Played SE IV long ago, and considering SE V.

[Dogboy]

I am an old VGA Planets/Stars!/Space Empires IV player. I enjoyed them all, though I haven't played for a couple of years.

I'm considering setting up an SE V game for a group of friends who played the earlier games with me. The reviews say it is very buggy, and I recall SE IV having a good deal of micromanagement. On the other hand, those probably all were written with ver 1.0, and I see we're up to 1.71. And, the popular gaming press tends to favor fancy graphics over deep strategy. They don't understand our "culture" -- people who relish all the flexibility that games like SE have.

One issue is that some players have busy schedules and are worried that what starts out as a manageable 20 minute a day game could turn into a 2 hour daily marathon in order to micromanage their empires.

I'd also appreciate perspectives on game balance. I remember with some of the earlier games, where you started had a heck of a lot to do with your success in the game.

Also, does the game give significant rewards to taking a "munchkin" approach (e.g. if you spend hours reading the forums can you find quirky approaches that are pretty much undefeatable?

Finally, what are best parts of the game? Is it an improvement or a step backward from SE IV? I see that diplomacy is really more sophisticated. Also, you can control ground combat. Is that a really cool part of the game, or just a distraction?

I'd really appreciate any perspective those of you who play SE V might be willing to share. Thanks!