You are forced to use Steam with LH. (no manual updates sorry )

It could still be possible to get the FE original game Steam-free from Stardock still, but don't hold me on that. Either way Steam isn't *that* bad, and LH is the far superior game to FE, and you will get at least two DLC's soon for LH. 

the second, third,fourth(unless you jump through the authorization hoops in the right sequence) and fifth(but it does demand to access the internet atleast monthly) apply

harpo

"It demands access to the intenet at least monthly"  Pardon?  Sounds like it's doing on-line dating...

"Steam/Steamapps/Common will be your path".  Sigh.  I had "C:\Fallen Heroes" in mind...

It would be nice to know whether you're supposed to be allowed to install on a second PC, or whether it's difficult.

Directly from developer should always give them more money than from middlemen

Steam is also a distribution platform, that third parties may pay to have them distribute and update their games. In the process, when steam sells the game, steam gets a cut of 20% of the price. When you buy direct from the developer, the 20% is not taken by Valve (steam)

As to installing a second copy of your game on another PC. You can install your game on as many PC's as have a steam installed. To do so you must log into your account and download the game onto that PC. You can only have 1 copy of a steam account running at the same time. So, in turn you can be on steam (online) on only 1 machine at a time. But you can have offline access to several machines at once and so you can install steam and your games on a PC and Laptops (I currently have things installed on 3 computers)

You can also access a friends computer with steam account and log onto your account and install your games onto that machine as well. When you friend logs in he will see the games you own, but he will not be able to play it unless he owns the game. He will instead be given an option to purchase the game instead.

As with things with windows you can dis allow steam from starting up when you start up your computer. (Through the usual channels windows provides in preventing startup programs, might be a steam way of disabling this feature)

You can also set up where steam will install your content on your computer through the settings that steam provides.

I don't have Steam run when my computer starts - it only runs when I start up Legendary Heroes and afterwards, till I remember to close it.

Steam makes a good enough IM program for my friends to be worth using outside of games.  It's pretty much replaced AIM for me over the last couple of years.

As for LH, direct from developer= Stardock gets all the money - any server costs.   Buy from someone else and they get their cut of it.

Thank you for all the replies.  I have learnt several things I didn't know --- such as that Stardock is developer of LH, I thought they were distributor, and some Kalypso was author, and also that Steam takes as little as 20%, I assumed they took over and got the lion's share!  I'm also beginning to see that Stardock & Steam are both Valve, so they all seem to be in bed together anyway   And this is a Stardock forum, I didn't know from the URL...

OK, so I'd like to buy here instead of Steam.  I understand I'll still have to use Steam installer/launcher.  But I'll will have a non-Steam-purchased game with my Steam account, is there anything I won't get/will be missing out on, that's what I'm trying to understand?  Thanks.

Thank you, Leo, that makes me happier to purchase via Stardock.

However, you say "[Stardock] are not part of Valve", but the foot of this forum page states: "Copyright © 2013 Stardock Entertainment and Valve Corporation. "  OIC, you're saying Fallen Enchantress is Stardock, while Steam is Valve, and they are "co-operating" but distinct companies here for the copyright....

What does this refer to, please?

And do I need [i.e. I won't want to live without] to purchase DLC from day one?

Tx.

Buy directly from developers when possible (so that they get the money) and buy from Steam itself otherwise (sometimes you can get steam keys for less from reputable sources and sometimes you run into scam sites that want to infect your pc with viruses and steal your children...why screw around and take chances).

I used to hate Steam but now I love it and I buy most of my games thru it.  I prefer to buy directly from developers when possible so that they get the money but distribution and patching are usually enough of a PITA for people that they just use Steam for THEIR convenience.  One thing is for sure, I buy my games digitally and download them and don't miss retail or physical media AT ALL.

I own and buy a lot of games, a lot of them indies.  It's convenient to have them managed in one place and nobody has as good of game management (as far as updating games) as Steam (for both players and developers, the convenience it offers devs for distributing patches and content is one of the reasons it got to be so popular).

I used to shut steam down after finishing games but now I often leave it running.  It's harmless.  I have a monster PC that could run multiple premium games simultaneously so having Steam running is trivial.  The benefit is that if games do get updates it just happens and never slows down firing up a game.  I just check my library periodically to see what's been updated.  I also like to check Steam regularly (often once a day) for sales and deals because getting excellent games at huge discounts is always nice.

I remember back when you would download patches and apply them yourself (if you followed game news or forums and KNEW there was a patch at all) to games and every dev had their own mechanism, then games started having custom update facilities within the games themselves and that was always different from game to game (and a waste of dev time that could be spent on the game itself).  Steam is by far a better mechanism for updating and content than having a different, often clunky, system for every game.  As wonky as those old systems were for players, it was far worse for developers having to bundle patches or build in patching and hope that it would work for every horribly built and maintained PC on the planet.  Offloading that to a 3rd party who specializes in it and does it very well is a dramatically better idea for devs and customers.

Lastly, as a software developer myself I have zero appreciation for people who steal intellectual property (games, videos, music, etc) and come up with lame justifications.  I see it as any other crime.  Unacceptable.  I've never liked being treated like a criminal when I pay for my stuff, and most DRM is extremely lame.  Something like the online check that Steam does is way less of an inconvenience than media in the drive and/or the securom style invasive garbage.  I can understand companies attempting to protect their products since there are so many scrubs out there that willingly steal (even if there are enough bigger scrubs that facilitate stealing by cracking DRM and sleazebags that host illegal software).  If there must be DRM, I'd rather it have as little of an impact on gaming as possible.  Online checks are considerably less painful that more barbaric alternatives.

4 mbit = 512 kb/s top speed, not average speed so your DL seems to be what it should be. Dunno why they keep using Mbits for speed, probably to make it seem quicker

You can easily skip the map pack DLC. The quest pack DLC and the coming Loot Pack DLC however should be worth the money. The quest pack adds a lot of spice to your game with a lot of random events+ some nice items. 

You should already be downloading the 1.3 version, so after the initial download no other downloads should be necessary until they update to a newer version. steam will also keep the game up to date unless you tell it otherwise.