Hey!  I've already played the game a lot, pay me, Brad!

But Xia...

...you've been saying that this game is unplayable.  Sooooo whatchumean?

I would like to nominate myself to the highest position at Stardock, Stardock Jester. Yes, give me this job and pay me 500k a year please.

This post has entirely too much text and entirely not enough goofy dancing and funny hats.

As poor an application for jester as I've ever seen.

Its unplayable to the masses, is what I meant.  I think both your average PC gamer and your hardcore 4x player would find this game difficult and/or unrewarding.  I mean, I think the average PC gamer would probable enjoy Civ5 more and the hardcore 4x player has more options, I can't think of a lot of Dom3 players who would put that game down and play this one a lot, other than myself.  I bitch and moan a lot, but I really do like this game, I am constantly throwing out ideas that I think can make it better. 

Xia/aeligos,

The strange thing about Elemental as a 4x game is that I have friends who normally weren't interested in playing 4x games playing this one.  There is something different at the heart of Elemental, in a good way.

Just read the interview in the link, and browsed through the comments, so in the spirit of Community Service, posting a comment by "HisDivineOrder"..

Q: "What did you think of Elemental at launch?"

A: "Well, it has its problems. It was rough. Everything has problems, though, and the world is nothing but one big problems ground out there. And Stardock has plans. Plans and schemes. Schemes that look great! Great. ...I like Stardock. I used to play their games. Really."

Q: "So you were going to be Sid Meier's successor at Firaxis and now you left. How's that feel?"

A: "Well, after the debacle that was Civ V, I looked around and could only find one strategy game that had more bugs than the game I managed. And that was Elemental. And I thought to myself, 'Damn it, I couldn't keep the team from fixing Civ V to a somewhat workable state. Here's a game that is so screwed up I bet I can keep it from working right forever.'

"Then Sid Meier came to me and he said, 'I got bad news, Jon. You will never be my successor. Your work on Civ V was substandard.' And I was like, 'What do you mean? I did my best. I only played World of Warcraft and Starcraft 2 12 hours out of each day. I did this for research, you see.' And he said, 'I'm sure. But we really need you to clean out your desk and leave the building. I've got these nice security people here that have offered to help you pack up your things for you and show you the way out of the building.' And I was like, 'Are you firing me? I'm your successor! You're not going to let an incredibly botched launch or a strategy game requiring insane resources on your PC keep me from my rightful place as the name before the game's title, are you?'

"And he was like, 'Well, Jon, I'm afraid most users just don't like it when their games are as buggy as the one you managed are. However, I hear Stardock is looking for more developers that produce bugs with everything they do. They might even be looking for a new lead game designer after their owner botched his own game via ego.' And I was like, 'Hey, man, that's awesome. I'll try there!' And he was all, 'That's awesome. Here, let's walk you out and we'll just have Bob and Frank the Security Men mail you your My Little Pony collection.' I love 2k! But working for Stardock is a lifelong dream of mine for as long as I can remember. However, I can't remember what I ate yesterday, so I'm sure that's a good long time."

Q: "So... what's your new game going to be?"

A: "I don't have a new game. I'm the guy that's going to make it seem like Stardock's fixing things with Elemental because all the patches in the world aren't going to fix that piece of crap. ...er... I mean, I'm the guy in charge of playing it and offering suggestions."

Q: "But the PR suggested you were heading up a new team?"

A: "Oh. I... I can't talk about anything but Elemental right now."

Q: "And you do what with Elemental?"

A: "Play it. Put my name on the news posts that say I've been hired by Stardock to fix their game. They pay me to stay out of the way and I go play it a few times a month to let them know what I think. Then they ignore my thoughts and do what they were planning all along anyway. This is the best job ever! I love Stardock!"

Man, have you watched the new MLP cartoon? It's awesome. Just goes to show, with a good enough producer and team, any IP can be awesome.

whens stardock going to stop its expansion in its quest for empire and glory?

When the job is done.