Offline Play?

Did they?

Pretty sure they did. I can honestly say I was expecting the offline play to drop with the gold release. Personally I find that sometimes online its unplayable - I want to be able to play against the AI without relying on an internet service or a heavily congested server. I think we should expect open communication about offline play, its been like pulling hens teeth to get any information about it. Also it should have been tested in beta, it should have been part of the plan, not something to be worked on after. The actually game is awesome, and delivers on almost all the kickstarter promises, DRM and online play only is a serious breach though (imho)

Was it ever specifically stated that DRM/offline-play would be available AT launch?

http://web.archive.org/web/20130718203450/http://www.uberent.com/pa/
Yes, I believe they did.

Doesn't say on launch.

Doesn't say not on launch. Read the page, the whole thing. Its under game features, doesn't say it will have planets at launch either, or troops for that matter. It was promised during kickstarter. If its not a release day item then expectations need to be managed. They haven't been. I hope there's not a lot of people suffering trying to play their first games against AI's no doubt, or Glactic War who are having connection problems, because that's the thing they will remember about PA. Not the awesome gameplay or visuals.


System requirements gives a strong hint - because right now there only is internet connected gameplay.

• Windows Vista, 7 or 8, Linux, or Mac OS/X 10.7+
  • We recommend 64-bit version, but 32-bit is supported
• Dual core processor
• Open GL capable video card with Shader 3.0 support
• Internet connection for internet connected gameplay
• Additional requirements still to be set

Let's just imagine Uber share the server as in its current state (probably needing further improvements, fixing, modding capabilities). I can allready imagine people complaining that it's not stable and bla bla bla.
We all know from the very beginning that PA is built on the client-server model. Tons of work has been focused on optimizing the client side so that even low end machine can enjoy this game. Now let Uber work on the server code and play online game. That's the best thing you can do to have uber polishing the server side. Because as far as i can see, polishing is now more likely to be focused on the server side. Today, if something is going wrong on a server, Uber can garantee the fix will be delivered on all exsiting servers. Which is not the case anymore in case someone is running a server locally. So this garantee Uber will be working on fixing a single server release, instead of having to deal with different server releases because they have not been updated. I'm ok that Uber promised offline play, but as an early alpha adopter, i have never expected to get the server at launch. Considering that launch of 5th september seems to be linked to the contract they have with Nordic game, they did it.Now can't people just be patient and let Uber deliver offline mode when they feel confident to do it. These guys are in the business for more than 2 decades. They know what they are doing. And after all this has allways been the deal (at least for all backers) : We spread our money and we trust them. that's all. Considering the high standard of the current release and all the very complex technical stuff which has been achieved so far, I have not doubt we'll finally get offline mode.

You can't use that as an argument "they didn't say it wasn't at released", because they never said it was either. Innocent until proven guilty, aye?

And I'm not just talking about a dev answering a quick question, I'm talking about an official announcement.

If they didn't say it was going to be at release you shouldn't assume it was. Did I assume it was? Yes, but I see the error in doing so. We never ever received dates from Uber, because of this exact scenario, in case a feature just wasn't quite done. They have however said it'll be coming soon, so I truly don't understand the fuss. Wait like a week, a couple, a month. If you could wait two years, you can wait a little bit longer.

I have absolute **** internet, a 10GB limit, so if anyone wants/needs offline it's me.

This was, by far, the largest factor in my supporting the kickstarter. I backed it as soon as I saw that. I've loved TA for years, and really believed in this. Though after waiting 12 minutes to play a single player galactic war, I'm a bit fed up.
However don't think they should release a buggy, unfinished server, either.

We have concise evidence of their promise to us. And I'd really feel comforted if they released a small note to reassure us that they are indeed going to be releasing the game as truly DRM-free once they're done.

"DRM FREE
Play connected to the UberNet servers, your own private server, or offline, it’s your choice."

I love this game, but this is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. If one of the developers or PR folks read this, please consider what you're doing here. This is your defining game. Even if you made little money on this, having the support of the people is crucial. Don't be an EA.

Am i the only one who thinks it's a GOOD idea?

Uber's been doing this to rapidly respond to bugs etc. Keeping it online-only for a short while longer will help work with all sorts of launch-related problems.

Though i do think it's good if uber actually did release a statement saying something like this, e.g. "hold on offline's coming but we need to make sure this works well first"

Its a valid as argument as they indicated it was feature of their game, one that many, yourself included, anticipated would be at release. If your not concerned by the lack of communication over this, fine, I, and other are, especially if the Steam forums are anything to go by. Watching this release is as painful as seeing an Olympic marathon runner stop 10m's from the finish line after running an almost perfect race. I personally have recommended the game to many people, bought it a couple of times as a present for friends. I love the game, I don't love the lack of transparency over this release and lack of offline play.

Less than stellar launch communication...

As-per the kickstarter annoucement, where's my DRM-free offline-installer I was promised? I deliberately held off kickstarting it until this announcement.

If the game isn't ready to have an offline installer, because it needs constant patching, then you shouldn't call it "released"... it isn't even close to feature-complete as far as what was promised.

They needed to state it, is all.

Yes, where is this statement? The game has been released for 48 hours. This is the time their PR needs to be strongest. This is when they should pay attention to what people think about their game, and we've heard nothing.

Nobody at Uber is willing to weigh in on this oversight?

Edit: Maybe I have to go over to the Steam forums; maybe Steam customers are the only ones who deserve the answers.

Well they are people, likely taking a break from the rush to launch.

Houston got the apollo 11 rocket launched into earth orbit without it blowing up; Yay! Okay boys, let's go home and take a well-needed break.

I bet they are.

*shrugs*

I have absolutely no problem with them holding the servers back until the game is far closer to finished. Offline will come when it is ready. The link that was posted says absolutely nothing about when a particular feature will be ready. People freaking out over this have absolutely no concept of how unlikely it was for Uber to deliver what we already have. Same as it ever was.

From Steam Forums:
[Uber] Garat [developer] Dec 19, 2013 @ 10:50am
Pasopov - that's one of the reasons we very clearly call out that early access requires online to play. Offline singleplayer will not be supported until the game is finished. You can play online singleplayer against the AI, but you are required to login until release.

Another Quote:
But stand alone skirmish (currently online connection required, but will be full offline play at launch) is and will continue to see support and improvement.

Plans change. Early access games offer no guarantee of which features will ever make it in. Uber is still committed to providing offline as soon as it is ready. Sighting of the server at PAX proves they have an in progress model. Comments made on the forums are not binding legal contracts, but people acting like they are is the number 1 reason we are getting less and less information from Uber as time goes on. None of this matters to those on the anti-Uber warpath at the moment though, so I don't understand why we've got 5 plus threads on the same topic. Literally nothing productive is coming from all this hand wringing and whining.