space empires 4

[d=me]

what is the game like anyway?

[child of Thor]

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.

[vmxa1]

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.

[d=me]

I heard that the AI is not well done.

[vmxa1]

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.

[vmxa1]

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.

[Spaced Cowboy]

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.

[Standup]

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.

[vmxa1]

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.

[Aabraxan]

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.

[child of Thor]

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

[shmily_dana]

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.

[Standup]

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.

[Slip_Oz]

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.

[child of Thor]

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.