I've got one more to report, and there are other things I want to look for, but can't think of a proper approach to do so.  So yeah, I'm mostly waiting.

The other thing I don't get, is how Poland gets their own beta (4D).  I mean, that's totally not fair.

I've heard it's because Poland has by far the most high quality bug checking industry in the world  (It's one of their big planned revenue sources, I think), many game developers are starting to go there to make sure everything is in tip top shape. 

Cause first language pack will be for Poland and we have to make sure if there are no translation mistakes

I think these Beta tests are a great way to build support and momentum as we eventually get to a release date.  Hopefully with our input we can create an amazing game!! 

I've just downloaded the new beta build I'm pleased they've added in the ability to demolish a building now, seems more stable but still a little crash prone.

has to be adjusted to the new beta!

Wha....?!?! Nooooooooo, NOOOOOOO....Say it ain't so Frogy...say it ain't so   Even the page where I bought Elemental says "Release Date: February 15, 2010".

You Sir, have bashed my hopes and dreams against the rocks and crushed them to tiny smithereens Please don't test till August. If you do extend the testing phase for some ungodly amount of time I'd like to be guaranteed a spot in the last phase of Beta now please

Looking at the Beta and the current state of the game, it should be pretty clear that feb 2010 would be premature. Let this cook until ready

I'm with Joasoze on this.

You have to remember though we are not seeing the latest build. I would categorize this first beta realase to us as more of a first alpha as its not evenn feature complete. Gramted the addition of all those items in the list could be littered with bugs, I would still think it was possbile for an early 2010 release.

Any kind of changelog or what-not that I can see to see what I should test that is new so I can report it.

Changelog - see here:

Originally the modding was going to be integrated post release.  But one of the big changes is that we didn't want to treat modding as merely some niche feature but rather as a totally different way of looking at the game.

Look at what's possible with Civilization IV for instance.   I want to be able to access all the gameplay stuff via Python and then use that to be able to do whatever I want.

But obviously that takes time but it also means we can be a lot more flexible with the game design.  I would really like to see this game as the first game that is practically co-designed by the community.  

Consider the opportunity we have: It's been years since a turn based strategy game was designed fresh from scratch. We can toss out all the early 90s notions of what turn based strategy games have to be and work with what is possible today.

I welcome your approach and do not doubt your sincerity, but warn against making your claims and promises too large. You will have great difficulties in "tossing out" previous notions of TBSs, no matter what their age, since these notions play a huge role in framing your and most of your beta testers' horizon of expectations, the context by which you and they judge what makes a "good" product. These older notions form the backbone of what people have called "legacies" by which future products, yours included, are judged. Consider the uproar on these forums alone in attempting to evaluate just how MoM this game will be.

That said, I tip my hat to your mettle, and hope to take you by your word -- may you have lots of patience and willingness to forgo roads too often travelled. And may you use that mettle to toss out the bland, generic combat system currently underlying the concepts behind your unit construction system, replacing it with something complex and meaty (about which I have pestered copiously and will hence here hold my peace!).

Well, it sounds like if the tossing out of previous notions doesn't work we/they can always mod them back in.  So far I don't see anything that seems terribly bizarre.  The importance of the sovereign is probably the biggest difference from most TBS's.  The tech tree functions differently, but it seems intuitive enough.  There is still a lot more for us to see though.  I'm particularly interested in Vassal states (and diplomacy in general) and persistent worlds.  At this point I can't even wrap my brain around the idea of a persistent world in a TBS.

I just pre-ordered in the hopes of getti ng the beta. I have looked everywhere on Impulse to load it. I just clicked on the pre-order button on this page and saw the message  Beta access is currently closed, but will re-open at the end of Fall 2009

No No No ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

When will it open again. Arrrrgg

I'm sitting in the same boat as you beserko, but I'm having fun raking through the forums at the moment.

It'll open when Beta Phase 1 is complete, which will be quite a while away, I think. Most of the initial elements of gameplay aren't quite there yet from what I gather.

Patience is our friend.

Let the tears of the current testers build a river of enjoyment that will carry you straight to Beta 2 

BB, I'm sure you say that to all the girls!

Let the good words roll! Or was that boogie?

Thankfully, for myself at least,  it is only painful after 25-30 minutes of play, then it simply CDT's. All hail .25 for its pain relieving properties(hopefully)

Patience huh?   My ship went out to sea and I was at the train station.  . 

Talk about painful,

I loaded up old Simtex's  Master of Magic on Dos Box  to pass the time till Dec-Jan.

 People forget about the days of ega/vga graphics!  Now those days were painful. And throw in EMS/XMS ,boot disks and floppies also but I spent  weeks on that game  loveing it.

 Still, a good idea never gets old. Lets hope this one is half as good if not better! 

Ah, Master of Magic. My old friend. I still play that daily, almost. Admittedly, I use the CD version, rather than the dozen or so floppy discs it used to require.

Really looking forward to Beta 2. Going to get a nice LAN party going for it, when I can. First semester of Uni should finish up just as Beta 2 comes up.

Looking forward to Beta 2 also.  I'm too excited about this title and would love to help make it awesome.

Are we getting any nearer to Beta re-opening?  I'm ready to pre-order.

As we are still at beta 1B, I doubt beta 2 will start anytime soon... 1C is planned for next week I think, but at this speed, beta 2 is still at least 2-4 months away... I think you should count for at least 1 - 2 weeks between each step, so I guess end of januari at the earliest.