I think I still have to agree with Zark and friends on this one. $2 is not an outrageous price to pay to play the game and if you don't like the game after one month then I guess you will have to buy one less coffee that month to stay within budget. Protection from pirates is pretty important as that will keep a lot of the trolls out and will make the experience for the rest of us better.

My only concern is how many people you will be able to attract to come play the game. 4X games don't have the same kind of following as say FPS genres and I don't think this project is really all that well known yetvso some more advertisement or interviews on game sites would be helpful.