Greetings from the UK

you can play single player with the beta but the AI is a placeholder and therefore suck the campaign is supposed to be something new so who knows .............
welcome to the community

1. Yes. 10$ to ship I believe.
2. Single player is an emergeant game in an extensive sandbox mode. (No story mode). Its designed to provide many hours of singleplayer entertainment and far far more extensive than typical RTS 'skirmish mode' - think more a real-time version of something like GalCiv or Civilization. Yes, you can have 2 human players teaming up against multiple AI players over LAN or online - we play this style of 'comp-stomp' regularly and is probably our favorite.
3. Pre-order button is above but the open beta is closed unless you buy with tokens (loop-hole). You will only be able to play beta 4 until the final version is released.
4. You can play the beta online, LAN or on your own.

Welcome to the Sins community

As far as I know, yes you can, through the Stardock online store (just choose to get a physical copy shipped instead of Digital Download). Yarlen should be around the forums soon so he can confirm that's how it works.



By now we've found out that there won't be a heavy story driven campaign I think (there are some recent threads if you do a little digging). We basically get a very big sandbox to play with. A lot of the features are not in the beta (the final release is supposed to include some sort of a galaxy generator/creator so you can customize your game however you want). That said, I'm pretty sure there's a LAN option (been a while since I actually checked :P), and there is definitely co-op play (you can even ally with AIs through ingame diplomacy!)



If you preorder through totalgaming.net with tokens, yes. The caveat here is I believe that's digital download only, so I don't think you'll be able to get your boxed copy if you go this route. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.



LordMalice answered this one for you, you can play the Beta single player, but the AI is lacking punch

EDIT: Gezus, Blair What were the chances..

#1 as described is correct.

#3 as described is also correct. We plan to offer digital download customers the ability to "upgrade" to a physical retail box for an additional charge, but this won't happen until after release.

Thanks for swift and helpful responses guys.

As for the Ai lacking punch in the Beta, that would be fine while I'm getting used to the game, which by the sounds of it may take some time if it's as big as it sounds.

I'll look into the pre-order when I'm at home later....my work has anything 'games' related blocked by our servers (it's bizarre i made it onto this forum, as i can't see any other page on this site!)  

Maybe Yarlen can fill me in with more detail....

Thanks again, with such friendly and fast response it looks like this might be a cummunity I'd enjoy being a part of   

You mean, choose boxed copy + download instead of download only Either way, you get to download the game -- as a result, my GalCiv2 Collectors addition, sitting, unopened, as a collectors item, will shortly be joined by my Sins CE as another, unopened, collectors item

When I die, my kids will make a mint! (Hey, I even have working copies of the BG2 CE... irreplaceable!)

Thanks Yarlen! Might of helped if i'd refreshed before my last post.

So is Ron correct? I can pre-order 'Digital download + boxed copy'? Allowing me to play right away (during Beta) and have a retail box sent to me here in the UK.

If that is correct....(please give me some space for this, I am British after all) ...Whoo hoo!...(he leaps into the air, almost Superman stylee, almost!)

So how much will this set me back?

G
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Ron is correct for release. You'll get the box, but you'll also be able to download it.

However the only way to get in the beta is through totalgaming.net, which does not offer a boxed copy, only digital download. As Yarlen pointed out, though, they plan on letting people who ordered digital download only to upgrade to boxed copy and pay the extra shipping cost.

What Annatar said.

Cheers...

How confident are you that I'll be able to get a retail copy through Totalgaming.net?

Do you think all they'll charge will be the shipping cost? ($10 or similar)

G

If you buy through TGN you'll have to contact sales post-release about getting a box. There will probably be a media fee in addition to shipping, expecially if you use tokens.

We're not sure what the price will be - probably between $5 to $10 plus shipping/handling.