I tend to like it. I havn't played SE4 for a couple of days either.
My biggest gripes are smaller things. The way nukes (as far as I have noticed with the tacticals I used) don't seem to harm units at all. Though they do massive damage to the surrounding tiles.
The way smaller units still seem to have little enough trouble taking out obviously better units. I have had nuclear subs taken out by frigates and ironclads... That just isn't realistic at all.
The AI is the games strongest point. In my first game I wound up being responsible for WWI because of several failed spy operations on a neighboring empire (the aztecs).
To give a bit of a feel for the game I will do a small story of how it went.
See the attachement. It got too large.
The way air units and cruise missiles work is also much better. As is the way that nukes are used and the level of customizability when making your world in the game.
I would say it's a good buy if you liked Civ2.
[This message has been edited by Cyrien (edited 09 November 2001).]
Correction to statement above about nukes. They don't suck as much as I thought. I checked a saved game just before I launched the nuke again and about 9 out of the 20 cavalry where killed, while the rest seem to have taken some damage. Hard to tell since the least damaged goes to the top of the stack and he didn't take any damage it seems.
[This message has been edited by Cyrien (edited 09 November 2001).]