SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Thats what www.malfador.com says!
Here it comes!
Websites dont lie!
.
.
.

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

ok, seriously, how long will it really be? Xmas this year?

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

It could be June 30 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

If it is released in June, you don't want to buy it. It can't possibly be ready by then. I'd expect a delay until September if they are at all rational about having a completed product on the CD.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Such negativity...I would assume that it is on track, and will be released if it is a complete product. Yet nothing is perfect, and I expect and hope there will be patches and fixes in the future...

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Yeah, Baron, you want me to turn you in for violating your NDA? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Such blind faith! Praise the lord, SE5 is on its way.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Too bad I can't comment in this thread...oops just did! Does that violate my NDA?! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Well, I hope that SEV would be released in June. That's already a date that has been delayed. I remember last summer we were hoping that it would be out for Christmas 2005. It's got to be close to completion by now; the beta tests have been going on for about a year now.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Take as much time as possible. I already laid out my cash for Dominions 3. I can't take too many hits at one time...

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Caduceus how is dominions 3? i'm looking for something to hold me until SE5 - i can only play multiplayer civ4 when peter is around and hes 3 hours time difference!

As for the release, anyone that has ever been in a product management position can sympathize with Aaron, who *may* be forced now to make a decision: release an unfinished product or delay again to release it properly? Either decision pisses someone off. I wouldn't wanna be in his shoes with so many expectations riding on his shoulders...

but then again it'd be worth it to be able to see SE5 early!!!! =D

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

No game is worth seeing 'early'.
I'll wait patiently until Spore arrives, very patiently.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Yimboli,

Dom 3 is in pre-order through shrapnel.

As long as the "start-up" annoyances and some of the micromanagement issues are gone, I'll be happy.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Well, you might not even be supposed to speak about your NDA, so that would be a clear violation. Do you have a preference for the time and place of the suing? There's a pretty nice court in Little Rock, with upscale facilities just a few hundred metres away. Summer in Arkansas isn't a great idea, though, so you should wait for Autumn.

So, you should practice denying that you even have a NDA in the first place. You know, "I have not had sexual relations with that woman"... okay, that was the wrong line, but you get the idea. So, did you ever have a legal relation with Mr Aaron Hall? Mmh?

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

I would not bet on such assumptions. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

If anything, Strategy First has shown they never rush Space Empires products into the market. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

LOL

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Actually, I'd prefer to be sued someplace a little nicer...Tahiti perhaps? Maybe Tonga.

"I did...er...did not have sexua...um...contractual relations with that company?"

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Interesting. I doubt you are joking (why would you), so i guess something is not quite as shiney and fun and lovely as some ppl say it is.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

... not shiney?!?! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

It doesn't mean things are not nice or shiny, but that Space Empires is a complex game with a lot of options so a lot of work needs to be done finding bugs and making sure that most of the options that everyone expects are implemented and work well. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Don't worry, the game will be as shiney, and shinier than, SEIV.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Well i wouldnt hold my breath on a June release. Thats what the malfador page says and we all know how well that is updated. The Strategy First page says winter 06 and i'd believe that page. So more waiting my friends

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

I was asked if I would buy the game if it came out in June. I didn't know what to say. If I said yes, and the game sucked, then no one would ever trust me again. If I said no, then they would assume the game sucks and would not buy it. So what do I say when asked if I would buy the game if it came out in June? - simple answer, "NDA."

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

The screenshots look really shiny! Much shinier than SEIV.

Uh-oh, I'm getting the impression from people's comments here that it's not going to be out in June. Considering how much SEIV was repeatedly delayed several years ago, it wouldn't be totally unexpected if SEV was repeatedly delayed as well. It's all right, I'll wait, it's better to get it late but with great features and bugs fixed than having it come out earlier with problems and incomplete features.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

I have mixed feelings about the screenshots. True, the game is graphicly much better than SEIV, and there seems to have been another layer of depth added (Ordinance and the like) but at the same time I fear the almost streamlined and caual look to the interface. The UI seems less serious, and I hope its not dumbed down.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

I think it is possible that I get dumber every year, so that might play in my favor.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Don't worry, there is more info/depth available in SE:V.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Crud. PBW hands it to me again.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

in my case, i'm pretty sure that its a documentable fact.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

I'm wondering if the ground combat plays as terrible as it looks.Maybe the ground stuff was a waste of development time.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

http://www.strategyfirst.com/en/games/SpaceEmpiresV/

Says

Release date: Winter 2006

Oh poo.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

i have to admit, the ground combat does look pretty bad. im sure its nice being able to have different troop types, and fighters, and possibly orbital bombardment all playing a factor.

But I think that I would have much prefered it in a non-interactive axis-and-alies style interface. much like se4, where you line up the us-vs-them and the various assest plunk away at each other.

even if facilities were going to come into play -- for defense, destruction, and capturing -- they could have been represented iconically on a summary page, instead of out of scale and in mid 90's 3D.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Given the history of SE IV, I think it's likely that SE V will be:

(1) "delayed", i.e. winter '06 sounds more reasonable than summer;

(2) a good, playable game on release, but much improved by numerous post-release patches and innumerable player mods.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

And we all gave a loud cheer because of number 2.
*Weeps a bit first then cheers loudly and completely forgets about number 1.*

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

I second this. I would have been *FINE*, to say the least, if a model like in MoO2 or MoO3 would have used. Some nifty visuals, maybe some large-scale tactical decisions, but thats about it. It looks really ugly. Hopefully it has some kind of auto-resolve lol.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

well, it must have an auto-resolve. just like 4, multiplayer games are supposed to be strategic-only. this kinda requires an auto-resolve.

unfortuneatly, after SE4, half the community whined for detailed ground combat. people complained that the existing interface seemed like an afterthought.

I'd much rather have the current system than some half-baked RTS clone.

Speaking of space games with ground combat, how about that Space Ranger 2?

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

or Star General...? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/Sick.gif

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Space Rangers 2 is a great game but the RTS isn't one of its high points, IMO. Either you'll like it or you won't. If you don't want to you don't have to ever fight an RTS battle (though you should probably play the tutorial battle just to find out.)


As for SE:V - feature creep can be a nasty thing. Just how long are games going to last if every battle, on the ground or above it, is fought on a tactical map? At least it'll be an option.

Who wouldn't have been happy with an enhanced Space Empires IV with swizier 24 bit 2D grafix (cos they look better 2D unless you're going to go the monster-requirements route needed for decent 3D performance.), higher resolution support and more tech trees? I'd have liked to see more complicated resource handling too. (ie resources needing to be moved around not just magically being Space Ported to massive warehouses dotted around your empire. Proper supply line management)

The Malfador website mentions new screens shots but if I check out the gallery the latest I can see are from 2005. I've been looking forward to SE:V but I never really looked too hard at the screenies before because in SE:IV the graphics just weren't an issue. But tonite I had a hard look at what there is of the screens and the interface looks crisp but the system map looks pretty drab and the tactical combat looks pretty bad, though that may be because it's a static image.

Really what I'm saying is I hope this new and improved Space Empires doesn't come across as some old slapper who piles on the makeup so she thinks she looks 21 again.

Anyway, too late to worry much now.

EDIT - and don't tell me that they had to go 3D to appeal to the mass market because this isn't ever going to be a mass market game. Gal Civ 2 already became that popular 4X game but how many SE:IV diehards see it as a similar game?

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

The Malfador website mentions new screens shots but if I check out the gallery the latest I can see are from 2005.

As has been mentioned before, the date is wrong. The latest batch is in fact new.

Gal Civ 2 already became that popular 4X game but how many SE:IV diehards see it as a similar game?

I think few see it as a similar game, but rather as a better game on most accounts. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif It may not be dumbed down enough for mass-market appeal though. GalCiv managed that part fine.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Say what?
SE5 is a Turn Based Strategy game.

Tactical combat of any sort is like cheating unless you're playing hotseat against humans http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif


As for SE:V - feature creep can be a nasty thing. Just how long are games going to last if every battle, on the ground or above it, is fought on a tactical map? At least it'll be an option.The same amount of time as they do now?
Tactical combat is for those who can't stand the heat of playing the pros online. It is pretty much cheating against the AIs.

Only in hotseat multiplayer is it fair to use, and then, yeah, it will take forever.
Just play simulataneous turn games instead, and all will be well in the world until Eorg stomps you with 5000 fighters.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

well, yes. same with se4. which is why im more concerned with the large scale empire management than with the combat aspects.


as long as the auto-resolve provides consistant and predictable results based on the statistics of the units involved in combat, i dont care what the graphics and effects look like on the back end. i'll never see them anyway.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

The combats do look somewhat better than how they are presented in the screenshots... MM seems to like big weird zoomed-in shots.

Tactical combat in SE:V is only available as it was in SE:IV so I don't see any problems with that. And I think a lot more people were in favour of expanded ground combat than those against it.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

I think the ground combat screen shots look pretty good. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

Yeh, they look bad to me =P
Ever played imperium galactica 2? Space empires with that ground combat is my dream.. here.

I only have 1 question i know cant be answered -
in a TCP/IP game when two players enter combat, is it strategic, or an option of tactical or strategic? I know the NDA won't allow anybody to talk about it, too bad even a PM wouldn't be allowed. Guess i'll have to wait.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

I agree as well. Ground combat is not what I was expecting for this game.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

I'd much rather have a complex ground combat engine to run by the host at turn processing than the craptacular SE4 ground combat system...

Graphics aren't what brings us to these games anyways, right? I'd rather have mid-90s graphics than force everyone to spend $800 US to be able to play the game.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

the only things wrong with the SE4 GC system, is where the mechanics dont operate as you would expect.

Iron out the mechanics behind the combat (hell, even make them visible in a log or something) and you dont need 3d graphics. have range, firepower, combat modifiers, and other factors all ground out into some mathamatical function, throw some minor randomization in, and you're done.

The only tactics I would want to assign to individual units are Firing Priority, and either Front-Line, Main-Force, or Rear-Support.

Ground combat can be very detailed without being graphically demanding. It could still be caried out with an interface similar to the SE4 interface. Sometimes less is more.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

You can just look at the results in your log...
Nobody is forcing you to watch the replays.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

The strategic mode is just the RT execution without the graphics so it takes into consideration all the factors (i.e. strategies, weapon ranges etc) which sounds like what you want Puke. However, I think it's a good idea that the tactical option is available for those who want it. Kind of satisfies both crowds.

Re: SE5 release is only 3 weeks away!
 

OK ummm silly question but it has been years and I've totally forgotten...

What is SE3 style Intelligence and Research mean?