Download the game?

The download is available for purchase through Steam. There should be some ads on the right hand side of the weae saying that SE:IV and SE:V are 'now available on Steam'. Click the picture for Space Empire V and it will take you to the Steam information page for it where you can purchase and download.

-Currently subjecting multiple galaxies to the doom of conquer or blackholes

I think direct 2 drive has a version as well, and that would probably be a better option.

There are 10 types of people in the world:

Those that understand binary, and those that don't.

Direct2Drive still only has the SE:IV Deluxe set for download (I would rather have gotten it there than CD myself).

-Currently subjecting multiple galaxies to the doom of conquer or blackholes

I would avoid the Steam version at all cost. You can get the CD version to transfer over the network onto your laptop, but Steam is spyware and should be avoided.

what makes you say Steam is spyware do tell?

If you look at fishman's posts on different topics you'll see that he's trolling in every way imaginable. Just ignore him.

Steam is teh suck. I don't know about spyware, but the ONLY games I will buy for it are the halflife ones... and that only because there is no other alternative.

People probably wouldn't be too terribly upset, except steam, well, suxxorz. Dig around and you'll find nightmare stories about people who got called theives because someone opened their shiny new box before they did (probably a once-off, truth be told... but maybe not) and the fact that it is a system resource hog is calculated to make people not-happy. Add in such minor details as the fact that it makes you require an internet connection to play games in single-player mode...

Oh, and the steam version is totally NOT compatable with non-steam stuff as far as patches go, so you rely on Steam to get the patched version up, and make sure it works right...
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There are 10 types of people in the world:

Those that understand binary, and those that don't.

It is spyware because it will phone home EVERY SINGLE TIME you try to start up a game. They know exactly when you play, how long you play, what you do when you play, and what's on your computer. It is spyware, pure and simple.

do you know definition of spyware ?

in your words World of Warcraft is spyware, anyone mutliplayer game is spyware ...

geeez

steam "phone" for checking the activation / licence of the game

Do you really believe that? If it were really only about activation, why does GalCiv2 never actually require it? Steam is up to something very shady.

World of Warcrap is known spyware. It has been actually documented rummaging through your computer system looking at what processes are running. I think there was something called "World of Warcrap Governator" or something that actually spied on World of Warcrap to tell you what it was spying on. So it is, in fact, absolutely known to be spyware.

too much of Orwel's Sci-Fi - "1983" for example ?

steam, direct to drive , stardock and almost every other web publishers use similar method of authentication

even if valve spy via steam - what they try to steal ?

what valuable data we have for them ?

again - go to wiki and read what spyware is

It's 1984, not 1983. And Stardock's method seems almost clean. I'm still inherently suspicious of it, but at least they LOOK above-board. Steam is just flat out dodgy, and I heard they've already been caught in the act of snooping through user files more than once.

What is there to steal that's valuable? Who knows? Your personal data, perhaps? And I know what spyware is: Nefarious programs that gather data from your computer to phone home to its masters. Steam does exactly that. I, for one, do not trust it.

You may not believe it, but let's look at the plausibility: I'm telling you bad news, you're trying to Pollyanna. All other things equal, bad news is inherently more plausible and likely to be true, not to mention safer. Good news is obviously propaganda and should not be believed.

WoW brought those measures in after a load of people started writing external programs to cheat ingame.

As a business you have to consider very carefully:
Do you want a game that doesn't monitor anything, but every 3rd person is cheating

Or do you want a game that invades 'some' privacy in order to ensure that everyone is playing fairly?

Legally they have to ensure value for money, which unfortunatly isn't a very well defined term. So the only logical safe legal decision is to stop the cheating (as best as possible).

Your lord and master (below Foamy) LordHavoc

The great thing about computers is that you're allowed to monitor your own system. You stick a load of monitoring software/hardware on your network and run steam.

If you can prove that they are obtaining illegal information off you (information that isn't specified in the 'terms of use' that you agreed to. That is after you 'read' it) then you are pefectly free to sue them.

Search the net, someone has probably done something like that.

Your lord and master (below Foamy) LordHavoc

As a player, I'll take the former over the latter. I hate MMORPGs anyway, and I can always find better friends to play with in non-MMO multiplayer games, but I don't trust some company's nefarious schemes one bit. You want to take my money and then SPY on me? Screw that. The line must be drawn here! SAY NO TO SPYWARE! I would sooner use the pirate version than install spyware.

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an se5a is a ww1 fighter, it is also a car.

....Supersticious and paranoid. I wonder if he's been checked out by a psychiatrist for paranoia, cause, it seems like he might have it. Omg, I connected to a server to play a game online, they MUST be spying on me. Sure, companies prolly moniter what programs you run, but thats most likely to stop hacks/cheats/etc, which is fine. And hey, you think designing a game where people won't find a way to use 3rd party addons to get an advantage is easy? Then go do it. Omg, VAC is monitering my system for programs to see if I hack, steam must be spyware. You know in the definition of spyware how it has the word nefarious? Ya, steam isn't nefarious, and their program isn't spying on you for some nefarious scheme you whack job. I bet you believe in conspiracy theroies too don't ya?

To those talking about what is or is not spyware:

Information from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware)

Just an FYI for the debate

-Currently subjecting multiple galaxies to the doom of conquer or blackholes

I stopped playing a number of games online after the cheating became such a severe problem that it just wasn't fun any more. Eight years ago, I was playing StarCraft on Battle.Net. After one particularly bad defeat, my opponent revealed to me that he had a program that let him see the complete map. Since then, I have played any number of other games where cheating ruined the game. These games included Aliens vs. Predators I & II, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Battlefield 1942, etc. I think the game makers tried to prevent cheating in each of these games so that they could continue to sell the game. I mean, who would want to buy a game that had been out for a while if they knew the online play was filled with a bunch of cheaters. At least in the case of those games, the game creator just wanted a few extra months of sales.

But with a game liked Blizzard's World of Warcraft, you want to keep the game alive for MANY MANY months. The whole genre has the potential for a steady source of income as players pay their monthly dues. But if you start getting a lot of cheaters, that revenue source would quickly evaporate. Thus, you see that Blizzard has had to resort to ever stronger measures to prevent cheating. If that means they run a constant check of all the software processes running on someone's computer, then that is the price you pay to prevent cheating. It is sad but true that the cheaters force Blizzard to adopt ever more draconian tactics to keep the game somewhat cheat free.

In my case, I bought SE5 using Steam because I wanted to get it fast. Do I like Steam? Nope. I don't like it. As has been said before, I find it quite annoying that I must connect to the internet just to play a single player game. But I wanted the game quickly, and that's what I got. If the Strategy First website was even remotely reliable, I might buy a second copy now just so I can play the game while not connected. Sadly, I expect all the bugs in SEV to be squashed long before we see a reliable Strategy First website.