A couple of pre-purchase questions

[samtheeagle]

After recently discovering Steel Beasts I quickly decided that I should buy a 1 month time limited license to see if it really was for me... So far excellent fun! I've long yearned for a realistic tank game, and the "hardcoreness" of it is fine for me, I love the DCS series of flight sims, so this is right up my street. Even after just a few days of playing I'm thinking about what sort of license I want to purchase. I've spent a lot of time reading around the forum, and I think I've got a handle on the options, but I do have a couple of questions that I hope someone can clear up for me.

I'm trying to decide between the "eternal" license with a usb dongle, and the annual subscription style. One thing that I have not been able to find out to my satisfaction is how frequent the ~$40 upgrade license costs kick in with the dongle model. Initially I thought that this license for v3 of the software would keep me going until v4 came out, and looking at the release history for v2 that would have been something like six years or more. On that basis the dongle approach seems cost effective. But then I read something from ssnake that suggested the annual subscription and the dongle models level out cost-wise after about 5 years, and that statement made all my sums go out of whack. From this I assume that the intermediate (some or all?) updates of the v2.x series incurred an upgrade charge, on top of the "eternal" license already purchased. Is that correct? And if so, how often do we expect this upgrade charge? And do we have an idea of when the next one is due to drop? It would be a little irksome so pay $115 and then 3 months later have a new paid upgrade appear. And I know I'm not obliged to buy the upgrades, but should I choose to play online it's going to be required.

Personally I quite like the idea of an annual subscription, it's nice and simple, but I am concerned about the restriction it will place on me regarding OS or hardware upgrades. This could turn out to be a real pain in the neck, I hope that they have some kind of facility to manage virtual devices and their associated licenses. I guess I need to bounce a support question to the CodeMeter people about transfering a license between virtual devices. But if anybody has some experience I'd like to hear your thoughts

Thanks.

[Asid]

From this I assume that the intermediate (some or all?) updates of the v2.x series incurred an upgrade charge, on top of the "eternal" license already purchased. Is that correct?

I haven't had SB long enough to experience paid upgrades. However the community i play with tell me there were approx 5 paid upgrades between $25-$40 (v2-v3). You should check this info but i am sure someone will clarify.

And do we have an idea of when the next one is due to drop?

End of summer 2015

And I know I'm not obliged to buy the upgrades, but should I choose to play online it's going to be required.

A friend of ours is restricted to v3.011 as he is on a 32bit system. The rest of us are on 3.019 beta (64bit). We play 3.011 when he wants to join in. It depends on the community. It might make it more difficult if an upgrade introduces "significant" changes.

Regards

[Tacbat]

From past history, paid upgrades usually come out every 12-18 months.

[Ssnake]

I'm trying to decide between the "eternal" license with a usb dongle, and the annual subscription style. One thing that I have not been able to find out to my satisfaction is how frequent the ~$40 upgrade license costs kick in with the dongle model.

We had a long hiatus after the initial release of version 2.251 in 2006 where the first "for pay" upgrade was in 2009 with version 2.460. From then on it was an approximate 15 months period for the 2.5 and 2.6 upgrades respectively, 3.0 took us then almost two years to complete.

We have come to the conclusion that the old 12...18 months pace can no longer be maintained. The new upgrade frequency will be in the 18...24 month bracket. Summer 2015 would be the earliest date, but I think it's rather going to be the fourth quarter of 2015.

There are a number of substantial code changes going on at the moment and not so much the addition of new equipment. Of course we want to release upgrades that offer significant new tactical stuff for the user to play around with, and not just "new simulation under the hood" with no appreciable change from the end-user's perspective (even if those changes under the hood may be infinitely more important in the long run).

Initially I thought that this license for v3 of the software would keep me going until v4 came out, and looking at the release history for v2 that would have been something like six years or more.

I suppose it's time for my trademarked "brutal honesty treatment"...

No, we couldn't possibly live from $40.- upgrades every six years.

What the CodeMeter stick does is that it gives you flexibility of the computers that you use to play. You can install it on all the computers that you own, and to play on one of them you just plug in the stick. Also, you can have multiple licenses on one stick, so if you have friends or family to visit you for a LAN game, the CM stick with the secondary license option may turn out to be cost effective. Finally, your license will survive any change of the computer itself. You want to install a new Windows version, swap your harddisk, replace your gaming machine entirely?

The license is stored on the USB stick, so you don't have to time your upgrades with the validity of duration for that one-year license that you purchased three or seven months ago.

The downside is, the license is stored on the USB stick. You lose the stick, the license is gone with it. If there is a malfunction we'll replace, but loss or theft are a risk that we can't cover.

The time-based license is a good choice if you only have one computer to play around with, anyway. Especially if it is a gaming laptop that you actually carry around (so you don't have to worry about bringing or losing the CM stick). It's a good choice if you don't expect to play SB for more than a year, or if you think that you'll take a break from it after a while (you can always come back later).

There are a handful of customers every year that somehow lose their CM stick, typically when moving house. It's much harder to accidentally lose your entire PC. But of course, the time-based license is tied to your combination of hardware and Windows installation, and if that changes drastically, there goes the license with it.

I'm not sure if the financial aspect should be the guiding factor to make the decision. We think that that both are probably priced the same, on average. You should probably look more at the question of practicality. Also, some people like to have something physical in their hands when it comes to computer games, or they hate the thought of a software license that expires. We offer a choice there, it's up to you to actually make it.

It would be a little irksome so pay $115 and then 3 months later have a new paid upgrade appear.

Yes, but that wouldn't happen. We reduce the price of SB Pro PE by the amount of the upgrade price some three to six months prior to the expected release. E.g. for version 3.0 the price was reduced to $75 on April 1st, and on September 20th version 3.002 was released for a $40.- upgrade. (75+40=115)

We may be brutal in our honesty, but we try to be equally fair with our customers. Above all we don't want to punish anyone for buying early. Of course, the perfect solution of near-divine justice would be to deprecate the price of SB Pro PE every few minutes by a single cent as time progresses and the next upgrade is coming closer, but allow us for some practicality.

Personally I quite like the idea of an annual subscription, it's nice and simple, but I am concerned about the restriction it will place on me regarding OS or hardware upgrades. This could turn out to be a real pain in the neck, I hope that they have some kind of facility to manage virtual devices and their associated licenses.

Unfortunately CodeMeter doesn't offer such an option. We figured that maybe every third or fourth year you might replace your computer, and that on average half a year's license worth may be at stake on those occasions. Seen in perspective, $20.- in three years is probably not that bad. I mean, Steel Beasts is some kind of a luxury item anyway, nobody really NEEDS it (unless you're a soldier, in which case your army might issue you both the computer and the license, and expect you to learn from it).

Should Wibu Systems one day expand the license management to allow you to move a CmACT license to a different computer eSim Games won't stand in the way to prevent this. But I cannot guarantee you that this will happen. Either way, there is a risk involved like in everything in life. You could physically lose the CM stick with a potentially bigger damage, but the loss risk may be very low, depending on how often you travel around, move house, and get burglarized. The physical loss risk of a license tied to your computer is, well, tied to that computer - malfunctions, physical damage (from dropping a laptop), robbery - it all can happen too.

[samtheeagle]

Wowzers! Now those are some detailed responses Many thanks to you all, that's cleared things up no end. And thanks for the honesty Ssnake, I don't feel that it's brutal at all, you are just telling it how it is, and I appreciate that.

I shall cogitate for a while longer and make a decision... If I do dongle, so to speak, I'd like to get it ordered and delivered before my month trial runs out

Thanks again.