March of Eagles and Steam

[A-Train]

I have a quick question in regards to how the DRM will be handled with March of Eagles. When I look at Gamer's Gate, it shows that the game will require 3rd party download and account. I suspect this means that we will need to use Steam to not only validate the purchase, but also to download the game. Is this correct? Will we be forced to keep Steam active for every time we play?

Please understand I am not complaining or even expressing my opinion of the merits of using Steam. I am only asking how this particular game will be handled vis-a-vis Steam. Thanks!

 

[Magnive]

Well, you can launch the paradox games from their folders in your Steam folders, even if you do not have an internet connection. So I guess no, you do not need to keep Steam active.

 

[unmerged(465086)]

yes, March of the Eagles and AFAIK all upcoming Paradox titles will use SteamWorks, meaning you'll have to activate the game on Steam no matter where you've bought the game.

now, so far (most) Paradox games on Steam have been DRM-free, meaning you can start the games - as described by Magnive above - directly without the need to keep the Steam client open. You could also copy-paste the entire game folder to create parallel copies of your Paradox games (or so I've heard).

i only wish Paradox would make full use of SteamWorks and add achievements. i mean, if we have to use Steam in order to play the games you might as well go all the way with it.

 

[Will Lucky]

i only wish Paradox would make full use of SteamWorks and add achievements. i mean, if we have to use Steam in order to play the games you might as well go all the way with it.

I believe that is the intention for EU4.

 

[A-Train]

This is good to know. IMHO, I wish the honeymoon with Steam would end. I think the move to total Steam for game delivery hurts the mod-ability of P-dox games, which is a cornerstone of the franchise. It seems like the future mod community will become a group of approved, paid add in DLCs. I much prefer GamersGate, and dump Steam. However, I am sure they have business reasons for these decisions as it protects games from piracy. I know some people love Steam, but I find the games I play that are "full Steam" seem to be slower, and I find the client and update system aggravating. Anyway, I don't want this to be a gripe/flame thread about loving or hating Steam. I will keep buying and playing P'dox games (including this one), with Steam or without.

 

[lemonsquid]

there cheers for the sensible man A-Train!

 

[billt568]

This is good to know. IMHO, I wish the honeymoon with Steam would end. I think the move to total Steam for game delivery hurts the mod-ability of P-dox games, which is a cornerstone of the franchise. It seems like the future mod community will become a group of approved, paid add in DLCs. I much prefer GamersGate, and dump Steam. However, I am sure they have business reasons for these decisions as it protects games from piracy. I know some people love Steam, but I find the games I play that are "full Steam" seem to be slower, and I find the client and update system aggravating. Anyway, I don't want this to be a gripe/flame thread about loving or hating Steam. I will keep buying and playing P'dox games (including this one), with Steam or without.

That said, I cant wait for steam workshop for the modding community.

 

[Mivo]

IMHO, I wish the honeymoon with Steam would end. I think the move to total Steam for game delivery hurts the mod-ability of P-dox games, which is a cornerstone of the franchise. It seems like the future mod community will become a group of approved, paid add in DLCs.

Steam does have the Steam Workshop, which (if the developers opt to utilize it) could improve modability of games significantly and make the use, distribution and advertising of mods much easier.

 

[unmerged(128806)]

Steam is a great tool and an excellent way to bring new players and make the games more well known. To not use Steam would be an extremely stupid thing to do for Paradox as there is only benefit for them.

 

[King]

We use Steam to handle things like patching and the like. We only need to make one version of the installer (for example). March of the Eagles uses no other Steam features, unlike EUIV it doesn't have steamworks for multiplayer. I hope this answers your question.

 

[Birken]

This is good to know. IMHO, I wish the honeymoon with Steam would end. I think the move to total Steam for game delivery hurts the mod-ability of P-dox games, which is a cornerstone of the franchise. It seems like the future mod community will become a group of approved, paid add in DLCs. I much prefer GamersGate, and dump Steam. However, I am sure they have business reasons for these decisions as it protects games from piracy. I know some people love Steam, but I find the games I play that are "full Steam" seem to be slower, and I find the client and update system aggravating. Anyway, I don't want this to be a gripe/flame thread about loving or hating Steam. I will keep buying and playing P'dox games (including this one), with Steam or without.

I think you're wrong about steam and modding. Having a steam and non-steam version wouldn't affect the modability at all, nor would having only a non-steam version. We don't use the steam drm (no game from Paradox Development Studio does this) and you can safely copy the game folder to another part of your computer and remove steam from your system altogether after you've installed the game (you'd still need steam to get patches though).
As King said, being steam only reduces the amount of work we have to go through in order to release a patch immensely and since later patches in our development cycles often add more modding options, you'll probably have better mod support in a steam only game.