Active on this account: https://sh.itjust.works/u/[email protected]
This is a large part of it. But there is also other people who have put the minimum amount or no money into it and just want a cool space game and also want the developers to not be pressured into rushing updates out (they were once and it was unplayable for a month). I am not defending the sketchy stuff cig have done, they really need to look at how they manage this game and their business, I would have gladly put more than the bare minimum into the game if they didn’t charge so much for everything beyond the first purchase (about £35) but they do too much wrong for me to support it any more than I have
The navy pays $9million a year for xp updates
I don’t think it’s a scam but I agree with some of these points, cig can’t be trusted with a deadline, you are setting yourself up for a disappointment if you think something is being released on time.
They have some obvious cash grabs, like the atls, which takes the tedium out of the newly tedious cargo update. But that purchase isn’t necessary and was made possible to buy (for very cheap) with in game money in the patch that released yesterday.
I haven’t played rise of nations but from your description, you might like the core paradox games (crusader kings -> europa universallis-> victoria -> hearts of iron) despite their shitty dlc model. Currently, eu4 is on sale with all its dlc for ~£40, dlc isn’t very necessary for the other games. They are more grand strategy than 4x. You can use mods to convert saves and carry your campaign through the games. All together, they can cover all of human history (European, North African and West Asian medieval history and then the rest of the world from 1444 onwards). If what you like about rts is the unit micromanagement, you might want to go with victoria 2 rather than victoria 3, you will need victoria 2 dlc and it is a lot older.
If you want a 4x rts, stellaris is very good, but it isn’t based on human history.
I think the desktop feature was added to the quest 3 so not much point for it now. Especially because they didn’t reach businesses like they hoped