06-12-2004 09:26									#1
	space empires 4 Support Apolyton

what is the game like anyway?

	06-12-2004 17:40									#2
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

Pretty good - if super graphics are not important to you. You can also find a demo to try it out first at this website http://www.shrapnelgames.com/malfador/SEIVGold/1.htm , plus info on the game.

	06-12-2004 20:55									#3
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

If you like Stars!, Moo or GalCiv you will probably enjoy SE. It is a TBS space base game. It does require a lot of micromanagement.

You can design and refit your ships and there are user mods. One complaint is that the price never fell much, so it is not easy to find at a cheap price for its age.

I really like SE3 and SE4 made some improvements. One feature is the ability to design a ship and have a test against other known designs to see what works and what does not.

	06-12-2004 22:44									#4
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

I heard that the AI is not well done.

	06-12-2004 23:20									#5
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

I can't think of any TBS games where it has been. That is not my main concern. Will I have some fun or at least enjoy some aspects.

Pax2 was very poor AI wise, but I did enjoy some of the battles and going through the tech tree (for a while). Ascendancy was the worst AI I have ever played, but I did have fun playing the game.

	06-12-2004 23:21									#6
	Inflate your Upload Space

So in short, no one can say that someone will enjoy it for sure, but if you like some of the games in its genre, it will be worth trying.

	06-12-2004 23:56									#7
	Support Apolyton

The AI is not that bad, especially if you do not use tactical battles. If you do use tactical battles, the ai cannot handle the missle dance.

You can also up the ante by creating 5000 point races and then play against them; however, the ai doesn't seem to know quite how to use some of the specials in the game, so stay away from those.

Lastly, there is always SE5 which is due next summer.

	07-12-2004 01:23									#8
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

My biggest problem was the very brief manual that came with SEIV. I don't know if Gold addresses it ?

There's a lot of depth to the game and i struggled to work it out. It's much deeper than MOO2 but i found the MOO2 interface much easier to work with (but then i had a manual). The tactical battles element felt a bit weak.

	07-12-2004 07:16									#9
	Inflate your Upload Space

Gold has a 67 page manual, but I forget what I got with the pre gold version. I think it was just online.

It was no problem for me as I have a detailed document for SE3 and they are very similar. So I already knew how to play.

	07-12-2004 20:33									#10
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quote: Originally posted by Standup There's a lot of depth to the game and i struggled to work it out. It's much deeper than MOO2 but i found the MOO2 interface much easier to work with (but then i had a manual). The tactical battles element felt a bit weak.

Just how bad is the interface? I really like MOO2, and it sounds like SEIV may be a good choice for me, but I have limited time and patience for a bad interface. Frankly, I'd just rather spend my time actually playing, rather than spend a bunch of it learning the interface.

	07-12-2004 20:43									#11
	Put an end to popups!

the best way to tell if you will like it is to try the demo(its around 28MB) from the link i gave above. It gives you a pretty good feel for the overall game, but leaves you wanting more when it ends

	07-12-2004 21:27									#12
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

There are lots of mods for the game. You can add many new races and ship sets. There is a really nice Star Trek mod out there I have not tried.

	09-12-2004 00:29									#13
	Suffering from ads?

I didn't actually find it a bad interface just not as polished as MOO2 - or at least the bits i worked out.

If you like Civ, Moo etc then there's a very good chance you'll like SE4. I think though that you will need to put aside some time if you want to get into it properly. Aside from taking time to learn there's alot of depth and as someone else said loads of mods to consider.

It was a game that looked promising enough for me to keep it installed and add to that list of games to play when i have more free time.

	09-12-2004 14:28									#14
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

I loved Moo & Moo2 but found SE4 hard to get into. I dont know why. After playing the demo for a bit I just gave up. It just wasn't fun for me, but I can't say exactly why.

	10-12-2004 23:19									#15
	Support Apolyton

I think partialy it might be because you are bombarded with so many on screen options from the start, most of which you cant do anything with untill you've built up your empire a bit. So it can be a little overwhelming say in comparison to Moo2.
The Demo also gives you a tutorial(if i remember correctly), and as with a game like EU2 - its pretty vital to play through it atleast once to help get your bearings.

You always have lots of options throughout the game, and i think finding your way around them all is maybe the bit that puts people of. Still once you've got the hang of it all these options make for a tinkerer's nivarna.
I found it as fun as Moo2 - just harder to get into.

	11-12-2004 21:31									#16
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

Thans for the info. I don't really have time to play two games, and I'm on the fence between this one and Alpha Centauri, but it looks like either one could be a good choice. Just no way of knowing until I've played it. I'll get the demo and check it out.

	11-12-2004 22:17									#17
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

SMAC is a superior game, but is not really a Moo like game.

	11-12-2004 22:47									#18
	Put an end to popups!

Well, what I'm looking for is a tbs/conquest game. Does SMAC fit that description?

	12-12-2004 04:52									#19
	Suffering from ads?

Yes

	12-12-2004 06:03									#20
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

I actually just reinstaleld this game earlier today.

It can be alot of fun, especially in PBEM. It's the king of multiplayer 'grand' TBS, as far as I'm concerned. There's also website that's dedicated to organizing and hosting PBEM games.

	12-12-2004 11:02									#21
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

I think I enjoyed Stars! better. I have never really got into SE4 properly, especially since building on planets seems so limited. Or have I missed out on something there? And the amount of population on a planet doesn't seem to make any difference to production - or is that just me?

	12-12-2004 15:35									#22
	Put an end to popups!

Also you could consider Galciv, which apparently has quite good AI.

	12-12-2004 23:07									#23
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

I also enjoyed stars more, but it missed its update and is very old now.

Galciv has a decent AI, but to me it was not much fun.

	13-12-2004 05:46									#24
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

Unfortunately, the Stars! - Supernova Genesis project appears to have been abandoned.

	16-12-2004 00:56									#25
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

quote: Originally posted by DrSpike Also you could consider Galciv, which apparently has quite good AI.

I think I've read somewhere on these boards that GalCiv doesn't have tactical combat, though. Is that right? While a lack of tactical combat doesn't make a game unplayable for me, I do enjoy taking an active role in the destruction of my opponents.

	16-12-2004 04:04									#26
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quote: Originally posted by General Ludd I actually just reinstaleld this game earlier today. It can be alot of fun, especially in PBEM. It's the king of multiplayer 'grand' TBS, as far as I'm concerned. There's also website that's dedicated to organizing and hosting PBEM games.

This is the website, by the way. The community is still very active, I see. You'll find a large variety of games there - everything from competive tournaments to roleplay games.


There's a pretty interesting sounding one just about to start, actually - an 'experimental' roleplay game following the idea 'rome in space' (without the romans).

quote: This is an EXPERIMENTAL game. With the idea born in Place-By-Committee, this game will attempt to see if it is possible for multiple empires to function as if they were a single republic style empire. I intend to serve as Moderator, the "Republic Capital", peace keepers, etc kind of idea. The City of Rome, to the Roman Empire. I would like for the first 4 players to serve as the founding races of the Republic. Any other players will begin indepentantly, but have the option of remaining independant, allying with the AI or other independant players, or joining the republic. This game will not require more than 5 players, counting myself, to start, but additional humans will make the game more interesting. An offsite forum exists for this game. 1 - Go to http://republic.lordexecutron.com and register. 2 - Join the user group entitled "Great Republic PBW Players". This will grant members access to the Great Republic PBW forums. 3 - Members of the Republic itself will be added to a second user group to grant access to the Republic-specific forums. 4 - If non-republic players form alliances, they will be given private forums, with usergroups to grant access. ALL DISCUSSION TO OCCUR THERE. I WILL NOT VIEW THE PBW FORUM FOR THIS GAME AGAIN. Dependant apon discussions with the players, a mod may be used, or may not dependant apon player wishes. Keeping this in mind, do NOT submit a race file yet. Please, only serious and dedicated players who are willing to further develop this idea and/or mod may apply.