"Basically, I wanted Master of Magic with updated graphics and multiplayer. " - Frogboy

As someone who enjoyed Co-Op Multi-player in WOM despite the issues, I would love that back.   Mind you, the battles could suffer the same issue as Heroes of MM VI - waiting for the tactical combat, but forcing the watch of each other's fights as per Shogun 2 is fine for Co-op. 

I think endless space solved it better. Fights were fought as usual, but they were limited to ~40 seconds each. Noone except the involved saw the fights.  You were able to continue the simultaneous turns while another player was fighting. If you attempted to attack an army already engaged, you were queued to fight it. If another player was in a battle and you tried to end your turn, you were notified and just had to wait it out.

I think Stardock has always been aware that some gamers prefer everything with multiplayer (much unlike myself).  And I applaud them for sticking to focusing on the core single player experience thus far.  But creating multiple redundant threads begging the same question won't make it come any sooner -- despite the fact you "expect" them to cater to your individual wishes.

Speak for yourself.  As someone who plays both, I view it completely the other way around.  It depends on the type of games you tend to play.

Can't always get what you want. Goes for Frogboy, his customers, and the Rolling Stones.

First off, I noticed in another multiplayer thread you being very negative as well, whats up with that? Is it your purpose in life to get on elemental forums every day in order to shit on multiplayer threads?

Secondly, as the quote says, the CEO of Stardock set out to make MoM with multiplayer and in its current state it lacks the very thing he set out to do.

I completely understand all the SP-only players perspective. They do NOT want the game changed in any way if a multiplayer feature was added. Worrying about balance and all that when involving multiple people rather than AI is completely different.

 But they dont have to change anything. They could just easily leave all the game balance and features the way they are and implement multiplayer. I just want to play with my friends just like I wanted to play MoM with them back in the day.

At the moment this is how the conversation goes with my 20+ clan mates:

"hey guys FE:LH is really good you should pick it up"

"does it have multiplayer so we can play together? no? no thanks"

and Stardock just missed out on hundreds of dollars and my friends stick to playing Civ 5

You speak for yourself and all the other fanbois like you who scream out "dont change anything!" rather than caring about actually getting this game popular

Considering MMOs are played on the computer, as well as just about every single other major multiplayer game that isnt call of duty (minecraft, LoL/Dota/HoN, MMORPGS like WoW etc, Starcraft, Diablo and its clones, etc etc etc) I'm pretty sure I speak for the vast majority of PC gamers.

 At this point new people are discovering FE:LH who werent around to experience the epic fail of E:WoM. Most of the people that wanted multiplayer in FE but were told it wasnt going to be in it have abandoned the game. There is a lot of fresh meat from the huge Steam sale (which is the only reason I even knew LH was out). The same 10-15 fanboi trolls on this forum are stifling the potential of this game's multiplayer by shitting all over every multiplayer request thread and its just sad at the damage you're doing to something you supposedly love (stardock)

Poor Brad, those hundreds of dollars would have looked so nice stacked next to his solar powered mansion and millions of dollars.

is your purpose to troll or are you just not smart enough to not realize this is just an example of something that is happening with lots of people?

Based on what evidence?  Historically multiplayer makes up a minuscule portion of TBS player base.  And once you account for players that only play multiplayer once or twice to give it a try, in other words cut out those who aren't really multiplayer players, the actual multiplayer portion is so small that it's not worth mentioning.  

I'd probably play LH with a few buddies multiplayer too if it were an option, but to pretend that my opinion is a majority is crazy.  All of these games are played overwhelmingly as single player games.  Brad has stated several times that "revenue" is not a motivating factor to adding multiplayer to LH (or FE or WOM, depending on when he made the comment).  The number of players who buy the game because it is multiplayer compared to the cost of developing a solid multiplayer experience is horribly out of balance.  If multiplayer is added it's because they want it multiplayer, not to make more money.  

all the people that have stated they have friends/family that wont buy FE:LH because it lacks multiplayer. ive found several such posts in just one night of searching these forums and steam forums. Your narrow minded view of "multiplayer is bad for SP players and wont even make stardock money" is incredibly flawed

For the record, I tend to find the few screaming/pandering for "OMGMULTIPLAYER" on this forum (whom may all be you) to be obnoxious.  Especially if they're incapable of simply hitting the *reply* button, and instead has to make their multiplayer demands in yet another, duplicate thread on the same exact topic.  Even if I agreed with everything you said, I (along with many) will think less of anyone for carrying on this way.  Such behavior is frowned upon most anywhere on the internet.  Forum etiquette 101.

All the while making the inclusion of multiplayer sound as if it was your birthright.

 

So you basically took something somebody said off the record years ago, and took it as gospel -- never letting go of it all this time.  That's nobody's fault other than your own.  Whether multiplayer ever happens or not, this was never promised to you in any way.  Hence the reason you have no rational, sane reason to expect and demand it now.

 

So... keep playing Civ 5?  I'm pretty sure Stardock will survive, despite your petty threats.

By the way, haven't I heard this statement elsewhere before?  All this multiplayer whining sounds so familiar...

I think this quote from the another multiplayer thread speaks for itself.  But you might want to try harder to not sound near-identical to posts made by your alternate username, if you want to keep pretending "so many people" want multiplayer for this game.  Using multiple names on a forum just to give the illusion of your opinion being echoed by others... that's really unfortunate.  I believe one can get banned for doing such things.  So how many other accounts do you have on here to promote your eerily-loud opinions?

But it makes me feel a little better that I wasn't "sh*tting on multiplayer threads" all this time.  Apparently it was just you I was sh*tting on.  Weird. 
 

As much as it may come as a shock to you, it's not your job to make this game popular.  Nor is it mine.  I don't care how popular this game gets.  Stardock has people on their payroll to take care of that for them so you don't have to.  As a fan, you can always promote a game you like, but it's not mandatory.  I'm just playing a game that I enjoy.  Aside from visiting this forum and checking mods on the nexus on occasion, that's about as far as it goes for me.  But if calling me a "fanboi" still makes you feel better, knock yourself out.
 

Yet as much as you rabidly love multiplayer, oddly you're still here.  Perhaps that means more people have stayed than you'd like to admit.  And after stumbling upon the discovery of your other account(s) just so you can form a false consensus about multiplayer, I think you've reached a whole new level of "fanboi troll" yourself!!  

Multiplayer this and multiplayer that.  I wonder how we all survived the days before broadbband?  Come to think about it, games were much better before broadband, and the only multiplay was lan party's.

years ago? https://forums.elementalgame.com/439794/page/1/#3314759

...

so you "don't care how popular this game gets."

good to hear you're supporting stardock. I make no threats, just point out that I have friends that wont buy the game because of no multiplayer which sucks. I've managed to convince only 1 so far and have 1 other pretty close

still here? more like came back after 2+ years of not checking this forum because I saw FE had an expansion out via steam and I was pretty shocked to see it without multiplayer still.

the accusation of multiple accounts is pretty funny I have to admit. conspiracy theory much? mods can feel free to check IPs and then ban you for false accusations

you're really rather hopeless

When someone with the right talent is hired on by Stardock, then multiplayer will get a look.

It's no good throwing the job at just anyone, unless you want the cries of OMG Multi to be swiftly replaced with Out of Sync Frakked My Life or similar.

If you actually had read the entire post properly, you would understand that that "MoM" reference you are using are for the first "failed" elemental game back in 2010 or something. FE and FE:LH are different games, the designer for these games was Derek Paxton, not "Frogboy". By continuing making your argument on that reference, you are just making more of a fool of yourself, and hence why you get "trolled" as you claimed. 

Also there has been pointed out earlier that Stardock have been looking for a talented network programmer, so if you want multiplayer maybe get them that instead of going all crazy on the forums?

I did read the entire post and understood it, unlike you. You have to understand that for MoM fans to see the "spiritual successor" of MoM to be released with the very thing that MoM didn't have is the equivalent of blasphemy. It's truly shocking really, and why you see so many passionate people make threads about multiplayer.

I love the line of reasoning that goes "Game X doesn't have feature Y.  I want feature Y.  Therefore Game X would sell TONS more if it had feature Y." It's almost as good as the reasoning that goes "everyone I know wants X to do Y, therefore Y must be the right thing to do".  Don't you think that in this world of ridiculously deep analytics-based customer insight that Stardock probably has a pretty good idea of how many people want multiplayer, how much additional sales MP would generate and can compare that to the cost of developing MP.  Probably a better idea than you, no?  Which is why I said that if this game gets MP it's because they wanted it to have MP not because it was a money making opportunity. 

By the way, get off your high horse and actually read the posts your responding to.  I never once said "multiplayer is bad for SP players" in what you quoted.  I said that arguing that they should add multiplayer to make money is dumb, because multiplayer is not a salable feature in TBS games.  Especially not once you factor in the cost of developing a solid MP experience.  

If you're going to call me narrow minded at least do it for something I'm narrow minded about rather than some stupidity you dreamed up. 

I think Xia had the right response in this thread.  Some sarcastic poking at the dumb arguments and move on.  

Someone put this thread out of its misery.  

So you bring religion into the picture as well now, no wonder you weren't making any sense.... 

Maybe you should collect some tithe from the other passionate fans like you, and help stardock get that network programmer? You said it yourself, you guys are passionate and just waiting to throw money on this game for multiplayer. Why wait until after? Start contributing now!

Actually he has said a number of times long before, that multiplayer was intended down the line for Elemental.  In fact I was giving you benefit of the doubt on this one.  I would hope that your childish entitlement issues stem from latching onto more than just one 'off the record' quote.  Otherwise, that would be even more sad.

 

I believe frequenting this forum, defending them against rabid children (well, actually just you), and buying their games and DLC would indicate I support Stardock.  Now I know reading comprehension (and perhaps all brain-oriented activity) isn't your strong suit, so I'll reiterate.  Wanting a game to be as good as it can be, in hopes of maximizing its potential for your own enjoyment -- that's perfectly fine and I encourage that (given you don't carry on like a self-entitled child about it).  But getting overly-concerned about how "popular" a game gets is-not-your-job, both figuratively and literally.  In fact, from a consumer's perspective, it isn't healthy.  Otherwise, you sound like a... rabid fanboy.

Was it your friends, or your two cousins and your brother?

And just so you know, saying "if you don't give *me* exactly what I want, then you're missing out on my money AND my friends' money!!" or, "if you don't give *me* exactly what I want, EVERYONE is going to leave you and stop supporting your products!!" are textbook definitions of a blatant threat, and petty far-fetched threats at that. 

You're not even a multiplayer fanboy, you're a "multiplayer alarmist".  In fact, every time you make another post about multiplayer on this forum, you're either making threats to Stardock or anyone who disagrees with your childish perspective, which has been this entire thread so far.

Oh, good lord.  I'm not sure I've encountered a bigger compulsive liar on the internet (and that's saying a lot).  Doing 5 seconds of "research" shows you post (let alone visit) on this forum far more frequently than that.  And that's not counting your other username(s).

When two "people" posting on a forum who both make it their mission to convince the world that multiplayer is the way to go, that's one thing.  But then I find myself only arguing with you and RickyDMMontoya, over the exact same thing, over the exact same childish mentality, and eventually it dawns on me that both are not only making identical points, but also use identical grammar right down to sentence structure and vocabulary (point made in my RickyDMMontoya quote above).  Both continuously stress that their own lone beliefs are concensus (terrible debate tactic by the way, only makes you look more desperate).  Also whining about how I'm continuously picking on you when it was only my first replying to you, kinda gave it away.

And while you threaten to ban me, I wasn't planning on reporting you.  But I do believe your childish behavior could get you banned, as it is considered on many forums as a form of spam.  If you want to stick to your guns and keep up this charade, I personally don't mind.  Perhaps mocking you is too easy, but it does pass the time at work.

The irony is seriously killing me (lol).  But I look forward to seeing you spew more ignorant and childish banter next time I come by.  Unless Kantok gets his wish and this topic gets locked... that may be for the best.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but if there really were such high demand for a MP-version of MoM, maybe someone would have actually made it.

Somebody did.

I have the patch installed. Basically it grants MP on a single screen, so all players use the same keyboard...

Also it treats each player as an active player, so the AI gets to go equal to the number of players.

As to MP itself, I couldn't care less for the feature, and the stats and info that SD has shared with us to date tends to agree with my point of view.

For Civ 4, there was only a very small percentage of users actually making use of MP functionality....and considering the investment required to provide said feature, they would have been better off just not having it for civ 4 either (and I think they could have made a better game as a result).

SD has there own stats for there games too, all saying the same thing. Providing MP tends for a minor percentage of there sales. It's just not worth it.

I've always thought of MP in terms of content and features.  How many new features or quests/factions/items/heroes don't get created because those resources are spent on MP?  My personal desire to play multiplayer isn't high enough that I'd want to sacrifice all that much content or any interesting singleplayer features in exchange for it.  

Now that said if they announced they were adding MP I wouldn't complain about the lack of SP development and I'd probably play MP some with a few buddies.  

But if SD came to the community and said:  "Multiplayer will cost $200,000 to implement well.  We have budgeted that $200,000 for FE:LH.  Would you rather us spend it on MP or spend it on content creation (or the next expansion pack or new feature dlc, etc)?"  I'd vote for the content.  

I really don't want to see MP on FE.

It will change the game competely to a magic version of empire total war.

Aren't there enough games out there like that?

From 4X to 1X - Exterminate only... very one dimensional.

it doesnt have to change the game at all. this has been pointed out multiple times

im going to point out something people dont tend to think of:

people pirate single player games like crazy. a huge reason to buy the retail version of a game is for that multiplayer key, even if they barely or never play multiplayer.

adding multiplayer wouldnt sell less copies, it would only sell more

it doesnt work like this. the network coder isnt sacrificing his time doing that rather than creating new content for a game. also the 200k estimate is way off

That's assuming you're working with a team large enough to have a designated network coder. Every Studio works different, SD is a smallish company, and some even smaller studios have 1 or 2 programmers who do everything. You can't use a one size fits all development process for every studio.

IF stardock had a designated network coder during the development of FE/LH We would likely have multiplayer considering there would have been little else for him to do during the development process.

From what I've come to understand about stardock during my time on these forums is generally SD employees wear many hats and while some may have designated functions they often do things outside of their specific area of expertise taking time away from their primary function.

But all that said, with steam integration they could have used the steam API which would have drastically reduced the amount of work needed to implement multiplayer, something that never made sense to me was the integration with steamworks yet not fully using all the resources made available by using it.

Edit: Also IIRC most of the people who took care of the networking side of things left with the Impulse acquisition.