1941

Count me as one of those turned away by the high price. Not improving the base game and requiring anyone to purchase everything to get the non-content specific improvements is pure stupidity on their part. Very few people would risk buying the whole shebang to try out the game.

And the more expansions they introduce, the worse it gets for new players. So their potential sales actually shrinks with each expansion!

If they had introduce non-content specific improvements into the base game, I would have snapped up the base game. And if I like it, the rest of the expansions would have been non-brainier purchases. But from what I read even things like UI improvements have to be purchased via the expansions, which is a silly decision, whether judged from a marketing and sales, code management, product roadmap perspectives.

As it stands, Distant Worlds is a space game I’ll probably never get to try out.

1942

I don’t know… $65 is a chunk of change, but its roughly equivalent to the full retail price of a console title. Based on the Let’s Play videos I’ve been reviewing, it seems there is at least as much gameplay loaded under the hood. At the moment I’m trying to decide between this and Dominions 4… Dominions 4 is a less costly investment, but seems to be a largely multiplayer experience. Distant Worlds does seem focused on single player, which is where I expect I’ll spend most of my time.

Still on the fence, but I figure I can continue to mull this over until Jan 15th when the sale ends.

1943

What do I gotta do to get you into this galactic throne today? ;)

1944

You will still get plenty of mileage out of Dominions in single player, don’t let the multiplayer vets put you off. They are both great games, but for me … there’s just something next-level about the wealth of imagination present in Dominions.

1945

I’ve offered that anyone on the fence could come over to my house and watch me play, but so far I’ve had ZERO takers. >:-0

1946

Geographical issues aside, I think the offer will have to include a possible sleep over seeing how big a 4X game can be.

1947

Persuade them to release a demo version. Then a lot more people may be able to justify the purchase when they find that they like it.

1948

I dunno. I’d figure people that make up reasons not to buy the game now will find other reasons even if there was a demo. Hey, the demo doesn’t show lategame stuff. The demo doesn’t show all the races. The demo is time limited. The demo doesn’t include stuff from the newest patch. And so on.
I agree that $65 is quite the asking price these days, but - as often written in this thread - you don’t HAVE to get all the expansions. Yes, they have nice improvements and nifty new features, but unless you ever played the game expansionless, you’ll hardly notice most of it. Get the base game 30% off, it’ll give you quite some mileage and a decent idea about whether or not the rest is your cup of tea.

This game probably won’t switch publishers, and Matrix clings to this idea of being in a small niche and having to price accordingly. While this is probably not inaccurate for many of their games, those with more mass appeal get thrown in with the lot and suffer for it.
Distant Worlds is actually quite a nice example, since Matrix allowed german publisher dtp to handle a german release. Last published was the gold edition, together with the first expansion, which is $25 these days (without any discount). However, either dtp has since lost interest in the game or Matrix has revised their policy (I’m guessing the latter, based on the goings on with Pride of Nations) and so the later expansions were never released by dtp. However, any german speakers can probably pick up the base game for less than ten euros on eBay or something and have a go at it.

rezaf

1949

Hmmm, won’t the first Distant Worlds be too dated in the UI department? In that case, $19 may not be too much of a risk. But I did remember reading from somewhere that the expansions improved UI accessibility by a huge amount.

1950

There’s no such thing as a “first Distant Worlds”, it’s still the same game.
Yes, the UI was improved, but the game wasn’t unplayable or something before.

The improvements mostly address stuff you’ll start to get angry about after playing for hours and hours with a growing empire and lots of stuff to do - except if the game DOES hook you, you don’t have to deal with it ™ as players had to back in the day, no, you can grab the expansions and enjoy the improvements.

Distant Worlds is a nice game - I don’t regret my purchase despite having picked up the main game and all expansions at full price - but personally, I don’t feel it deserves as much praise as some folks herein give it. There’s a decent chance it’ll leave you cold, and if the base game leaves you cold, no expansion will change that.
Just like if you just don’t buy into the concept of, say Crusader Kings 2, having retinues or an extended timeline or being able to play as a muslim won’t really change anything.
So, in my opinion, it’s better to toedip with the core game and THEN decide whether or not you like it enough to want much more of the same in the form of the expansions.

rezaf

1951

I agree, DW is a different beast than many thinks, there is no need to get the entire lot of it in one go. If you are fascinated with a universe that feels alive, and you are happy with the fact that you’ll not ever quite control everything, and if you can, its just because your empire is small ;)

1952

Ok I think you guys sold me. Brian’s praise for it and you guys endorsing the idea that starting without expansions won’t do any harm to the experience got to me. And the sales helped too.

1953

Nice! I’ve been told the best way to start is the base game and Shakturi expansion at least.

1954

Omg now you’ve made me conflicted all over again. Because sinking in about 30+ to see if I would like it messed up my internal justification processes…

1955

Isn’t the core game $25?

Yeah, it sucks demos have gone the way of the dodo, but that’s how it is, almost no AAA games have demos anymore, and you just have to resort to watching youtube gameplay videos and the likes to make up your mind. That’s just how it is.

Thanks for proving my point from above, people that reason around spending $65 will reason around spending $25 just as well. If you don’t think the game might be your cup of tea, don’t buy, no matter at which price. Otherwise, pick up the base game, there’s some fun to be had and if you dislike it, yes, it’ll set you back $25, but isn’t that much better than $65? Fourty bucks saved! :p

rezaf

1956

It was more tongue in cheek when I said that it messed up my processes. :)

But I was planning to get it as it’s around 27 SGD which is about 20 USD.

But Brian recommended Shakturi. And I place a lot of weight on Brian’s recommendations. So I added it to the checkout and it became 44.98 SGD which is the price of a full game.

This is a for a 2010 game that I may not like. Which is why I’m again conflicted… Hovering on the payment button…

1957

I’ve had DW for about a year now, also boughtened on Brian’s recommendation. At first it left me cold, and overwhelmed, and regretful for spending $60 on it. But because I’d spent $60 in it, I forced myself to keep at it, to really learn how to control more and more of various systems and take them off AI. Eventually I found a sweet spot of what I like to control (construction, deployment, diplomacy, exploration) and what I’m happy to ignore (research, economy) and the game clicked. I now feel like it is the galaxy simulator I’d hoped it to be, and I’m very used to the UI so I don’t feel like I’m fighting the controls.

Once it clicks – if it clicks – you won’t regret it. And there are a zillion different ways to play this thing. I feel like I never need another space game. Its grand strategy in space.

So the irony is that if I’d spent less on it, say $10 in a Steam sale, I would not have persevered. It makes me wonder what other games I gave up on too soon, because they were cheap and thus expendable.

My still-to-be-completed AAR of a modded DW run through can be found here.

1958

Ok, bought it but without the expansions. Downloading now and will see if I can enjoy it like you guys have.

1959

Yay! Make sure to indeed read the manual and do the tutorial. Then, if you still feel overwhelmed, try automating everything except one ship and play that, watching the game do its thing. That REALLY helped me grasp the game. Good luck!

1960

FYI we released a new official update with the following change list:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3501474

Version 1.9.0.13 – December 19th. 2013
Change History:

CRASH FIXES
• fixed crash when exiting game that uses custom theme with extra races (message says: missing race images)
o reduced chance of thread abort exceptions occurring
o fixed rare crash with freighters
o fixed crash when lock computer (Ctrl-Alt-Del) while playing DW (graphics device lost)

BUG FIXES
• hyperdeny components now working properly for ships (not just bases)
o fixed bug where some failed intercepted intelligence missions were not counting towards victory conditions
o fixed bug where characters were not being properly transferred to troop transports from Troops tab of Colonies screen
o fixed bug where pirate facilities would sometimes not be removed from colonies when pirate faction wiped out
o fixed bug where hyperdeny components not being used on bases defending against attack
o fixed bug where captured and gifted ships would sometimes be attacked when not an enemy
o fixed bug where invading troops disappear when planet bombarded to extinction
o fixed bug where defending troops dropped at rebelling colonies would sometimes join invaders if they were victorious (i.e. rebels or invaders conquered colony)
o fixed bug where troop generals participating in successful clearance attacks against pirate facilities at your colonies would get event history message indicating that the battle was lost, when it was actually won
o fixed bug where displayed cashflow was not including facility maintenance
o fixed bug where freighters would sometimes attempt to dock at mining stations that did not yet have docking bays

OTHER
• improved freighter network for transporting resources
• AI now more willing to build more freighters when necessary
o pirates now more careful about honoring protection arrangements
o improved willingness of passenger ships to perform tourism missions
o Retrofit button in Ships and Bases screen now enabled for bases not at colonies

• RESOURCES AND FREIGHTERS
o improved freighter resource transport network, especially for construction resource shortages
o added option to disable construction resource shortage messages
o the random allotment of startup luxury resources at your colonies now exclude super-luxury resources (Loros Fruit, Zentabia Fluid, Korabbian Spice) (alleviates cashflow swings when these run out)

• TROOPS AND INVASIONS
o fixed problems where troops were sometimes being recruited incorrectly (e.g. clone troops)
o improved garrison levels of troops at colonies, especially when empire is in low- or negative-cashflow situations
o colony populations now defend better against invasions - their defend strength has been doubled

• FLEETS AND SHIPS
o improved fleet response to enemy threats in other systems (i.e. non-automated fleets follow their posture settings to engage enemies in other systems)
o fleets in battle now tolerate lower fuel levels (i.e will wait longer before refuelling)
o ensure that automated fleets load troops when space available
o changed ship behavior so that if already hyperjumping away (for whatever reason) then they will not reassign an Escape mission (i.e. they are already ‘escaping’)
o further improved boarding and capture so that ships and fighters no longer fire at a target once you already have overwhelming boarding parties onboard the target
o exploration ships now check for uninvestigated ruins or galaxy locations once they have explored the entire galaxy

• DIFFICULTY LEVELS
o Game difficulty has been increased on higher levels in the following ways:
o more defending troops at colonies, especially larger colonies
o buying tech from other empires is more expensive for the player
o selling tech to other empires is less lucrative for the player
o relationship thresholds for buying tech from other empires is higher for player (i.e. other empire has to like you more)
o non-player empires build more exploration and construction ships when they are able
o overall difficulty factors have been increased (i.e. each difficulty setting above normal is now harder)

• RESEARCH AND SHIP DESIGN
o Ship Design editor now warns when Resort Base designs are missing passenger components or are too big to build
o AI-designed spaceports and defensive bases now properly use area weapons when specified in design templates
o lessened chance of critical research success or failure for larger/longer research projects

• GAME PERFORMANCE AND DISPLAY
o improved game performance, especially in late-game with large galaxies
o improved rendering performance, especially when zoomed out to sector- or galaxy-level
o improved appearance of stars in mainview

We’re hard at work on the next release, but I also wanted to mention that Das has a new let’s play with 1.9.0.12 going:

Finally, the Distant Worlds series including Shadows is part of our holiday sale at a substantial discount until mid-January. :-)