Glad I decided not to buy this game. Turns out your CEO is a gigantic bigot who associates with members of hate groups like Davis Aurini. I won't be buying anything from you people ever again. Suck on it.

Ok first of all lets go through some stuff. An early access game does not have to be finished ever there is no legal obligation at this time for people to do that, as such the early access system is based on trust between developer and customer. When that trust bare fruit it is not unusual for the developer to thank the customer by giving them exclusive, sweet, loot. It is also not unusual for this to happen on the first day of release to get more sales.

As it is I didn’t find out about this game until today through Unit Lost’s let’s play (I’m behind with my YouTubes). This sort of game is right up my alley, TBS, 4X, a healthy dose of customisable ships would I have got this on early access? No doubt at all.

As it is though I now have a finished game minus a few exclusive bits and pieces given to people who made the game possible. Is their salt? Yeah, but at least I’ve got something to go with the vinegar on my chips while I play Galactic Civilizations III.

This game popped up on my list only 4 days ago. I was going to buy this, but I had to wait for payday, which means I fell after the cut-off for the parts. Hence, I will not be buying this game.

This is just bad business practice. I wouldn't have a problem if I had to pay an extra few dollars for the parts, but to be told they are off-limits completely because I did not discover this game until now, and thus couldn't budget for it in time, is disheartening.

When will these become available? I bought the game before the 17th, and according to the galciv forums the DLC should be available, but I'm not seeing it yet.

Um, nice videos but cut scenes are not game play...

I have bought the game myself, but I've always gone against the "rewarding early adopters". On Kickstarter I've always voted against exclusive rewards for the backers, as there is nothing I hate more in the world of gaming. Dragon Age 2 was the catalyst for my stance on this, and I never felt like I had the complete game.

I fully understand the need to get people of the fence, but you can do that by selling the extras as DLC later.

Wow. Lots and lots of whiny, entitlement generation babies on this thread. Rewarding early adopters for their support is nothing new and those that feel the need to complain and sulk about not being part of the, what, "in crowd?" I guess, need to grow up. I highly doubt that Stardock will miss your support. I am one of those that does not have the funds available to dive right in at the beginning, but when I do have them, I will definitely be buying this and won't miss any of the shiny bits. Based upon my experience with GalCiv and GalCiv2, this will be an awesome product.

I am completely new to this game, haven't purchased it yet, but it looks very interesting...

To all the people that are upset with the game developers giving something away to attrack people to buy the game earlier than you maybe wanted to - it is called 'Sales and Marketing' and is done in every business on the planet. Get over it!

Ever buy a 2 for 1 item at a brick and mortar store? Did you complain and tell them to charge you more? I didn't think so...

THIS IS COSMETIC ONLY

Let's start by saying that to the chorus of people thinking this is pay-to-win; it is not.

That said, I'll join the chorus of people who feel like this is just bad form. Though I appreciate that the window for purchase is larger than "pre-order only", it is only marginally so. Many of us don't have the disposable income to just throw money at the problem without budgeting for it - and that can only be done once time has passed for reviews to come out that label a game as good to purchase. Punishing people for good financial practice seems a bit manipulative and callous.