Questions from a new SE player

[Regnor]

Hey fellow spacefarers:

I'm new to the SE world just having received my copy of SEIV the day before Thanksgiving!

I have numerous questions, mostly small stuff that isn't obvious in the manuals (at least, I couldn't find it):

a) How do you remove Waypoints from the screen? They seem to stick around forever.

b)Can someone explain how Tactical combat works? I cannot figure it all out from any of the manuals. How do I determine which weapons to use (e.g., how can I choose a missile followed by a beam weapon).

c) The economics of constructed items is bewildering. Tell me if I have this correct:

- An item has a "Cost", this is a one-time resource hit at the time of construction.
- An item's maintenance is 30% of that Cost each turn. Is that right? That seems awfully high (after 4 turns I've doubled my cost)?
- The net amount of resources produced by a Facility is equal to the facility type amount, times the planetary value for that resource, in addition to whatever bonuses are appropriate, minus maintenance. So, mining Minerals with a Mineral Facility I at a planet that gives 50%, means paying 1500 for the facility, paying 450 in maintenance each turn, and producing 400 Minerals per turn. This is a losing proposition, no?

d) When are they going to add LAN or TCP support to the multiplayer? Having played a lot of Call to Power II lately (great game) I don't buy the argument that turn based empire builders don't function well as real-time multiplayer games. Take a look at CTP2, they really got multiplayer down perfectly.

e) Is there any good written information about this game that I can read at my leisure somewhere other than on my computer screen? The manual for this game is awful! HTML (what they call the CD Manual, which is not on the CD) isn't any better, serving as a general reference guide. This game screams for a great manual or strategy guide.

The interface was really daunting, it took me a long time to figure most of it out, but in the end I'm blown away by the depth of this game and its replayability. I find myself coming home from work each night and staying up wayyyyy too late for "just one more turn", I love it!

Thanks Malfador!

Thanks,

Regnor