Dunno, but you can get it here:
Canadian users should note that the Mac Game Store site needs you to register before purchasing, but you get stuck in an endless loop of bollocks because it requires you to choose a province when there are none on the drop down menu. You can’t even contact tech support because you need to be, guess what? Registered!
I solved it by choosing OTHER for Country, entering Canada there, and then was provided a blank field to enter my province.
My retail copy indicates that both the Windows version and Mac version are on the same disc. On the spine of the case, it says that you need “Windows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7 or Mac OS 10.6 Space Leopard.”
Actually, don’t grab that Mac distribution I linked to above. It’s pooched.
When I started the game it automatically logged into an ubi account (tuncer229) and had a player profile pre-loaded. I am not tuncer229.
The game tells me that I need to run OSX version 10.6.3. I am running 10.6.2 because there is no 10.6.3: that build just went out to developers but not to the general public.
Plus there is something seriously wrong with the rendering of the engine, making the game unplayable for me.
With the exception of World of Warcraft, I haven’t bought a game in over five years that wasn’t a console game. Now I remember why.
Ah. And I was looking forward to this being my mac game!
I assume there’s a mac version of the demo. Just make sure you download that and run it to see if it works for your system before you buy the game. It is literally a full map for skirmish with an AI and will tell you exactly how well the game runs on your system before trying to buy it.
I’m probably pretty lucky in this regard, but to provide another perspective, I’m running the game on max settings with no issues whatsoever (on a Vista machine, however).
Forum effect is strong with this one. I’m tempted but I don’t want to support this type of DRM in any way.
Nope, no mac demo, sadly.
Yes, crossfire is a known issue.
Well, I heard from Macgamestore:
Greetings,
Unfortunately Apple has not released 10.6.3 yet, which the publisher says will fix the problems you are experiencing. We anticipate the release of 10.6.3 any day now. We would suggest waiting a few days for the release of 10.6.3.
Which means I’m pooched, I guess, until 10.6.3. Which some people are saying won’t be for another week, to coincide with the iPad launch.
I do think it’s a bit offside to release a product, take money for it, and then say “Whoops! You can’t play it yet”. I think they should have waited until 10.6.3 was released. All this does is cause static for their help department and irritate their customers.
Wow. The tutorials are no help. Thanks for telling me the name of the lead designer, but not WHAT I’M TRYING TO DO IN THE GAME!!
Still, I’m trying to figure it out on my own. Thought I would be clever to get a road upgrade as my first prestige advancement. Looks like that was a huge mistake, as I have nothing for competing for technologies (no clerics; that was the other prestige path) and I still can’t build a stronghold to build stronger military units.
I think I’ll be starting over.
But it is intriguing. I only played demos of earlier Settlers games, but many of the elements here seem new. Definitely very boardgame-inspired!
yeah roads were a bad choice for me also, as you run out of stone FAST.
and its in limited supply…
i also wiped out all my fish zones before i researched the re-seed option, so i had no fish for food
all in all a decent game, Anno is still more complex and fun , but I might pick this up next time I see it on sale, DRM or not.
I downloaded the demo because I enjoyed Anno, but the lack of (interactive) tutorials made me ALT-F4. Not that it really matters, because even if I enjoyed the game, I would never buy it because of the DRM they use.
I picked it up since I am die-hard fan of 1404. The campaign starts as a tutorial.
Try not to lump your Mac gaming generalizations into the PC gaming generalizations.
So, I got it up and running by turning all the grfx options off (and it still looks pretty nice @ 2560x1440) and the game is just my cup of chai. Frankly, I haven’t played a Settlers game in years and only picked this up because of Bruce Shelley’s involvement but through the first 5-6 missions it’s showing some interesting mechanics. Without this thread I wouldn’t have given the game a look, so thanks Lorini.
Deeper into the campaign now. If you enjoy Dawn of Discovery I can’t see you regretting this purchase. There are some interface and production chain questions that aren’t well explained and I haven’t quite figured out yet. Just how much wheat does a horse farm need etc,
I guess some of the fun is supposed to be figuring that out or something but I wish they gave a breakdown of why your efficiency starts to fall. For example is the warehouse to far, or do I not have enough carriers or is it only raw materials that are lacking.
I haven’t played this yet, but in Settlers 2 you had to actually look at your materials transportation chains to see where your efficiency was tanking.
If you click the abacus looking symbol, it’ll bring up a page with all the types of resources in the game. Click on any of them and it shows what building produces them and what input resources they require (like a horse will require 3 wheat and 2 water I think). It also shows you how many buildings you have producing each resource which allows you to balance your inputs/outputs of buildings more easily. And it will show you what inputs a workshop needs as you’re building them (mouse over the workshop building button and it will show input/output).
The game doesn’t do a great job telling you if your efficiency is low due to distances traveled. Of course it’s best placing buildings that use each others resources near each other. Also, it’s easy to to under produce storehouses. I recommend building at least two in most sectors and sometimes three. If you have the resources a building needs but they are complaining they don’t have the resource (it will show that resource in red on top of the building in game), then you probably need more storehouses/carriers. Either upgrade your storehouses or build more of them.
I also wish this game had more stats. After watching some friends play around on the Starcraft II beta with crazy stat tracking, I was really disappointed when this game ended to such a stark stats board. It doesn’t even break down your economy much to show you what went right and what went wrong, basically anticipating you’ll understand (which often isn’t the case for me).
Played the demo until I at least sort of knew what I was doing. It’s not grabbing me though. :-(
