[cswiger]

Originally posted by Skulky:
coudl someone please explain what this david weber deal is. I sure wish i knew being the umm un-avid sci-fi reader i am. I used to read some but that was in 5-7th grade when anything looked good so i don't have much of a discerning taste anymore.

Well, SE4 gameplay and incremental upgrades of modular components (esp. weapons and the range & damage increments) feel very much like Starfire universe. In particular, two books by David Weber & Steve White called "On Death Ground" and "The Shiva Option"-- which means, "glassing" a planet because you can't afford the combat losses of a ground fight.

They end up using 4 levels of fighters, gunboats, drones, all of the normal ship sizes in different vehicle classes, varied weapons combinations & missile/fighter/point-defence/primary beam weapon vs. shield&armor battles, ECM & cloaking, warp point assaults, and, Last but certainly not least:

The risk of exploring and coming across a race that's bigger, nastier, more advanced, and regards your species as a tool-using food source which is (temporarily) inhabiting *their* planets.

[And why you should always scout cloaked.]

Anyway, the second book starts off with warp-point maps of around 100 stars, occupied by around a dozen different races, which explore, fight, trade technologies, etc. I've always assumed that SE4 was a spiritual descendant of Starfire plus military/Sci-Fi books-- something by S.M. Stirling-- "The Domination of the Draka", or David Drake, perhaps Horatio Hornblower.

-Chuck