Space 4x titles -- a pet peeve (and silly pointless rant)

[Longdan]

I think I may have played SE 3 and SE 4 more than any other space game.
I loved building training facilities and training ships and then fleets.
I have not seen any other 4X type game that does that.
You can spend money to train your guys/bugs/snails to be better warriors.
Plus you could put mines or forts on jump points and not tie up ships guarding them.
Designing your own vehicles of every kind from scouts to satellites to battleships
was cool and I do not know but this series was one of the first to allow it.

[sandman2575]

Hmm I never realized the Space Empire games were so deep. This conversation is seriously tempting me to pick up SE IV on steam for $10...

Was SE V just terrible?  What MOO3 was to that series?

[Yskonyn]

SE V has a braindead AI, but works pretty well as a PBEM game.
Especially with Kwok's balance mod.
I have no idea about SE 4 because I do not have it, but from what I read it has a functional AI at least and it has less features, but as a result they work a lot better than the sheer amount of stuff that is in SE V.

I have had no issues with DW's spacing yet. It indeed has an option to force the game to spread Empires.

[Huw the Poo]

Hmm I never realized the Space Empire games were so deep. This conversation is seriously tempting me to pick up SE IV on steam for $10...

Was SE V just terrible?  What MOO3 was to that series?

SE4 is utterly brilliant, and although the graphics are rudimentary the game still looks OK today compared to other games from the same era.  Just be prepared for a learning curve!  There are loads of mods available for it too.  You might also want to check the fan community for hacks, such as editing the ini file to increase the maximum number of systems on a map.

SE5 is fine in theory (about a million patches were released for it) however many people, myself included, cannot get it to run properly on Windows 7.  That's the reason I play 4.

In the UK SE4 is slightly cheaper at Gamersgate so you might want to check there too.

I have no idea about SE 4 because I do not have it, but from what I read it has a functional AI at least and it has less features, but as a result they work a lot better than the sheer amount of stuff that is in SE V.

I'm struggling to think of features 5 has that 4 doesn't...?

[republic]

The only thing SE5 has is realtime combat if I remember right, but I prefer turn based.  I also can't get it to run properly, it runs at like 10 fps and often overheats a laptop if I play it on that.  SE4 works better and I like the more abstract graphics. 

I think of SE4 as a rudimentary trainer for Aurora.  Though the AI can't really match a human for creative designs.  I can recall many times getting the jump point creator/destroyer and bottling up my enemies while I recoup.  Though you really have to watch, a single ship with that super tech can cripple your entire empire.

[mikeck]

I thought DW had an option to start close/near/far to other civs - no?

Yes, it does, and it works!

Sometimes...other times I get weird results like everyone. But me crammed in a corner

[Jarhead0331]

My problem with SEIV was that I almost always got wiped out before I really got a chance to develop. But I definitely saw the potential there.  I still find a modded MOO3 to be one of the best overall space 4x game ever made.

[Nefaro]

SE V has a braindead AI, but works pretty well as a PBEM game.
Especially with Kwok's balance mod.
I have no idea about SE 4 because I do not have it, but from what I read it has a functional AI at least and it has less features, but as a result they work a lot better than the sheer amount of stuff that is in SE V.

I have had no issues with DW's spacing yet. It indeed has an option to force the game to spread Empires.

SE5 also had serious framerate issues running on WinVista & Win7, from what I've seen reported.  The fps drops so low, it's a pain in the ass to use the interface.  :-[

[Huw the Poo]

Yes, in my experience SE5 is unplayable on Windows 7 (a shame because it was a birthday present from my lady and I got many hours of entertainment out of it before "upgrading" to Windows 7).  Some people have reported getting it to work with certain hacks, but none of them ever worked for me.  But I don't mind that much because SE4 is still a fantastic game, it just looks older.

[GDS_Starfury]

Aurora

[Steelgrave]

I re-downloaded SE4 and went to the Steam page to kick around and look for add-ons. Who do I spy but this familiar face:



All I can say is those are some damned scary looking aliens!

(and for anyone who doesn't know, this is our friend Son of Montfort)  8)

Grogs are everywhere!

[Huw the Poo]

Ah, I've seen that video!  I had no idea it was Monty, although I knew it was a Grog - the vid was linked from the front page if I recall correctly.

Edit: It seems I am an idiot.  It says right there that it's by Monty.  ;D

[Martok]

In my newest campaign I began an hour ago, the game put me on the very eastern edge of the map.  The only way I could be any more on the ass-end of space would be if I'd started in a corner.  *sigh* 

Oh well.  We'll see how it goes. 

There's just no pleasing some people!  ;D

Yeah, I'm a whiner.  :P 

Was SE V just terrible?  What MOO3 was to that series?

Looks like it.  Malfador (the series developer) hasn't made a new Space Empires game since then, and no sequel has ever been announced. 

I thought DW had an option to start close/near/far to other civs - no?

Yes, it does, and it works!

Sometimes...other times I get weird results like everyone. But me crammed in a corner

I seem to get mixed results with that option as well. 

Strictly speaking, it generally works fine for *me*.  However, what then often happens is that the other races start closer together (thus screwing the AI).  I'd prefer everyone's homeworld to be spaced out at least somewhat evenly.  (No, it's probably not realistic, but it would be better from a gameplay perspective.) 

[republic]

SE5 wasn't terrible like Moo3 was, at least to me.  SE5 was fun while I could play it, but once I moved to Win7 it was unplayable and not 'better enough' than SE4 to make me want to suffer through.  SE4 has an almost 'cool retro' feel to it nowadays.

Moo3 was one of the only games I ever pre-ordered and paid for next day shipping...took off the day it was to arrive.  It was actually a snowstorm and I had to meet the Fedex guy on the highway about a mile away to get the game.  I took it home and worked on it for days before deciding there was something wrong with the game and not just that I didn't know how to play.

[sandman2575]

Love the story about meeting the FedEx guy in the snowstorm -- Jeez how spoiled are we nowadays with near insta-downloadable games??

What I would love right now is a space 4x that let's you take a leisurely pace to empire building -- almost more 'builder' than 4x' perhaps.  Not sure what's wrong with me, but even with all the excellent titles out there, nothing is clicking with me at the moment --

-SotS2 --  excellent, deep, hard game that I love, but kinda OD'd on it for the time being

-Sins -- again, fantastic game, but heavily tilted toward combat that I find increasingly stressful rather than fun to handle...

-Endless Space --  slick game, but kinda shallow and doesn't really hold my interest, hate the repetitive combat

GalCiv2 -- Probably fits the bill of what I'm looking for, but slightly cartoony in a way I'm not in the mood for

Armada 2526 -- can't get into it...

Distant Worlds -- maybe this is the ticket, but the 2D presentation doesn't thrill me, and I find the pirates really, really annoying

Star Ruler -- Intrigues me -- in some ways feels like a cross of DW and Sins -- but seems to require a huge time commitment to master the steep learning curve, and I hate the blocky ships and slightly 'unfinished' feel of the game as a whole...

AI War -- not my cup of tea...

Anyway, just some musings... But if anyone has a 'you should really try x' suggestion, happy to hear it. Still pondering SE4 but Jarhead's warning that he gets wiped out before he can get established is actually exactly what I'm not looking for.