Connection to internet down, no game!
 

I could not connect to the internet and as a result the game would not start because I could not connect to Steam when I hit the Icon. I thought that one could play this game with would the connection to Steam. I never would have made the change as the internet goes down every now and then. I did recall reading that you could play the game without the connection. Any suggestions?

When I lacunh the game and there is no internet connection, I have a pop-up window offering me to start steam in offline mode and I can still play the game.

That pop-up window did not happen and I had the same problem today and I had the internet. It stated it could not connect to the internet. The game did not start.

Strange, but I'm pretty sure I've played in off-line mode before.

Try manually starting Steam in offline mode.

I still haven't moved to Steam yet...wondering at what point I'm not going to be able to play at all. Probably when FOF8 comes out :)

This is the correct answer. I play offline on Steam all the time.

Then I click "Start in offline mode" and this works.