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[lordcooper]

Surely standalone insinuates that it, you know, stands alone?

As in it is either completely different to the original and does not require it, or it also contains the original?

[Korbac]

Okay, that's what I thought. Thanks for telling though. 

[Farseer]

Was Age of Wonders - Shadow Magic a stand alone expansion compared to Age of Wonders 2? Just to clarify.

It's counted as a complete sequel, I believe.

Surely standalone insinuates that it, you know, stands alone?

As in it is either completely different to the original and does not require it, or it also contains the original?

Standalone expansion means you can play it without the original but that some features (usually ones that were in the original but are not in the sequel) will not be open to you.

Have a look at the original Dawn of War for a good example. You could play ANY of the expansions with it's unique factions against other players with other expansions, but you couldn't play as those factions unless you had that expansion.

[Korbac]

Farseer, AOW Shadow Magic is basically AOW 2, with 3 new races and a random map generator, and one new unit for all the old races. No change in graphical style, gameplay mechanics or any mention of it being a sequel, really.

Also, the DOW thing... How much would it cost to get the full kit for DOW 1? Soulstorm, Burning Crusade, Winter Assault and of course the base game... ~£80?

[Frumple]

Dark Crusade

Anyway, it's about $50 US on steam. Get the Goldplatinum edition (29.99) and soulstorm (19.99).

[Korbac]

Goddamnit Frumple! 

Wow, $50? That's far less than I thought. I guess everyone's gone to DOW II, though. 

[Sergius]

Way easier to install SoulStorm and use some... utility to make it believe the other games are installed too (it doesn't actually read any data from them, just checks for the executable file). In fact, this utility pretty much creates dummy executables for the required games.

This is better even if you actually own the other games, since it takes much less space. You need the CD keys for them anyway, so there's no harm of them pirate stealers derking their jerbs. However, you won't be able to play the other games themselves, such as Dark Crusade's campaign, or Winter Assault's single player story.

I kinda like DC's campaign map better than SS. Also, some rules change between the games, such as certain units being limited to 1 or 2 per faction.

[lumin]

Dark Crusade

Anyway, it's about $50 US on steam. Get the Goldplatinum edition (29.99) and soulstorm (19.99).

Actually Impulse has it now for $25

[Pnx]

They do the horrible "Risk Domination" thing in Soulstorm/Dark Crusade... Which is horrible frankly, I don't think I've ever seen a "Risk Domination" done well.

[burningpet]

They do the horrible "Risk Domination" thing in Soulstorm/Dark Crusade... Which is horrible frankly, I don't think I've ever seen a "Risk Domination" done well.

i kinda liked the risk style in Rise of Nation and the first battle for middle earth.

[forsaken1111]

They do the horrible "Risk Domination" thing in Soulstorm/Dark Crusade... Which is horrible frankly, I don't think I've ever seen a "Risk Domination" done well.

Some people like these types of games. Like me.

[inteuniso]

I like those types of campaigns too.

Frankly, though, Elemental was a huge waste of 50 dollars. Not as bad as Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising though. That shit is bad.

[Urist McDepravity]

And it's a completely stand alone product. Fuck. This. Shit. The fact it's free to long time Elemental owners is more like a "sorry for all the fuck ups" then "here's the real game you paid and waited for."

Its 'stand-alone' only in terms of providing w/e left of original EWoM with it, so noone will have to buy EWoM to play EFE.
I dont get your annoyance, they are not making new game, nor they are abandoning Elemental. They just decided to re-brand it in order to clean off launch fiasco from it.

[nenjin]

My annoyance is that it's been 7 months, waiting for this game to stabilize. In concept, in details, in execution. And just when it seems like they've finally, finally gotten their shit together....Brad again decides things need to get "vastly shaken up." Which means possibly another 6 months of "did that work? No, ok, let's try something else."

From the beginning, it's felt like they didn't know exactly what they were doing with Elemental, and that's why it's the game it is now. It's been a learning experience. Which is fine. It's just at some point, you expect them to buckle down and really start doing things right...and instead it feels like the game is once again careening off into the unknown in terms of development. For anyone that's been with this game since release, that is not an encouraging prospect.

[Bluerobin]

Well, except now Brad's not the one determining what gets in the game, he just okays other people's ideas. I think the fact that they've got Derek Paxton in there cleaning up the features list and guiding development has helped tremendously. Of course I don't actually KNOW this, but it's been my impression from what I've seen.

Also, when in doubt, check wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansion_pack#Stand-alone_expansion_packs