All i want to do is play some single player a little bit and test drive the Alpha 3 version. But I cant even start a new a game because I get network errors.

Socket error 10050: Network is down.
Server konnte nitch gestartet werden

All i have is windows firewall, i turned it off, but same result.
All i have is dial-up too if thats relavant.

Any hints tips solutions?

you need at least a tcp-ip network protocol installed and a loopback address. go to the windows commandline and type ping 127.0.0.1
if nothing happens go to control panel->networking->protocols and install tcp-ip though it should be installed already for the dial-up..

Well, i got it working.

Ping was fine and I had two TCP/IP protocols already installed.

I had to disable my onboard Eithernet NIC hardware (which wasnt doing anything anyway since its not connected to anything).

Strange, as its not my default connection.

Well, going to type up a review for you guys now too.