Should I buy this game???
 

Hi everyone,

I have just played the demo (for around 50 turns). Without any effort from my side whatsoever all of the races (around 8 in total) exept one had a "partnership" agreement with me. As a result I was running a huge trade surplus. The game became a little dull as far as politics was concerned. So my first question is will diplomacy represent a greater challenge in a full version of the game? For exmaple will races delare war on me? Will they try to ally themselves with other races if thay begin to loose the war? Will the allied empires coordinate their war plans? Will AI able to effectively invade my planets? I have a humber of other question but this should be a good start.

Thanks,
Tweek

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

Yes to all of your questions, the AIs of various races are impossible to ally with because they like destroying things, things being you of course.
More races encountered and more time also brings abotu new challenges because they are less likely to stay allied with you as you become more powerful.

And YES this game is DEFINATElY worth getting!

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

Are you playing on easy difficulty? IIRC, besides making the AI ridiculously stupid, easy difficulty is supposed to load the galaxy with more pacifist races. I strongly recommend always playing on hard difficulty, because the AI is severely crippled on the lower difficulty levels. I consider the AI bonus setting to be the true difficulty setting.

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

These were the settings:
Number of comp players: High
Comp player difficulty: High (I assume the higher the more difficult it is for ME)
Computer player bonus: Low (I was a bit scared setting this one to anything higher).

Can this "easyness" of getting everyone to be my "partner" might be due to the fact that my rank overall is third in the galaxy (out of 8 as far as i remember)? Maybe I am weak and thats why everybody thinks of me as a nice guy?!?

Tweek.

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

If your score becomes some percentage of the 2nd place player (300% or so, but not sure on the value), then you will become the "mega evil empire." All AI races will immediately declare war on you and will refuse treaty requests.

If you play with mods such as TDM (in the full version of the game), the AIs are a lot tougher, and will declare war more often (at least, the non-peaceful ones will).

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

Yup, SEIV is an excellent game with a lot of depth and replayability. Very addictive, too. The A.I.'s on the full game are much smarter than the ones in the demo. It is worth getting, absolutely! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

Sweet!!!

I am convinced. I have just ordered the game.

Where do I get the latest patch from? Also which mod would you guys say is one of the best out there to try out? TDM?

Tweek

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

Oh well, its pretty obvious you get this answer when asking on the official board of the game developer/publisher, which is populized by hardcore-fans, dont you agree ?

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

There really isn't a "best" mod out there. You definitely want TDM, as it makes the AI much tougher without changing the game mechanics. Beyond that, it is all personal preference. There is a listing of most of the mods available on MM's website. Check it out.

http://www.malfador.com/se4mods.html

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

I agree. However I have done a lot of research ragarding this game. My only concern was AI and how it handled diplomacy, military etc. From the demo it was relatively hard to say if the AI was strong or not which is why I created this thread. Now that my main concern has been dealt with I am happy to buy the game.

If you have some contructive critisism ragarding the above issue that you would like to share with me then please go ahead, I would really appreciate your point of view.

Tweek

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

If i remember corrctly the Demo AI´s are dumbed down versions of the full game AI´s, and if you really want a challenge, get the TDM-Modpack as soon as you get the full game, as the TDM AIs are very tough opponents, optimized to gave you a nasty challenge... even with no bonus at all the TDM AIs will make you really run for your money... if i remember well, the TDM ai for the United Floral empire is the thoughest one... if you meet them in any game, be prepared to a realy hard fight...

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

Also a smart thing to do: find and download the Neo-Standard pictures as soon as possible, as many mods use the neo-standard pictures (and I believe that there is even a Neo-Standard ++ version, though I have only seen one race with those pics). Also, go to the Image Mod web page and download it - thought it is a very large download - as a lot of mods use the Image Mod, too. Also, having these two addon packs (they're almost basic requirements for modding/mod playing), you can easily create your own mods for use in the game. If you've got a mod that you think is really cool, post it here so that other people can give you their opinions/advice on it.

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

Neo-Standard pictures aren't really mandatory, as mods using them should default to standard pictures if you do not have the Neo-Standard pictures.

The Image Mod is mandatory for mods using it however, as the game does not like to use blank pictures.

Hello Tweek and welcome aboard!

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

You might want to push the AI into war, lots funner http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

Well to be honest, the AI isnt really strong in this game. In my opinion, diplomatics are almost non-existant. There is no reason to barter with the AI, since it wouldnt chance things in any way. If you dont give the AI huge bonuses in the game setup, then you wont have a challenge at all. If you are looking forward to play SE4 singleplayer or offline, i wouldnt really suggest you to buy it. If you like to have a challenge when playing PBW / multiplayer, then again i suggest you this game. In case anyone disagrees with my "AI-is-not-good" issue, it would be kind to write down an example when you think the AI was actually playing "smart" against you or was "smart" when trading/doing diplomatics with you. I dont think such an example can be found.

In addition, if anyone things the AI is challenging when playing without bonuses -> you are wrong. The only challenge is when giving the AI huge bonuses, and i dont like playing against "cheating" AIs, that way i prefer online play.

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

On addition, i really love SE4. It is my favourite game, and i have a lot of games. I just think that the AI is pretty dull, stupid, cheats and doesnt mean a challenge at all. I love SE4, but only when modding or playing against humans.

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

On SE4, you decide if the AI cheats. Its the computer bonus setting... Lots of people say that the TDM floral empire AI is very good, maybe you should try that?

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

Actually, the Tesselate won the latest AI Deathmatch. For a really good player, even the best TDM AI on high bonus is not a challenge unless the player adds some extra restrictions to how he plays, such as not taking religious and not using training facilities. For a really good AI, wait for SEV - no more inputting numbers into an algorithm, modders will actually be able to write the algorithms the AI uses from scratch. With enough people working on it, this should result is some truly good AI's.

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

This is by far one of the best games ive ever played. And the big plus is when you beat it and its looking like its going to get boring...you just find and install the mods that these fine individuals have created to breath new life into the game. Outside of Everquest this is the top game in time ive spent playing, and im a huge gamer.

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

The ai on SE4 is pretty good for an ai. I mean its easy to tell its not a human opponent but it can put up a challenge.

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

I understand what Ragnarok-X means, The AI isn't the best part of the game. But I agree more with Bobhouse, I saw 'Worse' AI than the one from SEIV.

And indeed, use TDM-mod, put all the AI settings to high and play against only 8 or 10 AI on an large map............

But if you want diplomacy, Go for PBW/Multiplayer (I don't think you will have an very hard time to find people to play on this forum.)

Intimidator

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

Thank you for the feedback everyone,

I tried to look for Neo-standard pictures mod. The only thing I found was Neo-Expansion Pack at www.spaceepires.net So is this the same mod?

One more thing, should I install all these mods after applying the latest SE4Gold patch? Does it matter in which order the mods are applied?

Thanks again,
Tweek

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

Neo-standard isn't so much a mod as a set of extra pictures that many shipsets have that aren't used in the stock game. Some mods use them for new ship or unit sizes introduced in the mod, but each size that uses a neo-standard image has a stock image as a backup option.

Mods generally cannot be combined. The order of applying the patch and any mods you use doesn't matter, provided that you install the mods properly and don't overwrite the stock data files. Each mod should go in its own subdirectory of your Space Empires directory. You can then use either manual editing of path.txt or the Mod Launcher that comes on the CD but isn't installed automatically to play them.

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

You should install the SE4 patch first.

The Neo-Standard is defined on this site: http://www.dogscoff.co.uk/neostand.htm

The Neo-Expansion Pack is a collection of images matching this standard for the stock shipsets. It just adds new images that mods can make use of.

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

Did anyone give the PBW address? seiv.pbw.cc

Automated email play.

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

There are many mods that use NEO-STANDARD ships. Adamant through the Star Trek mod have callings for them. But the best way to get them all is to simply make your own mod. That is were a lot of the underlining fun lays for Space Empires IV.

BTW, NASY has many neo-standard compliant ship sets, including all of the star trek sets, say for the Tholians. (The new Federations sets are not yet posted, but will be soon.)

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

I'm still new to the game and have only played against the AIs so far. In my experience the AI races aren't bad for AIs, but generally are still no match for a semi-experienced human player. Certain game settings, however, can improve the AIs' chances:

(1) As Douglas has suggested, play against the top races from the AI Deathmatch run by Master Belisarius. Five of the top six finishers are found in the TDM ModPack; these are the ones I'm playing against now.

(2) It seems unmodded AIs will accept trades even when at war. Don't use this exploit.

(3) Play a semi-generic race, i.e. don't Min-Max your race aggressively.

(4) Select "Team Play" during game setup. The AIs will all declare war on the human within a turn or two of first contact.

(5) Play with simultaneous movement and strategic combat. Sequential turns and tactical combat give the human player a big advantage.

(6) Give the AIs a bonus. As I recall, the AI Deathmatch was run with low bonus for all AIs. Players should start with "Good" homeworlds.

(7) Play in a smaller quadrant. The AIs tend to expand slower than human players, but in a small/medium quadrant conflicts start before the AIs fall far behind.

Some combination of these settings should challenge or even overwhelm a new player; they can be adjusted as player skill improves.

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

The neostandard isn't a mod or anything.

It is a standardized naming scheme for extra race pictures.
EG:
If you're a shipset artist, and have made a death star like ship: you save that as the closest neostandard name ..."_worldship.bmp"

If you're a modder who wants to include a "battlemoon", you use "_worldship.bmp", since a fair number of shipsets are likely to have it.

If the mod called for "battlemoon.bmp" and the artist saved his picture as "deathstar.bmp", you would see nothing.
Instead, with the neostandard mediating names, you get to see those fancy extra pictures used in more places.

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

Wow. I was just going to ask a question about game settings but looks like you have read my mind.

All of your points seem fair. However I think number 4 a bit tricky. I mean it sort of predetermines the political strategy, i.e. everyone declares war on me no matter what I do. Nevertheless since I havent played the full version yet I cant really have a point of view.

Thanks a lot anyway - the first game I play will be with those settings (exept 4 I guess and tactical combat issue).

Tweek

Re: Should I buy this game???
 

Its hard to keep peace with other empires. They keep trying to colonize in your system. Annoying to say the least.