[kosh]

There is a game (much weaker than SEIV) that uses an intersting twist on PBEM battles. They use something called VCR which gives you a visual battle movies when you receive your turn (to watch if you wish). It is cool and makes you feel more into the game vs dot and only a message indicating what happened in the battle.
I have not played SEIV in a PBEM game - can some shed some light on what you get in response to a battle.