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FIIIINNNALLLLY!

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FIIIINNNALLLLY!

from JoeUser Forums

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It took me all night but it was worth it. That was a city. Brigands took it out.

There were so many checks to make sure that “monsters” don’t attack your city that had to be taken out in order to make the monsters have teeth again.

So we’re going to create a new option “World Difficulty”.  If World Difficulty is normal or higher, then monsters and other such things will take out players if they can.

Before, monsters were prevented from even going into your zone of control.

As we clean up the bugs in preparation for beta 3B (due today or tomorrow) I have some pretty serious qualms still that need to be addressed before release which I’ll outline below:

#1 It is NOT engaging enough. The UI, over the months, got so streamlined that there’s just not enough interaction between your Kingdom and you.  There’s a lot to do but little game-provided direction to take you there.  The pieces are there but the player is left to just “know”. That’s bad.

#2 The UI requires far too many steps to do stuff. It just needs a lot of love still.

#3 The magic spells aren’t compelling enough yet.

#4 Tactical battles require too many clicks (you move your guys each turn to the tiles they can move to, you don’t “auto pilot them”).

I am pleased to say that tactical battles are pretty decent, though visually buggy (it’s very difficult to choreograph all the animations and strikes in an interesting way. This is the first game Stardock has done that actually has animation like this and unfortunately, it shows. 

We can do idle animations great and we have a lot of great animations. It’s the fighting choreographing that we’re sucking at. We want battles to look good but believe it or not, this turns out to be very very hard if you want to have any sort of complexity.  I now know why so many games have such repetitive attacking. When there’s two objects (attacker and defender) it’s nasty stuff.

I miss phasors.

357,541 views 127 replies
Reply #51 from Elemental Forums Top

Another vote here for tactical combat in MP. Having tactical battles only in some separate from the normal game "Arena mode" sucks.

Reply #52 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Recnelis2, reply 48
I have to agree, without tactical battles for my friends and I multiplayer will just not be played and it will be difficult for me to talk other guild mates into buying/playing the game as well.
 
PLEASE!!! Leave tactical battles in multiplayer if people don't want  it in their games just have an option to turn it on or off.

 

This.

There are lots of online game where you can list the limits and people either agree and play or dont. simply taking away an option is not a good idea. IE: 10player, No Tactical, XYZ Map, 1min turn limit or some such.

On/Off switch please.

 

FKN

William

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #53 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 45

Given the sheer amount of $$$ being spent on multiplayer, it's safe to say that we're taking it seriously. However, what I am not in favor of is simply taking the single player stuff and making it MP.  I'd rather add more modes later like a dedicated Arena mode and such.

That's perfectly reasonable, but until you have all those other things leave tactical battles on in MP. :)

Reply #54 from Elemental Forums Top

If you want to make multiplayer as fun as possible then you have to include tactical battles. If you take them away you lose at least half of the fun. Without tactical battles combat magic would also become totally useless and that would make the magic tech tree less interesting. 

Reply #55 from Elemental Forums Top

If I understand correctly, the auto combat will use your tactical spells, the actual combat is simulated (you can see the log and see who hit who with what), so it won't immediately make tactical spells useless, they'll be as good as the AI (whether that is a good thing is up to you I suppose).

 

Reply #56 from Elemental Forums Top

I agree with Ryan in that more spells is not really the best way to make spells diverse or interesting and can even be very confusing for casual gamers. I cant play the beta couse impulse doesnt like my girlfriends credit card (and i dont have one) so i must wait for the release in my country :(, but for what it is said on the forums it seems like thy are not easy categorized (dont know if that is the word) nor visually displayed intuitively in a context menu when you are over the spells icon.

Reply #57 from Elemental Forums Top

I don't envy your position right now Brad. I'm not sure when your code freeze date is, but if I remember your previously mentioned schedule you can't be anymore than 2 weeks at most away in order to hit your August Ship date.

I'm not real big on multiplayer, but I DO play it and like others have mentioned, not having tactical battles available in some form will probably make me shun multiplayer mode until it is in. For the players that like MP, I would have to believe this is an extremely attractive feature for the hardcore player. So add my vote to wanting this feature in at the start.

I believe I also favor the idea that wandering monsters do not totally destroy a unprotected or lightly protected city. If it is possible, perhaps destruction or desvistation of the city could be linked to the World Difficulty mode? At normal, the city could survive, but population and buildings are destroyed, but at higher levels, monsters would raze the city.

I do think spells are uninteresting for a number of reasons. At least in the games that I've played, summoning an Ice Lord or a Fire Giant seems to make little difference. Perhaps spells like these should have some consequences, like freezing lands or catching forests on fire? In the games that I've played, learning spells is far too fast, so you really don't get time to really appreciate the spells that you learn at least in my opinion. In the last two games I played I was learn a spell almost every turn or every other turn. I didn't really pay any attention to what I put in my spell queue because I learned them so quickly. While aspects of the game are too slow, spell learning IMO is too quick. Also, it's not always clear why you can cast a certain spell and not another. When I look at my available spells most are unavailable. You can click on them and it will show you why you can't cast them, but you have to 1) be able to identify the underlying icon (or read the small print) and then click on it. If you can hover over the icon and see the spell card, I've never noticed it so perhaps if that function is there it responds too slow.

Just my two cents.

I hope you guys make your gold date as I really want this game in a finished version, but if the game needs more time I hope you make the right decision and push out the release date.

 

Reply #58 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 45

Given the sheer amount of $$$ being spent on multiplayer, it's safe to say that we're taking it seriously. However, what I am not in favor of is simply taking the single player stuff and making it MP.  I'd rather add more modes later like a dedicated Arena mode and such.

Couldn't you do both though?  There are people out there that are going to want to play the game exactly how it works in single player _but_ with their friends.  Then there are those who will appreciate a bunch of funky game modes designed for multiplayer.

Reply #59 from Elemental Forums Top

I can see the Dominions 3 concept coming to the rescue here...

1) Re: Spells - Stacks of spells just waiting to 'inspire'.

2) the way that battles are handled are in many repects a perfect compromise between tactics and speed.

The direct scripting of unit behaviours coupled with the real time play out of the battles means that not only are battles resolved quickly, but success is absolutely determined by the scripts the player chooses for their units.

If it was somehow possible to utilise a script based method of battle planning with the consequent battle played out in RT, well, not only would it speed up MP, it would still require significant tactical consideration. (AND its a hell of a lot of fun to watch!)

Reply #60 from Elemental Forums Top

:waaaa: :waaaa: :waaaa:

What the heck is all the TB panic about?

TB are being worked on. - Check

There is auto resolve already. - Check.

Anyone see a way how TB could NOT make it in?

What I initially wanted is another option for those who don't have time for TB in MP. Aside from option to set them to auto resolve (which is a must).

Sorry people, 2-3 minutes isn't going to be the top of it, been there, seen that, not buying... >_>  And even 2-3 minutes would have add-up after several hundreds of turns.

And pardon me, but "screw MP until there's nothing left to do" attitude is plain egoistic. About as much as saying "leave out tactical battles until you found a way not to prolong MP with them" would be. I hope that neither of that is going to happen.

Reply #61 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 45



Quoting goodgimp,
reply 38

Quoting Frogboy, reply 21Re: Multiplayer - our main focus for release day on multiplayer is to make sure it's FUN to play for the widest number of users and then, from there, create lots and lots of options for custom games.  We're still evaluating whether tactical battles will be in MP initially or whether to implement them somewhat differently for MP later on.

 

The tactical battles are fairly critical for my friends and I.  Having a new game that could replace AoW:SM was what got most of them to spring for a pre-order.


Given the sheer amount of $$$ being spent on multiplayer, it's safe to say that we're taking it seriously. However, what I am not in favor of is simply taking the single player stuff and making it MP.  I'd rather add more modes later like a dedicated Arena mode and such.

I don't see why you can't at least have the option for players to play multiplayer in a normal single player landscape?  Some people are perfectly willing to allow tactical battles of another player to resolve, and it can't take up that many resources to offer this kind of multiplayer mode, can it?

It seems tactical battles in multiplayer is a very, very big selling point.  My brother and I are most certainly sold on multiplayer tactical battles.

Reply #62 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Reianor3, reply 60


What the heck is all the TB panic about?

TB are being worked on. - Check

There is auto resolve already. - Check.

Anyone see a way how TB could NOT make it in?

What I initially wanted is another option for those who don't have time for TB in MP. Aside from option to set them to auto resolve (which is a must).

Sorry people, 2-3 minutes isn't going to be the top of it, been there, seen that, not buying...  And even 2-3 minutes would have add-up after several hundreds of turns.

And pardon me, but "screw MP until there's nothing left to do" attitude is plain egoistic. About as much as saying "leave out tactical battles until you found a way not to prolong MP with them" would be. I hope that neither of that is going to happen.

You are completely missing the point, what brad said is there will be NO tactical in MP potentially. That is the complaint, TB was promised from pre 1z.  People are feeling, possibly justified, that they have had a bait and switch pulled.

Reply #63 from Elemental Forums Top

I think that Tactical Battles should be in multiplayer. But TB is time-consuming especially in multiplayer. My hopes go with a WEGO system at some point after release... It would make the tactical combat more dinamic and fast paced...

Reply #64 from Elemental Forums Top

Taking away the option won't make anything more fun. 

 

Just make sure either side can decline the TB.

 

 

Reply #65 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting nitey47, reply 57
I don't envy your position right now Brad. I'm not sure when your code freeze date is, but if I remember your previously mentioned schedule you can't be anymore than 2 weeks at most away in order to hit your August Ship date.

I'm not real big on multiplayer, but I DO play it and like others have mentioned, not having tactical battles available in some form will probably make me shun multiplayer mode until it is in. For the players that like MP, I would have to believe this is an extremely attractive feature for the hardcore player. So add my vote to wanting this feature in at the start.

I believe I also favor the idea that wandering monsters do not totally destroy a unprotected or lightly protected city. If it is possible, perhaps destruction or desvistation of the city could be linked to the World Difficulty mode? At normal, the city could survive, but population and buildings are destroyed, but at higher levels, monsters would raze the city.

I do think spells are uninteresting for a number of reasons. At least in the games that I've played, summoning an Ice Lord or a Fire Giant seems to make little difference. Perhaps spells like these should have some consequences, like freezing lands or catching forests on fire? In the games that I've played, learning spells is far too fast, so you really don't get time to really appreciate the spells that you learn at least in my opinion. In the last two games I played I was learn a spell almost every turn or every other turn. I didn't really pay any attention to what I put in my spell queue because I learned them so quickly. While aspects of the game are too slow, spell learning IMO is too quick. Also, it's not always clear why you can cast a certain spell and not another. When I look at my available spells most are unavailable. You can click on them and it will show you why you can't cast them, but you have to 1) be able to identify the underlying icon (or read the small print) and then click on it. If you can hover over the icon and see the spell card, I've never noticed it so perhaps if that function is there it responds too slow.

Just my two cents.

I hope you guys make your gold date as I really want this game in a finished version, but if the game needs more time I hope you make the right decision and push out the release date.

 

 

Agree with this post. Two important areas:

 

1) I don't understand the need to totally destroy the city. I would guess it stems from the implementation in Warcraft, but it seemed wrong to me there as well.  Once the people are dead the looting begins, then historically often the buildings got fired.

2) Hope you spend lots of time getting the finished version really captivating to play. I'd like this game to last the next 10years of my life. Take the time--we'll support that!

3) It would be nice to see a small scene where you learn a new spell and show your wizard casting it.  This might in some way link the spell learning process into RPG a little more firmly, so you see the price of learning and how it looks. As developers you get to show off your already worked on animation, the player gets to see the spell in action, and opportunities for humor might be created as well.

4) Would it be possible for there to be a failure to learn a spell?  This might be a game balancer that would introduce some variability.  Again, RPG like.

 

THANKS FOR THE WORK SO FAR--KEEP IT UP!!! Major compliments on your company, communication and design skills. Your dedication to excellence will enable all us beta fans to get our friends to buy EWOM and WILL end up rewarding you for your hard work.

 

 

 

Reply #66 from Elemental Forums Top

The world difficulty effect is great!  should add alot too immersion.  A couple of suggestions:

  • Have humanoids & intelligent npc's have a chance to ask for a payoff to avoid sacking a town.
  • Animals  maybe would destroy some food resource or housing or pub (place food might be)
  • Monsters might just be feeling a bit nasty and your town has the misfortune of being in the area.  Also maybe a small chance that grows each time you kill one of thier type that they start raiding your assets, maybe a town, but also could be destroying the wild resource tiles you have accumulated. 

Please leave tactical battle in MP.  My friends and I still play HOMM or AOW because turn based is fun, but also because the battles are a blast, even if you get spanked.

You guys are doing an awesome job, looking forward to 3b!!:beer:

 

Edit :  A MP campaign option would be really nice, but I could wait an update or two for that function.

Reply #67 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 21
Re: Multiplayer - our main focus for release day on multiplayer is to make sure it's FUN to play for the widest number of users and then, from there, create lots and lots of options for custom games.  We're still evaluating whether tactical battles will be in MP initially or whether to implement them somewhat differently for MP later on.

well that depends on how tactical battles works, how long they last and how many there are in some average game

Reply #68 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Tridus, reply 53

Quoting Frogboy, reply 45
Given the sheer amount of $$$ being spent on multiplayer, it's safe to say that we're taking it seriously. However, what I am not in favor of is simply taking the single player stuff and making it MP.  I'd rather add more modes later like a dedicated Arena mode and such.

That's perfectly reasonable, but until you have all those other things leave tactical battles on in MP.

 

A while back the MP discussion had some good concepts.  The one I favored most was the Tactical battle threshold.  Or perhaps, a simple y/n option for each tactical battle that reaches threshold.  The threshold is the key and a formula that calculates battle outcome to a percentile could be interesting.

 

If the simulation has the battle within X percentile - offer tactical.  etc.

 

Friends still revisit many classic battles from Total Annihilation.  Strategic falls, routes, misfortunes etc.  Specifically unique circumstances that made a losing game a victory or similar.  These types of memeories would be produced in Elemental tactical play.   ... remember when you attempted to take X city and my Y units stood firm just long enough to allow Z spell to turn the tide?  That was Epic!

 

 

Reply #69 from Elemental Forums Top

This was my check-in this afternoon of what I did in the past 24 hours to give you an idea of how fast progress can be. :)

And this is just me and I'm just one person out of 19 full time people (not including shared Stardock resources like QA and testing and such) working on the game right now.

 

Brad (12:00 PM)

 

+ AI designs better units

+ Sovereign more aggressive at goodie hut finding

+ AI now makes use of external resources

+ Bandits: Brigands and other thugs are now spawned into the world (this will eventually be event driven so that different games have different environmental bad guys)

+ Bandits: Interacts with player

+ Bandits: Will target for destruction undefended cities eventually.

+ The technology breakthru window doesn't default to continuing down the same path anymore.

+ AI Difficulty levels hooked up

+ First attempt to get the events to play tones in

+ Made changs to CanOwnCity() such that Monsters can destroy cities

+ Treasures can now have their own distinct sounds when found

+ Rewrote ::FindRandomGoodieHutTypeByTerrain() to have it take into account how rare the goodie hut is and make sure it is following the world spawn rating rules.

+ Hooked up Influence Ability. Every 100 points of Influence will increase the max radius of a player's zone of control by a full tile. By very careful with this.

+ MessageBoxWnd no longer hard coded to that treasure found sound.

+ Message Window can now play sounds when brought up.

+ Lots of changews to MobileObject.cpp to allow monsters to be monsters. BETA TESTERS: Be on the look out for stuck turns.

+ CPlayer::SetABility() added (seriously, we didn't have this)!

+ Beginnings of the AI designing units for the human player put in.

                - AI will try to design a unit every time they go up a level on the warfare/combat tree. If it is better than any existing unit the player can build, it will add it to their list. In theory.

+ By default, spawn ratings on quests are now -1

+ Fixed bug where quests were hard coded to 1.

+ Events should be playing sounds

+ Tactical Unit morale system rewritten

+ If a monster manages to "conquer" a city it will destroy it (they're monsters afterall)

+ Changed the way Goodie Hut spawns work such that the higher level goodie huts will mainly spawn around the player who triggered the spawn rather than spamming it randomly around the map.  In addition, players who do go up a goodie hut level will still be able to get some goodie huts placed near them.

+ First balance attempt to try to make the monster upgrading not go up so fast

+ Updated CWorld::PlaceRandomGoodieHuts() so that we can now optionally specify a player we want them to be spawned near

+ Tactical Maps for all terrain types created (13 new maps)

+ Fixed Core Accessories to work with new tech trees

+ Sound effects added to many treasures found in goodie huts

+ Lots of new items added (sick of healing nectar)

+ Sand Golem nerfed

+ Fixed typos where people were spelling sovereign as "soveriegn" (I before E except after C)

+ Wild Game now extremely rare (will have to have it spawn only near hunters in the future)

+ Tried, but failed, to get the lost library to have a different tactical map icon than the ancient temple Not sure why they still look the same but they are using different fiels now

+ Gave bandidts and other humanoid monsters intelligence of 10.

+ Started crated "gang" monster groups

+ Players now start out knowing certain spells. In addition, each spell book now has some spells that a caster knows by having that spell book.

+ Veteran troops can now be trained by Amarians

+ The default Pioneer is now unarmed (and cheaper)

+ Brought some of the Imperial improvement costs in line with the Kingdom equivalents

+ TONS of new Quest items to get

+ Started adding template quests that are easily modded to create other quests

+ Lots of new quest destinations

+ THE MASTER QUEST IS IN!

+ Dave Stern's writing in the Master Quest

 

Reply #70 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 45

Given the sheer amount of $$$ being spent on multiplayer, it's safe to say that we're taking it seriously. However, what I am not in favor of is simply taking the single player stuff and making it MP.  I'd rather add more modes later like a dedicated Arena mode and such.

Quoting VermillionChaos, reply 62

You are completely missing the point, what brad said is there will be NO tactical in MP potentially. That is the complaint, TB was promised from pre 1z.  People are feeling, possibly justified, that they have had a bait and switch pulled.

I think you are overreacting, but we could always confirm that...

AFAIK Random generator is what's not making it into MP from the start (and I hate that). I see no reason why TB would be forcibly excluded. Some people obviously can enjoy them in MP the same way they do in SP. There seem to be enough of them to make it MP-able.

I'm guessing there will be a way to disallow TB for a given match, but they aren't likely to be excluded entirely. This kind of thing can only happen if SD decides that they aren't worth the coding to make them MP which is an unlikely possibility.

Reply #71 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 69
This was my check-in this afternoon of what I did in the past 24 hours to give you an idea of how fast progress can be.

And this is just me and I'm just one person out of 19 full time people (not including shared Stardock resources like QA and testing and such) working on the game right now.

 [...]
So when's the next version released? :p

Reply #72 from Elemental Forums Top

Started adding template quests that are easily modded to create other quests

Yummy :P

Reply #73 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 69
This was my check-in this afternoon of what I did in the past 24 hours to give you an idea of how fast progress can be.

And this is just me and I'm just one person out of 19 full time people (not including shared Stardock resources like QA and testing and such) working on the game right now.

 

Brad (12:00 PM)

 

+ AI designs better units

+ Sovereign more aggressive at goodie hut finding

+ AI now makes use of external resources

+ Bandits: Brigands and other thugs are now spawned into the world (this will eventually be event driven so that different games have different environmental bad guys)

+ Bandits: Interacts with player

+ Bandits: Will target for destruction undefended cities eventually.

+ The technology breakthru window doesn't default to continuing down the same path anymore.

+ AI Difficulty levels hooked up

+ First attempt to get the events to play tones in

+ Made changs to CanOwnCity() such that Monsters can destroy cities

+ Treasures can now have their own distinct sounds when found

+ Rewrote ::FindRandomGoodieHutTypeByTerrain() to have it take into account how rare the goodie hut is and make sure it is following the world spawn rating rules.

+ Hooked up Influence Ability. Every 100 points of Influence will increase the max radius of a player's zone of control by a full tile. By very careful with this.

+ MessageBoxWnd no longer hard coded to that treasure found sound.

+ Message Window can now play sounds when brought up.

+ Lots of changews to MobileObject.cpp to allow monsters to be monsters. BETA TESTERS: Be on the look out for stuck turns.

+ CPlayer::SetABility() added (seriously, we didn't have this)!

+ Beginnings of the AI designing units for the human player put in.

                - AI will try to design a unit every time they go up a level on the warfare/combat tree. If it is better than any existing unit the player can build, it will add it to their list. In theory.

+ By default, spawn ratings on quests are now -1

+ Fixed bug where quests were hard coded to 1.

+ Events should be playing sounds

+ Tactical Unit morale system rewritten

+ If a monster manages to "conquer" a city it will destroy it (they're monsters afterall)

+ Changed the way Goodie Hut spawns work such that the higher level goodie huts will mainly spawn around the player who triggered the spawn rather than spamming it randomly around the map.  In addition, players who do go up a goodie hut level will still be able to get some goodie huts placed near them.

+ First balance attempt to try to make the monster upgrading not go up so fast

+ Updated CWorld:laceRandomGoodieHuts() so that we can now optionally specify a player we want them to be spawned near

+ Tactical Maps for all terrain types created (13 new maps)

+ Fixed Core Accessories to work with new tech trees

+ Sound effects added to many treasures found in goodie huts

+ Lots of new items added (sick of healing nectar)

+ Sand Golem nerfed

+ Fixed typos where people were spelling sovereign as "soveriegn" (I before E except after C)

+ Wild Game now extremely rare (will have to have it spawn only near hunters in the future)

+ Tried, but failed, to get the lost library to have a different tactical map icon than the ancient temple Not sure why they still look the same but they are using different fiels now

+ Gave bandidts and other humanoid monsters intelligence of 10.

+ Started crated "gang" monster groups

+ Players now start out knowing certain spells. In addition, each spell book now has some spells that a caster knows by having that spell book.

+ Veteran troops can now be trained by Amarians

+ The default Pioneer is now unarmed (and cheaper)

+ Brought some of the Imperial improvement costs in line with the Kingdom equivalents

+ TONS of new Quest items to get

+ Started adding template quests that are easily modded to create other quests

+ Lots of new quest destinations

+ THE MASTER QUEST IS IN!

+ Dave Stern's writing in the Master Quest

 

 

does this mean the new patch is ready and soon to be seen ?

 

someone ninja asked the same thing before i was finished lol

Reply #74 from Elemental Forums Top

1) I don't understand the need to totally destroy the city. I would guess it stems from the implementation in Warcraft, but it seemed wrong to me there as well. Once the people are dead the looting begins, then historically often the buildings got fired.

In movies, historically, the buildings get burned :-)

Cities were rarely obliterated and the fields salted.  In movies, villains would often dart through city streets lighting up buildings before they even bothered grabbing any goodies, but this is straight up Hollywood.  And what's more, people don't wait around to be slaughtered and enslaved.  The City of Rome was sacked, even razed, many times and that certainly wasn't the end of it.  I hope Frog pays mind to this little detail that, I think, would enhance the game. 

Reply #75 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting nitey47, reply 57
In the games that I've played, learning spells is far too fast, so you really don't get time to really appreciate the spells that you learn at least in my opinion. In the last two games I played I was learn a spell almost every turn or every other turn. I didn't really pay any attention to what I put in my spell queue because I learned them so quickly. While aspects of the game are too slow, spell learning IMO is too quick. Also, it's not always clear why you can cast a certain spell and not another. When I look at my available spells most are unavailable. You can click on them and it will show you why you can't cast them, but you have to 1) be able to identify the underlying icon (or read the small print) and then click on it. If you can hover over the icon and see the spell card, I've never noticed it so perhaps if that function is there it responds too slow.

Just my two cents.

I hope you guys make your gold date as I really want this game in a finished version, but if the game needs more time I hope you make the right decision and push out the release date.

 

I agree here.  Spell learning should be a rewarding event that doesn't happen too fast, and allows for a few battles discovering the new spells use and effectiveness.  Maybe I'm naive, but this sentiment makes sense to me.

On SP/MP. Perhaps the most distinctive and bold choices in developing this game is the stated focus on Single Player.  I was sold on that line alone.  Other that a stint of 4 months playing WOW, I don't play multiplayer.  I know and respect all the MP gamers out there, but resourced should not be taken away from the imersive and enriching SP experience.  Single Player Game should remain the primary focus for Stardock, IMO.  Multiplayer enhancements could wait until after release date if it comes to a choice between SP and MP. Trying to accomidate both if there is not enough time could condemn both to mediocracy. Single Player first!