I'll be getting both games, but I'll be getting and playing Elemental before I get Civ 5. I applaud the good sportsmanship that compels the frog to say that Firaxis is an ally and not a competitor. It's yet another reason why I love Stardock so much. However, through no fault of Stardock's, Firaxis has let me down before. Colonization was one of my favorite games, but their remake was entirely forgettable. The Railroad Tycoon series is one of my all-time favorites, and the one that launched Sid Meier's reputation, but when they pimped out Sid Meier's name for Railroads! and made the worst game ever out of it (maybe it wasn't quite as bad as Spore), I was sorely disappointed. It's only with great hesitation and extensive research that I give them any of my money ever again.

It's a sad fact of life that computer games are an entertainment art just like movies and music. And just like movies and music there are wonderful gems of creativity, depth and vision, that don't make much money, and there is cheesy garbage that appeals to the lowest common denominator and jumps off the shelves of Wal-Mart. I have always admired Stardock's pursuit of excellence and have done so with my wallet as well as my heart. That's all any of us can do encourage greatness and discourage mediocrity.

Our industry is a bit unique in that we really are buddies with a lot  of these guys.

I was just talking about Starcraft earlier where we were such fans of the game that we talked to Blizzard and our pals at Wizard Works (who we had worked with on Business Tycoon) and got to do an authorized Starcraft expansion pack.  We basically did it for free (I think we got something like $75k or something) because we loved the game.

I plan to mod Civ 5 though I am a bit nervous of them using Lua instead of Python but I'm sure it'll be fine.

I've already pre-ordered Elemental.  I very rarely pre-order games until I see several reviews, but I respect Stardock so much as a company that I always feel comfortable pre-ordering from them because I respect their way of doing business so much.

Despite the fact that I have always LOVED Civilization games, I will NOT pre-order Civ V. 

I will buy it after it comes out if I become convinced it is actually be BETTER than Civ IV (which I still play regularly).  So far, although it seems to have a few cool new ideas and better graphics, I am not yet convinced it will be a better game in the overall sense than Civ IV with both its expansions.

Elemental Modding > Civ 5 modding

by alot.

If I ever learn to make models (and animations for models ... is that just cutting and pasting pieces of other unit's animations? or is it a whole other ballpark) I'll probably spend a summer to work on Art Assets. That is, if I ever get around to learning it

Thanks, I just spit pop on my keyboard. I was SOOO excited when MOO3 came out and just about went on a killing spree when I tried playing it. Wow... what a disappointment!

I'm like others here, I'll probably get Civ V too just because for the most part I've like the series. This game has me more excited though. That whole MoM thing, you know. I can't believe after all these years that I STILL play MoM, MoO and X-Com on occasion.