten bucks for goodness sake. Support the few companies that cater to turn based strategy gamers.

I would rather Stardock sent those artists over to work on Society, I'm very excited about that game! But not going to just give them $10 just because they make turn base strategy games. And I am supporting Stardock by buying their games, the ones I feel are worth anyway!

I voted no.

I know that $9 is not much, BUT firstly I live in Europe, and yes not everybody has credit/debit cards. If I saw it in a store I would be tempted to buy it being so cheap and I understand with a big chunk of graphical content. But to pay online, for $9, and with the currency conversion giving my money to beaurocratic banks, I would think about it twice, three, four times and probably conclude that ... well it is not worth the bother....

BUT on the other side..... If the content was released together with the expansion pack (as part of it I mean) and its price was $9 more (therefore the same amount of money overall) then YES I would buy it, cause I get the expansion pack and the graphical content, which is all worth the bother.

Well, that's how I think about it

a better sorting of the parts would be good as well....

Voting yes indeed. Bring on the shipyards!

I might buy it, I might not... I don't play around much with the ship editor. If the hulls/parts were really, really cool though, I possibly would. Maybe more fancy lights and things ( I like lights and lighting ).

Sorry, I know that doesn't help much.

I find it strange that people don't want to get a credit card. I avoided getting a credit card, and because of that, my auto insurance costs $50 more than it would even if I had bad credit and it was difficult to get a loan for my condo. I guess this works differently in Europe somehow.

I *LOVE* the ship builder, and I would absolutely sign up for a pack full of stuff for it.

That said... without knowing what kind of quantity you are talking about it's hard to say.

Nine bucks for one new hull of each size and a dozen or two pieces of jewelry? Nope

Nine bucks for a couple dozen new hulls and a ton of jewelry? In a heartbeat.

I voted No, as I rather buy a complete expansion set with that and more stuff in a CD than download pieces of game which i will eventually forget i have and wont be on my next back ups

Perhaps a compromise measure could be useful...

First, release the general art pack for the $9 price online for those willing to buy it. Then, when the first expansion comes out, include the art pack with the expansion as well with only a marginal price increase - say, $25 instead of $20, and perhaps include some of the 3rd party mods with the game as an added bonus (though the Starfleet mod would have to be passed on for copyright reasons).

Also, some considerations for the art pack and components in general...

1. Sort parts by their "function" as jewelry (command structures, engine structures, cargo structures, manuevering structures, etc.)

2. Make a drop-down menu to choose race style of parts, but keep the above hierarchy within each race style

3. Allow the use of multiple colors on parts (I.E., one part blue, another gold, another white, etc.)

4. Animated components (which have already been tested to some degree by modders, evidently)

5. If you're real sneaky, you could allow the AI to use ship designs you created when playing their races! (If this DOES wind up popping up in the game - and I doubt it will - I would make it an option to toggle, so that those who don't want to face their own designs in battle or delete their designs from battle to battle can do so...in the latter case, to avoid nasty crashes.)

6. Special components to allow rotating weapon turrets?

Now, I know that involving the coders in the art team's work at this time might not be advisable - especially considering how busy the code team is on polishing up v1.2. I offer these suggestions not in the expectation that they WILL be put in, but as a potential option for Stardock to consider, should it feel any of these suggestions have merit. And if any modders wish to take a stab at these ideas, please do so! I would love to see the mod community come up with their take on these ideas!

Anyway, that's my two cents. I have no qualm about paying the extra money for the art pack, as I absolutely LOVE the ship designer. I always like coming up with new ways of using the parts I'm given...indeed, lately I've been experimenting with using the "warp nacelle" component as a major ship section...the image below is one of the results...



I'm a ship builder nut, I am.

But please - if you are going to do the art pack as a separate download, please include it as a bonus for the first expansion pack as well, so that folks who want to buy a complete expansion set can still use the extra parts! Leave no one out!

if you are going to do the art pack as a separate download, please include it as a bonus for the first expansion pack as well

Good point, I would purchase it as soon as it's there, but I would like to see others be able to use all those shipmodels out there (using parts of that expansion) after purchasing the autumn expansion pack as well.

I answered Yes on the poll, however, after reading the thread I would include the reservation: Yes, if its hull classes for all races and say a minimum of 50 components. However, if it is not new hull classes for all races, but merely 2-3 new hull classes and only 20 or so more components, it would not be worth it. (unfortunately I'd probably still pay for it- can't resist new eye candy)

Not in the slightest bit interested. I'd rather that the designers spent time on features that impacted gameplay rather than aesthetics (especially since I'm guessing that ship models and jewelry are going to be one of the most popular user-modded items).

Actually, I guess i should revise that and say, if it took the designers away from doing more important stuff, then no. If they didn't have anything better to do (which I seriously doubt), more race-specific hulls would be a "nice to have." It's certainly not imperative by ANY means.

I voted yes because I'm assuming that you're talking about some SIGNIFICANTLY different design components. Something more organic, or something resembling space versions of naval vessels perhaps? I don't mean to turn the thread into a wish list thread.

My question is: what kind of stuff are we talking about here? If it's just more of the same, then I would be less likely to bother with the download. However, if it's actually cool stuff, I'll buy it for sure.

Aren't there any teaser screen shots available?

In the latest Journal replies by Frogboy, it says that the idea has been abandoned I think.

Millions of people pay $15 per month to play World of Warcraft. Do they add new content every month? Not only do people pay the $15 per month but they then $40 for add-ons like the Burning Crusade (on top of the $50 for WoW and the $15 per month).

Those millions of people are playing online and are interacting with other people. They have a community that they feel a part of, which makes the money they pay worth it. They have a venue to show off their new features and have a reason to do so (bragging rights and whatnot.) GC2 has no multiplayer of any kind, so people are far less likely to pay money (1/4 the price of the game) for a small amount of content, since they do not have any way of showing off that content in their community. So he does have a point. But there are plenty of people who love creating ships, and they may be willing to purchase something like this. I like making ships too, but I don't really have the time to do that at home since all three of my kids are under the age of five and the only time I have away from them is when they sleep at night. I just spend the little time I have playing the game as fast as I can. I have recently gotten a little bored with the game, because I was unable to find a setting that was challenging for me (which is why I asked you what the best settings for the computer to give its best game were) so I don't play the game as much anymore. But I will probably go back to it off and on like I did with GC1 for years.

Good job with the game, and all of the success you have had. I haven't written any games since I was 12 years old, and they were text RPG's and adventure games; and side scrolling space shooters. (I did write one game that was a grid based "Risk" like game, so that was somewhat similar to GC.) So I don't know much about the process of writing these types of games, but this game was fun. I am an electrical engineer, but I was also a software coder for a few systems, writing control algorithms for a few systems (cant say what they are, sorry) and I wrote interfaces for similar systems and some UI work. Anyway, I wanted to let you know a little about my background, and appologize if I have said anything to upset you over the many posts I have written. I honestly hope that your company does very well, and it has given me a renewed interest in branching off myself. Best of luck to you.

-Marty

i won't buy it.First of all it should be a graphic pack with not oly new hulls or ships it should have also new portraits and new textures for planets.But anyway it's better one package with XP also at an higher price than 2 smaller package.Consider also that there are a lot of people from europe and also 8,95 $ will become 20-25$ so i don' think there is any european would buy a ship pack at 25 euros..........or not? LOL

If there isn't strong demand for such content, I can put the art team onto Society.

Considering that I'll be playing that as well when it comes out, that is perfectly alrighty with me!

I voted no, please don't hit me. The reason for this is that while building ships is a pleasant diversion and sometimes rewarding its not really why I play GC2.

I play for the tension, the highs and the lows that every game has the ability to induce, strategy and tactics and all that jazz.

To be fair though: If stardock did release the ship part only pack I would probably buy it eventually to appease my completest nature.

Definite yes - $8.95 is not going to break the bank of most people for well designed professional graphics as long as they really do contain the mega bells, whistles and eye candy.

Such Professionally produced mega eye-candy graphics would also serve as inspiration to the compulsive Modder - the greatest Race of Galatic Beings in The Milky Way - who do great unpaid work for our benefit, rare beasts these days

Regards
Zy

Yes, but only if it's mostly new jewelry and hulls. Also I hope that such a pack has the orientation of some of the triangles on some current hulls fixed. Sometimes parts added to each side of a ship don't quite line up.

YES! I'll buy it.

I voted "Yes." My imagination is rather one tracked in my designs, so I would love to see other "official" designs. One thing I would include or add later in the expansion is other shapes for parts, i.e. engines for instance. I would like to have a choice of shapes to use: square, circle, triangular, nacelle shaped. Or if that would take up to much code, how about the option to place all the different components internally to the standard hulls. I like the way some of the standard hull shapes look. It seems a shame to clutter up some of these hulls with items just hanging off of them. Some of my personal designs look like I dragged a magnet through a tray of screws, with items just sticking out all over the place. I love this game. It is the only game I have that keeps making me come back for more. Keep up the great work Stardock.