Sharwan galwan fu masloot Yarlen - ding shafuq balawi stardoq sanduqqa tar, ghazamin kalawizoon ta'q ta'q veesa.

> start universal translator
> babble fishing...
> babbling...
> gurgling...

"do fling furry earthling dung Yarlen. I shall acquire stardock product snarky in end of quarter yeimer past-future unit exchange in forthnight."

I pre-ordered the game as instructed above. I don't see where I should go to download the Beta in Stardock Central. No version Beta or otherwise of GalCiv II is listed in the games download section.

I pre-ordered the game as well--on Friday. The email I got said that my credit card hadn't yet been charged and that I would receive an email once something was available. I'm assuming there isn't any linkage between the sales process and the website.

In other words, sometime next week, someone from StarDock will have to go see that I've provided all my payment information and such so that they can then do some stuff to make it possible to download the game from some site.

Sure, when I bought the game on Friday, it would have been cool to start playing the beta right then. But I'd rather StarDock kept working on cool stuff like their WindowsBlinds product and GalCiv II than fully automating this website.

As it happens, pre-ordering was ended late last week (just found out), so it sounds as though those here missed the window for Beta 3.    We won't be charging pre-orders again until at least Beta 4 in November. Sorry gang.

It will likely be longer than two months.

I've heard that Beta 4 won't be open to the public. Instead, only those folks already Beta testing will get access to that one.

Did you notice how Yarlen said they wouldn't charge pre-orders again until -> AT LEAST <- Beta 4 in November?

I think he's hedging his bet and avoiding letting you know that what you really signed up for was to Pre-Order only the final product when it is released.

Hi all,

I have confirmed that Beta 3 is now closed. If you made a pre-order after it was closed, you will need to wait until Beta 4 next month. Beta 4 will be worth the wait as it will have actual gameplay dynamics, all the ships, textures for them, etc.

I don't understand why there should be deadlines for the Betas. If you pre-order you should get whatever Beta is available at that point, period.

Its obvious we're dealing with programmers here and not salespeople or customer relations experts. I am actually somewhat bitter at this experience and considering asking to be taken off the pre-order list. If a customer wants to give you their money in order to have immediate access to a glitchy Beta that they can play over and over in 5 second increments, why is that of any concern to Stardock? Hell, even if they submit bug reports that have already been patched all you have to do is quietly delete the e-mails on your end.

What can end up costing potential customers and therefore revenue is NOT throwing the ragged hounds a bone when they come to pre-order, especially if they see a bunch of other dogs in the kennel participating and having fun doing so. I have to tell you, when I found out that there was no Beta waiting for me after I placed my order, I immediately went searching online sources (Strategy Informer, Gamespot...etc.) looking for other alternatives; ... and really, the Beta restictions from a PR perspective are inane. It doesn't serve any purpose at all to even risk alienating a potential customer, even if only 1 in 20 people would be miffed at waiting 1 month or more until the next Beta release.

*sigh* Well... Gal Civ 2 looks really cool. But I'm in need of some sort of computer entertainment RIGHT NOW and not some number of indeterminate months in the future. I just sent Stardock the following email:

---
Please cancel this transaction. When I placed the order, the website said I would be able to download the game immediately. Since that does not appear to be the case, I view Stardock in breach of contract. If Stardock later decides to bill my credit card, I will dispute the charge.
---

Thanks for the suggestion.

I'll purchase AP just as soon as SD restores my confidence in their company by checking the AP page for typos.

You're just seeing things.

I'm more than a little disappionted in this too. After I read how fun the Beta was even in it's current state, I decided to go ahead and preorder. After I did, I found out the beta was closed.

I'm not even going to consider cancelling, though. I think Gav Civ II will be a great game, and Stardock is one of the best developers out there (along with Paradox). I just wish that, at the very least, that the fact that the beta was closed was plastered boldly on the front page.

I don't completely understand why the beta needed to be closed; after all, players in it have already paid.

That makes perfect sense.

Late October can't come soon enough.