Thread: Spore in 4 days.

The DRM worries me.

You are only allowed three installs, so like a rental not a purchase.

Agreed. The 'help me because I'm helpless' disasters really do get tiresome. Overall they detract from the overall goal of the space stage. I'm more than 80% through the space stage and am beginning to wonder what happens at the end? Will it let me continue to play or will it end? I think you can go to every planet in the galaxy which is a LOT of planets. Terraforming is my favorite thing to do and can be an effective weapon. Of course my weapons are to the point that dropping a couple bombs on a city pretty much wipes it out so it is a moot point.

I'm saving up now to buy the planet buster. Usually races have one main T3 (earth-like) planet that is the base of their empire. Then they have colony planets with usually 1 or 2 cities for t2 and 1 city for T1 and T0 planets. I can't wait to bust a T3.

Also you don't have to colonize which makes the micromanagement portion easier. So far if a race demands money from me I simply wipe them out completely and all is well.

I had one race that I went to war with due to a mission from another planet. Later I tried to end the war peacefully and they demanded 450k to 1050k. I gave them 750k which was close to all I had and they then said that was not enough and needed more. Well they made me mad so I went and wiped their entire race out. The followers of Spode on the game are the most arrogant, ingorant races and they are very hostile.

So far I've wiped out 3 races and now everywhere I've explored so far in my galaxy is shaded in green. I don't have the heart to wipe out my long time allies although it probably would further my progress in the space stage.

I will say that even though it is a simple game it is very addictive. It's one of those where I want to move forward in the game but continually ask myself is this really fun or more like work?

Overall I would say that Maxis has accomplished their mission with this game by making it very addictive. No matter how annoyed you get at it you always want to find new planets, new races, and find new ways to destroy their cities. Their are some very cool weapons available and very cool planetary effects coded into the game. The minute you go to someone's nice little T2 or T3 planet and throw down about 3 or 4 drought machines and witness firsthand their planet wither to nothing....you are hooked.

I'm going to play again as a herbivore and see how that changes things.

I also would like more than one ship but the balance comes in that you can have allies with you (the same system used in the creature stage) and the more expensive weapons are very powerful. I also want to know why your enemies can begin pummeling you from space but at that point you cannot retaliate except with crappy auto turrets? Another question is why does every race have 2 types of defensive space ships? They usually have a weak one and a strong one. You just get one.

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20080914

Originally Posted by Bubba

Once the game gets older I'm sure they will probably release a DRM patch so the three installs are not there anymore.

To be honest, I'm sure if nobody told me about the install limit, I'd probably never know. If I did it would be years and years down the line... I tend to maintain installs of games for a while. Maybe it's just how I manage my hard drives.

Plus, it's not like you only get 3 installs and have to
buy the game again. Just call customer service and
ask for another one. I think I'll pick this game up.
Sounds pretty awesome.

Originally Posted by Bubba

Agreed. The 'help me because I'm helpless' disasters really do get tiresome. Overall they detract from the overall goal of the space stage. I'm more than 80% through the space stage and am beginning to wonder what happens at the end? Will it let me continue to play or will it end? I think you can go to every planet in the galaxy which is a LOT of planets. Terraforming is my favorite thing to do and can be an effective weapon. Of course my weapons are to the point that dropping a couple bombs on a city pretty much wipes it out so it is a moot point.

I'm saving up now to buy the planet buster. Usually races have one main T3 (earth-like) planet that is the base of their empire. Then they have colony planets with usually 1 or 2 cities for t2 and 1 city for T1 and T0 planets. I can't wait to bust a T3.

Also you don't have to colonize which makes the micromanagement portion easier. So far if a race demands money from me I simply wipe them out completely and all is well.

Its probably a bit late in the game for you, but try playing as a scientist and you get a superweapon that wipes out an entire planet. It does tend to ........ off every other race though, but if you like to wipe people out who cares. Personally I made the effort to get ecologist so that I can insta load every plant and animal on a planet, saves time from hunting them all down just to get a full T3 ecosystem in your cargo bay. Theres also playing as a zealot, which lets you just tke over the planet intact, still PO's the whole galaxy though. If it werent for teh annoying 'help me' missions it woudl be a more fun, im thinkign of enablign cheats just so i can turn them off. I really thougth that puttign an Uber Cannon on a planet owudl have given it some defence agaisnt pirates, but apparently not. You have to actualyl show up fro it to blast them.

Originally Posted by Bubba

Once the game gets older I'm sure they will probably release a DRM patch so the three installs are not there anymore.

Actually an upcoming patch will add an authorize /
de-authorize system like iTunes.

I also heard that the DRM install limit has the following rules:

• You can install the program on up to <install_limit> separate machines
• If you re-install on a machine with no hardware changes it does not count towards your limit
• The install limit has been pushed to 6 or 7 due to vast numbers of DRM complaints

This actually doesn't sound all that bad. EA knows that 6 years from now all we are going to do is crack the DRM and install however many times we want so it's not like when they take the server down you are screwed forever. Plus since they know the cracks are their I'm sure they will release a DRM patch long before they shut the install server down for the game.

Some of my friends at work bought the game and downloaded my objects and creatures. Pretty cool that others can see your work but it is also a bit embarassing. Last count on Spore was nearly 22 million different objects. Your game will select from these and pull them down during your gameplay meaning that you will probably see new and different objects/creatures every time you play the game or go to new planets.

The game is growing on me more and more and overall is a lot of simple-minded fun.

Oh and I finally busted a T3 planet with my planet buster weapon. All I gotta say is...nice....really nice.