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I guess, for the same reason you would buy any game instead of downloading a 'cracked' copy

(and I suspect that Ron was only 'selling' serials while no legitimate copies were available)

[Updated on: Wed, 05 April 2006 14:06]

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[Updated on: Fri, 07 April 2006 03:41]

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That is weird though.

If they ran out of stock ... then obviously they had no serial number generator (or had no right to use it).

If they could have stock now or within a month or two, where does it come from?

If the Jeffs are supplying serial numbers to Empire and getting paid for the sales that would be ok, even if it is done with the hackers generator. Trouble could arise if the newly generated serials are not screened against a database of previously issued ones to avoid duplicity (provided the Jeffs have such a thing and it is readily available).

If it is not from the Jeffs, did they get a copy of the hackers generator?

I'm curious.

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Printing boxes and CD-s is one thing, having pile of serials is another thing.

If Empire say they ran out of stock then that means they ran out of such printed boxes with CD-s inside. It does not mean they ran out of serials or have no serial generator or somesuch.

If Empire say they have plans to sell it again in future then it means they have plans to print new boxes with somewhat new art.

No wonder if they sell it again because they got zero titles for people who like sophisticated multi-player turn based strategy games. All they have on their "strategy" page is "Ghost Master" (Sims clone with eerie elements) and "Warrior kings" (Warcraft clone). Such games are sometimes interesting for a week or two.

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There could be some real work involved too, like updating the printed and PDF manuals, and cleaning up the CD to include version 2.6jRC4 and/or 2.7jRC3 of the Stars! executable, the strategy guides, only the most up to date versions of help and instructions files, etc.

They should even consider including some references to Stars! Autohost somewhere as the last standing on-line player community available where people can join for multi-player gaming.

I know that if I wanted to do it good I would not get it done in two days either, so better not hurry them into doing worse than they can.

My

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Hi!

Ron wrote on Mon, 10 April 2006 15:49

Confirmed: Empire finally replied to my email and said that they do plan on re-releasing Stars! "in the first half of 2006".

So we're basically again without a source of serial numbers. Since 3 months of "the first half of 2006" already passed, there shouldn't be so much time until Stars! are available for legal purchase.

However there's a little thought that is nagging me: what if that will not happen? If at 31st of Jun there won't be new copies for sale? What then?

I sincerelly hope for the best, but I like to have a pessimistic approach. It alows me to never be dissapointed, only pleasantly surprized.

BR, Iztok

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iztok wrote on Mon, 10 April 2006 16:43

However there's a little thought that is nagging me: what if that will not happen? If at 31st of Jun there won't be new copies for sale? What then?

Well, since Empire not only are aware of the game but have said that they intend to re-release it soon AND a keygenerator is widely in circulation, we surely are in a better position than we were a few months ago!

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multilis wrote on Tue, 11 April 2006 06:51

Quote: the serials he generates are absolutely new ones or duplicates of other existing legit ones There are probably enough numbers in range to make sure no duplicates with purchased numbers, just by jumping high enough. Likely only so many stars games got sold, but lots of range for more.

I doubt that serial numbers were distributed in any kind of order... I personally have an 'E.......' serial number and purchased it a long while ago... I'm fairly sure there would be no sure way of "jumping high enough".

NingunOtro wrote on Tue, 11 April 2006 02:43

Considering the fact that a rogue serial number generator has been publicly released and conflicts will occur, I think Ron should build a database containing all the serial numbers, even if more than one, of all the members of this community, or a convenient form of hash thereof, as soon as possible, so that he can not only ban players based on serial numbers because of their behaviour if need be, but also prevent anybody from using a serial number that has been registered in his database on behalf of somebody else of our comunity and provide some sort of defense of the longest standing member in case any kind of disputes arise inside it.

Ron only has the hashes of the serial numbers, not the serial numbers themselves, but that's just "by the way", since the hashes can be used just as well as the original serials for this purpose.

So... this would at the very least be viable, albeit potentially a lot of work. I gather Ron has already banned a few (several? many?) serial numbers from playing on Autohost; depending on how he did this, it might actually be pretty simple to make a "white list" instead of the current "black list".

I imagine it would be possible - as you suggest - to negotiate with Empire to obtain a complete list of the serial numbers they sell, paticularly since they know as well as everyone else that there is a serial number generator "out there" and thus they have little reason for concern that Ron might sell the "legal" serials himself.
To be complete, though, it would require a list of the serials distributed by Empire and the Jeffs so far, and I have my doubts whether such a thing even exists Although I suppose Empire must ought to have some way of ensuring that they don't re-sell a serial that they already sold in the past, hmm..

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NingunOtro wrote on Mon, 10 April 2006 20:47

There could be some real work involved too, like updating the printed and PDF manuals, and cleaning up the CD to include version 2.6jRC4 and/or 2.7jRC3 of the Stars! executable, the strategy guides, only the most up to date versions of help and instructions files, etc.

Yeah, and somebody's gonna need to either include a very long and ugly and customer-scaring bug/cheat list or make a serious effort at patching several simple as well as some fiendishly complex parts of the original code.

Heck, we should probably ask them PR guys to include the full source code for the beast if they're selling it at anything close to the common game's price tag.

Set up some Players Forums...

Some "Developers Lounge"...

Some SN betas flying around...

Let "survival of the fittest and/or most popular" decide whose Mod becomes "teh" Mod...

And...

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Ptolemy wrote on Tue, 11 April 2006 18:29

As for Empire publishing the Strategy guide on a distribution CD - they don't have any rights to publish it. They didn't create it and, unless they intend on paying the people that did create it they better not put it on a CD. That strategy guide was created with the efforts of several people. These people published it for free to players in the player community but, that doesn't give Empire the right to use it for profit. Empire can't have it both ways - they want to get paid for their rights then they better not infringe on the rights of others to do so.

It would be nice of them to contact these people and either politely asking permission or giving them some goodies/money as payment.

Quote:

As to providing information about AH - they better get Ron's permission first - better yet, pay Ron a reasonable fee to include AH info in their release CD. This would at least cover some of the expenses Ron incurs for keeping AH running.

Indeed. I'd second that.

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I guess all our discussions about serials are pretty moot now anyway, since some short sighted fool published a link to one.

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