Great game, and some questions...
 

I got my copy Last Thursday and I have to say that this is easily the greatest 4X TBS game ever made, and it is a contender for the Greatest Game Ever title. The only weakness SEIV has is the AI, but after I installed TDM that seemed to go away.

I just have a few more n00b questions:

1) Is there any way to retrofit all ships of a given class at once? I upgrade my ships fairly often, and it's a pain to go down the fleet list and manually retrofit each ship.

2) If a battlestation has a Space Yard and some cargo locations, can it make it's own mines/fighters and store them in its own cargo bay?

3) How long does a normal game usually take? I'm in a mid-size galaxy with 9 AI players, and it feels like it's taking a long time (~15 hours so far).

Re: Great game, and some questions...
 

1) No, we've asked for it before but it's apparently a lot of work to arrange for. There is an 'upgrade minister' but you can't give it directions. If you turn it on it does what IT thinks should be done, not what you want.

2) Yes, but this is actually a problem for the AI. Players can use it fine, but the AI doesn't know to get things out of the SYB cargo. A base with a space yard, cargo, and mine/satellite bays is a great way to make a self-sustaining warp point defense. Add fighters into the mix to chase strays that get away from the satellites and you have a complete defense without ships. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

3) How long do you want it to take? You can play for days easily. That's what makes the game so great, you can get totally absorbed in it.

Re: Great game, and some questions...
 

Hi Creepo.

1) Just to add a little, which you may know already: You can multi-select ships for retrofitting in the retrofit window as long as they are all the same "beginning" class.

Re: Great game, and some questions...
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">And, of course, as long as they're in the same sector.

Oh, and to emphasize something in Baron Munchausen's post, the basestation with space yard and cargo bays also needs the appropriate launcher to use mines/sats/fighters.

Finally, as for game length, if you look at the AI Deathmatch thread, the games are typically Lasting 150-300 turns; and there's a cutoff at 500 turns in case neither empire manages to destroy the other. For a shorter game, try a smaller galaxy and start at high tech. I'm not certain if games are faster with more AI or with fewer AI. Oh, and if you want a longer game, try using the Proportions mod for SEIV... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Great game, and some questions...
 

You can also get a longer game by playing as a pirate or a nomad in the Pirates and Nomads mod. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Great game, and some questions...
 

Beware: Fyron's suggestion may result in a much shorter game, mainly due an unprepared human getting slaughtered http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Great game, and some questions...
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes, but then you get mad, and do it again to take revenge upon those evil AIs! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Great game, and some questions...
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Once I realized the implications of 2), I almost wept with joy. Mining WPs is central to my defense plan, and a Mine-producing Battlestation is just what the doctor ordered. I am also about to produce my first Baseship, which has a SY to replenish fighters between battles.

I wasn't really complaining about the game length; I find it amazing that the Tech Tree is paced so well that I never feel I "skip over" anything. There was an age when a Light Cruiser was the terror of the stars... Of course now I am going up against B5 and Floral battleships. This game is aweseome!

Re: Great game, and some questions...
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Moreover, if for some reason you think research is too slow or too fast, you can swith to low or high research cost for your liking !