4861

I think they underestimated their required test matrix for a more complicated graphics rendering engine. Every GPU generation has more errata than you might think, and if you venture off some of the paths followed by the Big Important Games that get driver support, you can end up in Here There Be Dragons land pretty easily.

4862

What some people think:

Software made by hardware companies are THE HORROR.
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2009/07/nobody-hates-software-more-than-software-developers.html

The rational is these companies see the drivers as a “extra cost”, and the hardware as the part that make money.

4863

There’s a rather big difference between writing a scanner driver and writing a Direct 3D driver suite for a GF100 class GPU. Also, the hardware has bugs, some of which the driver can work around or disguise from you. Some, not so much.

4864

Yeah, I hadn’t lived until I found this forum…

Maybe smooth means something different in the UK?

4865

My statement is based on a read through the last ten pages of the thread and my noting that most of the ax-grinding/no-content posts come from you and other recent registrations who only showed up to talk about Elemental.

This post, for example:

I won’t be taking any counsel on what “smooth” means from you.

4866

That still wasn’t smooth. If you were smooth, you could dress me down and still have me like you. That didn’t happen, in case you were wondering.

4867

If you consider the fact that I would like you to go away it might occur to you that my desire for your affection is immeasurably small.

4868

So this is what the pros do? Hijack a thread with asshattery while complaining about how the thread was hijacked with asshattery? Noted.

4869

You’re almost at 50 posts! Keep going, champ.

4870

Please stop.

4871

Technically, the field is called ass-haberdashery.

4872

I agree, that’s enough collection of initials and birth year guy, or whatever.

4873

If you were really reading what I wrote for content, you’d already know that I asked my questions already. I no longer need the posts.

You seem very good at figuring out my motives for being here. If I divine correctly, I’m here somehow in relation to Elemental only. And I only write spam so that I can get up to 50 posts.

Not really – though I divine well enough that you don’t really care, you’re just getting your jollies, I’ll go on full disclosure. Here it is, the big reveal:

I’m a strategy game nerd. I love them. I learned about Elemental from a blogger, which pointed to a Quarter to Three thread – this one! I also talk a lot, or rather, type a lot, on the internets so it wasn’t out of character for me to post here.

I like Elemental. That doesn’t mean I don’t see that it has plenty of flaws: It’s goofy in its artwork, except for the cloth map. I wish it had elves, dwarves, and other staples of fantasy and don’t really know why they chose not to include them. The AI is wonky and really not very good even at top difficulty because the Sovs continue to wander around underprotected. The game seems to borrow a lot of concepts from FfH (and that probably borrows from some other game I don’t know about) but doesn’t do any of it half as good as FfH does.

But I think plenty of other folk have already covered these aspects pretty well, and the designer has heard them. My contribution to this thread is mainly in pointing out what seems pretty obvious but which has gotten nearly drowned out by the squawk of bulletin-board high dudgeon: there’s still a game here, such as it is, and they are still working on it. Many people agreed that GalCiv2 was pretty good, especially in terms of AI after it was finally completed. I think it’s worth my own time to wait for the final result before I throw in the towel. I expressed that opinion in this thread, which calls itself the “Elemental all purpose thread.” Yet, in doing so, somehow I have become, by virtue of my positive attitude, and recent sign-up date, someone whom long standing members feel should be slagged in drive by crap bombs and asked to leave. Nice!

4874

Make an XCOM clone! If it’s half decent, turn based and features base buildings a legion of fanboys will lap it up. XCOM and Space4x fanbases probably overlap pretty well.

4875

I hope my sarcasm detector is broken, because … after this trainwreck of a MoM clone you want SD to make an X-Com clone? Really?

rezaf

4876

Except this time, actually, you know, do some cloning.

4877

I think a series of mostly bad X-Com clones already exist in the UFO games. No need for more.

4878

Originally Posted by Brad Wardell
“The PC Gamer UK reviewer ran into a white tactical battle screen that we had never encountered before (nor had it shown up during the public beta).”

I still get this one sometimes even with 1.07

4879

Re what Stardock should do to make money - The engine they want to keep working on is the engine they want to keep using for their games for a long time. So, its in their best interests to keep at it and use the engine to generate future income that way.

4880

Piss up a rope, fuckstick.

Post-count snobbery is worse than Hitler.