http://fidgit.com/archives/2010/08/elemental_in_a_world_of_dragon.php <- game was rushed based on this review.

Although review is apparently confused in the ways of math: 5 * 1.25 * 1.5 = 9.37 rounded up = 9.4

A shame, but unsurprising given the state of Beta 4. Still, Stardock have never disappointed with their dedication to patches and updates. I have no doubt that Elemental is going to shape up to be a fantastic game (especially if future expansions add content of the same quality as the GalCiv2 expansions) - but this will certainly have a detrimental effect on review scores.

I agree with TheProgress - my trust in the reviewer is slightly undermined by the fact that his argument is based on maths and he seems to have a poor grasp of the subject.

"But I see now that my error is mistakenly assuming that Elemental can do math. It has somehow decided that 50% + 25% = 88%."

Yes, when applied cumulatively, a 25% bonus on top of a 50% bonus DOES equal 88% (or rather 87.5 to be precise).

Still, there is the question as to why the bonus was applied twice...

Inscrutable

He is not confused with math, he is applying the multiplier to the base amount not the new total.

You and Stardock:

5 * 1.25= 6.25

6.25 * 1.5 = 9.37 or 9.4

Reviewer:

5 * .25 = 1.25

5 * .50 = 2.5

5 + 1.25 + 2.5 = 8.75 or 8.8

Neither one is mathematically incorrect, and both assumptions could work, and I think i have seen in strategy games in the past.

Alright, here's the issue with the math... the reviewer thinks the game is supposed to do this:

where T is the total after multipliers

T = 5+ ((5*0.5) + (5*0.25))

this equals 8.75

The game actually (and I believe correctly) does this:

T = 5 * 1.5 * 1.25

which equals 9.375

The former takes the multipliers and applies them to the base individually and then adds the results to the total.  The latter makes everything cumulative... which is I believe how it should be done in the first place...

it was not : 9.4 * 88% = 8.272

9,4 + 8.27 = 17, 67

If you look at two screen shots provided by the review concerning the city, the first one displays the research production of the city as 9.4 and not the second number of 17.6.

The biggest thing he could find and talk about in length was a maths problem?

Okay....

You know I've encountered a few errors, math related, in games before. And while I think the other thread on this topic has gone out of their way to insult the reviewer, it is interesting that he spent so much time on this subject. I don't think most people dig that deep into the math, not unless something feels "off". I have no idea why he picked such a thing to focus on, especially since I think it's just a misunderstanding.

It was a pretty dull review.

Apologies - I hadn't meant to be so sweepingly insulting in my comments (I re-drafted several times with the unintended result being tham my phrasing became more and more abrupt - damn phone wouldn't let me post my original wording!!!).

What I was trying to get across is that the reviewer's assertion that the maths is wrong is flawed - yes, both cumulative and additive methods would be equally viable in the game (I think Eve Onlline uses both methods in different places within the same game), but to claim that the maths is broken is a bit of a sweeping claim to make in a review.  To make this claim on the basis that the developer is using a different mathematical principal than the one the reviewer though was "correct" is, to say the very least, shaky.

More generally, I agree with Nesrie's point that it's impressive that the reviewer looked at the game in this sort of detail - most won't, I'm sure - but it doesn't really make for a good read!

Inscrutable

I believe Tom over on Fidgit is going to do a Game Diary on Elemental, so he will post a few days worth of commentary on his experience (hopefully after the 0 day patch for sure!), he did a game diary when he reviewed Red Dead Redemption awhile back ,that I really liked. 

Also he also almost never posts a score (number nor letter), just his over all opinion, so I will keep him out of the main topic thread, unless he chooses to post a score.

I was focusing on the big boys, IGN, Gamespot, Eurogamer, Giantbomb, Rock Paper Shotgun, Joystiq , Destructoid,  when I made this topic.

It wasn't actually a review was it? I don't know how they define their 'game diaries', but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a serious review. And I think he'll be doing more diaries of Elemental, so he might give a better impression in the next diary. The maths might seem to be an odd thing to focus on, but I think it makes sense in a game like this. After all, if the maths feels off (even if it actually isn't) it does make the game less fun to play.

Also, I'm pretty sure the '+25%' thing would confuse me. Wouldn't it be more intuitive to actually have it say '*25%' instead of +? I don't know how it's done properly, but to someone without any advanced maths knowledge, I would assume that you add percentages together in something like this.