4X Space Empires 4+5 on Steam Sale for 5$

[Dim]

Buying. 5$ don't cause much regret. Anyone still play these?

 

[Raapys]

Ye, 4's good, 5's crappy interface and slow.

They're a bit bland when unmodded though. You can tell most of the time was spent working on game mechanics rather than content and flavor. Mods can fix that, but most of the mods have either poor or no AI support. Thus it was that the series became mostly a MP play by email kinda thing. There is, ironically, a mod pack filled with different and challenging AI's, but by using that you're forced back to the original and bland content.

 

[Dim]

By some luck found : http://pbw.spaceempires.net/news/pbw2/2009/02/welcome-to-pbw2. People play mp games here.

 

[Ashery]

Ye, 4's good, 5's crappy interface and slow.

They're a bit bland when unmodded though. You can tell most of the time was spent working on game mechanics rather than content and flavor. Mods can fix that, but most of the mods have either poor or no AI support. Thus it was that the series became mostly a MP play by email kinda thing. There is, ironically, a mod pack filled with different and challenging AI's, but by using that you're forced back to the original and bland content.

It might not have the flavor of MoO, but it's a hell of a lot less bland than GalCiv2.

Vanilla SEIV definitely has some balance issues, though (Mines early on, carriers packing significantly more punch than their non-fighter equivalents).

 

[Dim]

Hey! Turns out SE5 can be Distant Worlded. Well could be if the ai wasn't so stupid. Is there any way to tell it to never accept treaties that forbid research? Or stop trying to colonize in opponent's territory under treaty in a minefield and restricted sector? Or stop trying to drop population on full planets? How do i skip the 'movement log' at beginning of my turn? (empire's menu radio button does not work) How about combat? How can i tell what each component does from the research screen?

 

[Dim]

Wow my goof. Most of my complaints aren't a problem in simultaneous move mode. Alliances are completely broken though.
Turn based combats not an option in multiplayer.
In single player all it ever takes to beat the AI is to spam colony ships from home world. And prevent "no research" pacts.

Compared to distant worlds or Stardrive the commands given are not "accomplish state" but exact orders only. For example if i want a fleet i write what i want the fleet to be and the AI will build, assemble and combine the fleet for me. In SE i gotta queue each ship and send each ship to the right place. Cevo's queues are an example of "accomplish state."

 

[Raapys]

Not sure what you're saying about the orders thing. Plenty of commands will automatically implement a 'go-to' order as well, like deploy(mines/satellites, etc), colonize, jump, attack(which will follow ships even in simultaneous mode), etc. You can also make fleets and order those around like you would a ship.

 

[Dim]

That is just two commands; go-to and drop. In the other two games I set a location and how many mines i want there. The AI will queue the mines, send a transport to pick them up and drop them off as well; Queue, goto, load, goto drop. Also find planet and transport.
By the way what is the upkeep ratio for everything? its 5 for ships but what else?