Space Empires 4.

[Rusty Nail]

Here is a link to the major SEIV strategy forum.

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=23

SEIV is in my opinion the closest turn-based game to civ in terms of elegance of design and fun play. In some ways it is superior to civ3. It is definitely much deeper. The weakness is definitely the AI. But as opposed to civ3, the editor allows players to make subtantial AI improvements. Several mods are available with new civs that are vast improvements over the originals (try TDM mod). A major feature of SEIV is the design of ships, where possibilities are endless, and no one design can beat all the others. Unfortunately multiplayer is not yet an option , but the PBW (play by web) community is very active and the design is simple and elegant. "Manual combat " (as opposed to simultaneous) is also a nice optional feature, but too easy against the AI. It would be an ideal basisr a quick multiplayer game if they ever get around to it. I highly recommend SEIV to civ players.

[Grumbold]

Hmm, if they've done some AI mods I'll have to revisit the game. It was just too easy to be nice and outexpand everyone before.

[Jeff George]

Re: Space Empires 4.

Originally posted by markusf
Anyone play this game? its a massive game with over 1000 technologies depending on what mod pack you get. I was wondering if anyone else played it and if they saw all the similarities it has with moo2? (and a lot of improvements!)

I bought it when it first came out and never even finished a full game. I just found it too boring and micromanaging. I'd rather play MOO2, and hopefully MOO3 when it comes out.

[The Rusty Gamer]

What's the difference between the standard version and the upcoming gold version? From what I've seen of the demo so far, I haven't seen any difference. Will it be worth it to upgrade?

[Lemmy]

The two most important are that drones implemented and there's multiplayer (TCP/IP)
And some of the best user-created mods are included on the gold cd.

For a challenging mod, try the pirates and nomads mod, i don't have a link, but it's somewhere near that other link i gave earlier.
Your playstyle has to be completely different if you use this mod.