That'd require the game to support LAN play, which it doesn't.

Besides, hotseat only requires one copy of the game. Online requires one per player.

Yes.. i bought 2 copies for this purpose. Only to find out later that multiplayer is gutted and not worth playing.

I'll add that competitive multi with random people is a feature i would't touch.. but LAN or freindly play with my roommate definately.

Hot seat: Yes

Otherwise: No though if my friend did have Elemental, maybe then... Playing a strategy game with random people over internet just ain't my thing (Shooters are fine of course).

Sure. But i like to sit there with a friend, drinking a beer and playing side by side. We did this for years, because there was no internet or lan. And I like that even today. Its a complete different ...ähhm...experience.

Yes I would like multiplayer, but only if it is exactly the same as single player but with humans filling in for some of the AI spots.

Not sure why anyone would call it a "useless" feature, as the only "use" of a video game is entertainment, and if some people are entertained by multiplayer then it clearly isn't "useless."

No.

But if they implement a qick battle mode that can be played in like 30 minutes, then maybe yes.

The advantage of hotseat (to me, anyway) is that it's a lot easier to get a friend into the game that way - they don't need to buy the game, they don't need to install it, they can just sit down at your pc and you can start a co-op style game - hopefully getting them interested enough to buy the game for themselves at some point.

LAN (or online, or pbem) is something else entirely - it doesn't replace hotseat or vice versa, they're different experiences for different situations. It's like comparing sitting on the couch playing an xbox game with two controllers and a split screen vs. playing it online. Clearly there are advantages to both of you having your own xbox and your own copy of the game and playing online, but it's a lot easier to get a friend to try the game if they can just sit down on the couch and pick up a controller.

True, but I always found it to be a pain.

I would say thay LAN play is more like the couch analogy you reference without the drawbacks of hotseat.

Not sure if SD supports it, but I have seen many games that allow you to do LAN play with one purchased game.

No.

I'd rather have an interesting and fun single player campaign.

They don't, in Elemental. Sins of a Solar Empire did. IIRC Demigod did too. (Though really since both of those had LAN support it wasn't realistic to try and stop it, but it's still a very player-friendly policy to allow it and helps get your friends into games.)

I would have made it a poll but not sure how to do that

Also I dont think its biased at all towards MP. Infact if anything id say it was the other way around. Think of how many MP focused players probably said I will check back later and hope for the best.

Whatever your poision may be, LAN/Online, PBEM, or Hotseat, the versions should be true to the single player game and not cut down knock offs. When I play these games its normally LAN, randomly online, but only with friends.

Box says 2-16 MP, we can barely get 3 to work for more then an hour. SP/MP should be the same game just subing humans for AI. Interesting read though on both sides.

Pretty sure the local polls are limited to Stardock folks. They don't even seem part of the forums at all; I've missed some because I almost never hit the home page for the game, just come straight to the boards.

Denryu, a poster from the earliest beta days, set himself up with a free version of the service at surveymonkey. No idea how much of a bother it is to use their UI, nor what they want by way of info for the 'free' service, but it takes up to 50 responses and he got some interesting results now and then.

Just run a search denryu poll site:forums.elementalgame.com and you should find all his old poll threads, if you're interested.

No.

I'm in it for the single-player.

How many of you 'yes' people would honestly play TBS multiplayer mode for more than just a day or a week?

Me. There is a PBEM game I am in that I have been playing for about a year, and it had been going for two years before that (a player dropped and I continued for that spot).

PBEM is not the same as online, LAN, or hotseat multiplayer mode.

(Edit: Not dissing PBEM. I was just curious about how often those people who play online or actively/quickly with other people really do so with TBS games.)

No.

Single player sandbox for me.

I have also also done hotseat and LAN, but online is a no (nor do I play online for any type of game period). It is the least applicable to TBS games, and seems to be the only one Stardock plans to support.

Online does not work terribly well for TBS when playing people you do not know, where as PBEM does. However, most multiplayer will likely be against friends and family and LAN and Hotseat are best for this.

Played Civ 4 online for a couple of years. The gameplay works pretty well in coop because you can play with friends who also like the genre, and thus long games aren't a problem.

So yeah, I don't see a problem there. Civ 4 worked quite well as a MP game, and nobody was complaining about it being gimped in SP.

No...

Still play Civ4 with friends every few months, great game, specially with some of the mods changes things up. I will tally up all the yes and no's saturday morning and drop a total.

The funny thing is, if Stardock had come out and just said hey, we are not having multiplayer, or hey we are retarding multiplayer becase a.b.c.d. I would have been like whatever no worries. But we actually bought multiple copies and had a 6-8 person lan centered around playing it multiplayer. Granted at the time we still believe that it would have proper multiplayer, and would run on a netbook. Then brad dropped the prelimanry hey we screwed up on mutiplayer, now we are going to down play it essay, and id love to see someone run it on a netbook. It might be better now, but I have a great gaming rig and last time i played it still wast quite there.

sure.

yes to coop, no to pvp i wont get FE if multi is out

Well i prepaid for Elemental so I'm getting the next few games free I believe.

yes