At long last....

[Velociryx]

Zaphod.... Thanks man! And my apologies for the delay in making my way back here....another of Sid's crazy games has been....taking a lot of my attention of late....but again, thank you!

And Compugasm! Welcome back bud! I do indeed remember you and your posts! And I think you'll find that many of our thoughts run parallel...I LOVE the defensive game in SMAC!

Bruce... Welcome to the world of SMAC! A pity they've stopped including the manual with the game, but I guess I can understand that....still, I DO hope you find my guide of value! It was written with the brand new player in mind, so your critique of the book, especially since your copy of the game is minus the manual, will be *greatly* appreaciated!

-=Vel=-

[Bruce205]

Thanks for welcome Vel and others on this board. I will definitely let you know about book. Do you know approximately how long it normally takes to receive the paperback version?
Also can anyone tell me why with all the critical acclaim the game got why its not more popular anymore?? I love it so far.
Thanks again

[Hydro]

Bruce205,

I have major gripes with BookSurge. My first copy showed up in about 7 days after I ordered it on-line, which was fine. I waited 3 weeks for the second copy (I gave the first to a friend), and I finally had to call them to get their butts in gear and it arrived about 7 days after my polite but pointed call. When I came back from T-day today I had my third copy, which was interesting since I hadn't ordered a third copy. BookSurge needs to improve its on-line interface, and its customer service, IMHO.

As to popularity, it is pretty rare for a game to be played at all after 2 years. The shelf life of average games tends to be measured in months, so for it to survive this long tells about its strengths. Classics and mega-sellers are around far longer.

Hydro

P.S. - The Guide is absolutely fantastic, so I'd recommend putting up with the pain-in-the-butt BookSurge and order the Guide.

[Gaius Marius]

Downloaded the guide and had the same problem w/Acrobat 5.0, but your rec to change the plugin preferences worked - glad I read this thread or I would have been very angry.

Guide looks great so far - I was out of the country when SMAC/X was big here and w/o net access, so this looks like a great way to catch up on strategy. Thanks for putting it all in one place!

This just may tear me away from Civ III, at least until the patch comes out.

[DilithiumDad]

Just want to report that you have a major fan --my 12-year-old son! He has no patience for PBEM, but he does play single player and against his Dad. He loved the guide and put it into practice right away. He is using all the naval tactics and is currently the terror of the seas in our father-son game! As for me, not a lot is new for a frequent poster to these forums, but it is great to have it in a readable and well-organized book for easy reference!

[Velociryx]

Hey guys! Had to take a small break from Civ3-ing, and wanted to head back this direction to do so!

Bruce, I'm sorry I didn't get back here to answer your question probably before you got your copy in the mail, but after seeing Hydro's comments on their problems, I'm kinda wincing, wondering what everybody else's ordering experiences might have been like...

(but thank you, Hydro! For recommending the book despite the problems with BookSurge (who's initials, now that I think on it, are BS...Hmmm....I shoulda seen that sooner? LOL)

Gaius...whew! LOL...I"m glad somebody came up with a quick fix for the viewer error....I'd forgotten all about it till you mentioned it again!

DD! Very cool man! ::waving at DD's son:: Kick some A...::stops in mid-word::...butt! Yeah, that's what I was gonna say!

-=Vel=-

[Googlie]

Vel:

I can echo Hydro's complaint about tardiness.

I waited till I arrived in Palm Springs before ordering - did so on November 7th - and am still waiting for it to arrive.

It's now a race to see whose customer service sucks most - BS with the Guide (3 weeks) or Dell with a replacement harddrive for my laptop (now 8 days)

Sheesh

Googlie

[Velociryx]

ACK!!! Okay....two of my buds reporting the same problem....that's gospel as far as I'm concerned, and I'm heading to my e-mail right now to write the folks at GU (who are neck deep in cahoots with the booksurge folks) to let them know what kinds of ordering problems are coming up, and see if there's any pressure they can apply to them!

-=Vel=-
(On an Anti-BS Crusade!)

[LongTom]

No luck here either

Ordered book online at booksurge (order number P0000010544) on November 24th. Even paying a shipping cost that should be good for airmail, I've yet to receive the guide. Sorry, I guess I shouldn't be so impatient, but I'm really looking forward to receiving it :-)

Jim

[Velociryx]

Aack again! Got you covered, Jim....will mail them again this evening to find out what's what....so far, they've managed to convey their deepest sympathies without telling me a damned thing....how corporate....

-=Vel=-

[Tony]

I've downloaded the Acrobat version and printed it out and bound it. (Vel I'm not trying to avoid paying for the paper version I just didn't want to pay the high postage cost to get it to Australia). A tip for anyone trying to print it out the pdf. If you try to print a pdf file out on a printer with low memory it takes forever, like 5 minutes per page, but if you can hook up to a printer with lots of memory (you might have one at your workplace if thats allowed) then it prints out at normal fast speed.

Get work Vel. Your guide really extends the playing life of the game.

[Googlie]

Originally posted by Googlie
I waited till I arrived in Palm Springs before ordering - did so on November 7th - and am still waiting for it to arrive.

Just to close the loop, I took delivery of the Guide this afternoon - exactly a month since ordering.

First impressions - awesome !! (if anything, even glitzier than I thought it would be)

(But it did beat Dell - am still waiting for my replacement hard drive for my laptop)

Googlie

[LongTom]

It's sad because booksurge promises shipment within 48 hours...and at $5.80 for shipping you'd kind of expect to receive it within a week...

[Velociryx]

I have written THREE letters to the folk who are full of BS...er...no, make that the folk OF BS (not that that sounds much better!), and have gotten two sincere apologies for the delays, but no solid explanations as to why yet, and no word on if/when their response time and overall speed will be getting up to what it's advertised to be.....GRRRRR!!!! I'm sooo sorry there have been delays like this guys.....that sucks!!!! I'll keep pestering them, but I'm not sure if my efforts are helping or hurting...

::sigh::
-=Vel=-

[LongTom]

Free?

Well, I went to Digitz.com's website (Booksurge's Print-on-Demand partner) and they promise "48 hours or it's free". So I'm looking forward to the free book, whenever it arrives :-)