80 Bucks!!!

[Rince]

Heh, i paid the equivalent of 24 US$ for Warlords by ordering from buch.de and finishing a stupid riddle involving rabbits which gave me a 5 Euro reduction.

They even deducted the VAT and refunded it via PayPal since Switzerland is not an EU member.

At this price, buying Warlords was really a no-brainer for me. Only had the chance to play a few hours so far but I like what i've seen until now.

Rince

 

[AvianAvenger]

There has been some stuff mentioned in the forum about improved AI in the expansion, coding wise AI is one the most difficult aspects of programming and this might be the aspect that firaxis has used to justify the price tag, they might have significantly overhauled the AI ~but i suspect that they've only just upped a few values here and there, such as how many units are kept for defense and so on.

However for someone like me who is not really that good at the game in the first place i cannot justify myself paying for it & a few scenarios, vassal states dont really intrest me... i like wipeing people out. Im hoping that the second expansion includes the first + something cool like a alpha centuri mod or a extra future era, rather than just a future tech (new resources, Mech's, AI combat units, terraforming, & moon missions ... oooh now im just drooling at the possibilities).

 

[Grey Fox]

Im hoping that the second expansion includes the first + something cool like a alpha centuri mod or a extra future era, rather than just a future tech (new resources, Mech's, AI combat units, terraforming, & moon missions ... oooh now im just drooling at the possibilities).

To me, future eras are for mods and scenarios. What I would like to see improved upon in the next expansion is everything from the Medieval Period and up. (More like Industrial and up). Especially in the Modern Era. The UN needs upgrading, the Spacerace needs a change so it takes longer possibly (maybe more steps, like first step is a race towards a moon landing), or atleast is more interesting. Etc.

 

[Tarkhan]

I'm betting the gold edition is around for the Christmas rush.

 

[The Navy Seal]

Especially in the Modern Era. The UN needs upgrading, the Spacerace needs a change so it takes longer possibly (maybe more steps, like first step is a race towards a moon landing), or atleast is more interesting. Etc.

Good idea

Not really! Since I'm still learning Civ4, I'm in no hurry to jump into Warlord.

Just jump in there's not much diffrence.

 

[Moonsinger]

Just jump in there's not much diffrence.

If there isn't much difference, is it really worth another $40 bucks? May be the right price is around $20.

 

[The Navy Seal]

There isn't much diffrence you just need a better stratagy.

 

[BadHorsie]

It could be that 20 lbs to him is the same as $20 to you and I

20 lbs of what? Flour? Meat?

 

[MazX_TheDog]

This forum has the biggest group of tight wad cheap asses I've ever seen. How did you un-clutch your hands to buy your computer?

 

[Zebra 9]

The Navy Seal is right Grey Fox. There is not much change to game play, but it does require you to think & plan a little more.

Fore example, lets say that you have 10 cities, & your closest neighbor has 3, and his other neighbor has 10 cities plus the worlds largest & most up to date army. Now if you declare war on the little guy he will do one of two things.
1. Attempt to get the Big guy in on the war.
2. Attempt to become his vassal(If he has Feudalism)

There are a million other examples that I could give but that one will do.

 

[Wodan]

People keep saying $US 30 is too much, that somehow Firaxis is fleecing us.

Whether $30 is too much depends on the individual. To me, that's a pizza. I would have paid twice that. To some people, that's their disposable cash for a month or more, so that is a big deal.

Whether Firaxis is fleecing us is not a question. The answer is no. I used to work for a game company as the director of production, so I know exactly how much it costs to make something.

Here's a rough ballpark. First off, the retailer gets fully 50%. That goes to pay for his store rent, salary of his workforce, benefits, taxes, marketing, etc. Depending on their relationship with the distributor, the distributor will offer promotions and discounts, and the retailer might even get as much as 55% or so. So, we're down to $US15.

Of the other half, half of that goes to the distributor. That $7.50 pays for the warehouse, forklifts, taxes, salaries, marketing, etc.

The rest goes to Firaxis. Depending on quantity, they will have to spend approximately half on manufacturing: CD mastering, replication, insertion, the box, wrappers.

That leaves about $3.75 for their income. They have to pay corporate taxes, salaries, rent, utilities, benefits, etc. Depending on the size of their company (and thus how much their expenses are) compared to how many products they put out a year, this is going to affect how much of the $3.75 is profit and how much gets eaten up by their overhead.

I'd guess they might make a dollar on each game. If they sell 100,000 copies, that's only $100,000 profit.

Profit then has to go for business expansion, shareholder payments, unanticipated expenses, and so on. $100k is not much.

Wodan

 

[Zebra 9]

Thank you Wodan, now that we realy know what happens behind the seens maybe we will have a little more appriciation for Firaxis, & there desisions.

 

[Grey Fox]

The Navy Seal is right Grey Fox. There is not much change to game play, but it does require you to think & plan a little more.

Huh, what have I now said?

 

[Danicela]

To me, future eras are for mods and scenarios

No, if there is past in Civ4, it should be also future, like in CTP, the model.

Whether $30 is too much depends on the individual. To me, that's a pizza.

A Gold pizza?
Not everyone runs on gold ...
30 is too much for what we get, we are not here to feed X producers, but to see if a product worth the money => In comparison, Civ4 = 50 and Warlords = 30, it's just make us laugh.

 

[Wodan]

30 is too much for what we get, we are not here to feed X producers, but to see if a product worth the money => In comparison, Civ4 = 50 and Warlords = 30, it's just make us laugh.

The fact that it costs so much for a product that didn't have nearly the same design costs illustrates the point that by far most of the $ we pay for ANY product goes to the distribution of it. We shouldn't blame Firaxis for the economics of marketing in our society.

Whether we're here to feed the X producers or not, that's what we have to do if we want to enjoy a product.

Why not go down to your local software store and get mad at them? They're the ones getting fully 50% of your money. Those money hungry bastages. Having the gall to run a store to sell me cool games, and actually charge me for it.

Wodan

 

[Grey Fox]

No, if there is past in Civ4, it should be also future, like in CTP, the model.

Actually, to me, the Base game should be about rewriting history, not predicting/writing the future.

But that doesnt stop me from doing a mod about the future like my interstellar colonization. (click the link in my signature )

EDIT:
and wow, people buy pizzas for 30$ ?!

You should move from your country, lol, pizzas here are never much more expensive then 8-9$. And I usually only eat half of it. (me and my brother usually shares one)

 

[Grey Fox]

The rest goes to Firaxis. Depending on quantity, they will have to spend approximately half on manufacturing: CD mastering, replication, insertion, the box, wrappers.

Actually, No. The rest goes to Take2. And then Firaxis gets their share depending on their Contract.

Take two might have given Firaxis a 20 million $ budget to make Civ4, and maybe their contract was that once the game makes 20 million $, Firaxis is going to get 25% of the profit.

I heard a figure that the game developer rarely even gets 3% of what the actual game was sold for.

 

[Tavenier]

Ok, say that each civ added is worth 1 Dollar. The four new leaders for existing civs also 1 dollar each. That makes 10 dollar. Then a dollar for each of the new buildings and units, that is 4 dollar. Then a dime for every UB, makes 2,40 dollar. The vassal state optien is worth 2, 50 dollar? Every scenario 1,50? The warlords-addition 2,50? All the other little things together 2,50? Well, that's about 35 dollar. So the 30 Dollar/25 Euro/20 Pounds isn't that much, IMHO.

 

[Gote]

Yes but I think we can't call Warlords an "extraordinary add-on" ...

Exactly, this is maybe the reason, why so many Civfanatics are disappointed about the add-on! The ladies and gentlemen are extraordinary dissappointed!

The Starting screen of the stand alone ? Why ? It's beautiful.

In the stand alone version the starting screen is one of the most beautiful ever seen... Do you probably know a method how to change the screen back to the one of stand alone version I miss it so much

But it is even harder to play the "old" version, now Warlords rules!

Gote

 

[Dida]

The fact that it costs so much for a product that didn't have nearly the same design costs illustrates the point that by far most of the $ we pay for ANY product goes to the distribution of it. We shouldn't blame Firaxis for the economics of marketing in our society.

Whether we're here to feed the X producers or not, that's what we have to do if we want to enjoy a product.

Why not go down to your local software store and get mad at them? They're the ones getting fully 50% of your money. Those money hungry bastages. Having the gall to run a store to sell me cool games, and actually charge me for it.

Wodan

Not true. The entire Serious Sam game costed only $20. If they can make a profit selling a whole game for $20, they can certainly make a profit selling an expansion for less than that.