SEV Recommend?

[Demorve]

Shang, I used to play those games as well, but remember those were turned-based, not real time. I have played computer games that used firing arcs as well and enjoyed them. The point I'm trying to make here is that you could have 50,60 or 100 or more ships that look a like, but need to be used in a different ways because of their design. This can get confusing. Take one look at Starfury, that game had firing arcs and directional damage. Do you really want to try and control 50 such ships all at the same time?

Raapys, Isn't the purpose of having tactical combat is so you can manually control your fleets. If I want the AI to handle all my combat I will just play GalCiv2, because the AI is far superior to SEV. I have played RTS games where I did control over 50+ units and through the use of key bindings, unit consistency and an efficient UI I was able to maintain control of all my units. It got hectic but it wasn't cumbersome.

[President_Elect_Shang]

Another old timer too!
No I wasn't trying to make a point. I was talking about board games and this is a computer game. So I really don't see how the two can be compared. I just thought it was funny to have to keep up with all those ships and the papers for them. It was so hectic. Now we have the computer, no more papers but it still seems just as hectic. On topic I did like the idea of firing arcs at first. Anymore I think they would be bad for the same reason CPT Kwok pointed out. How to keep the ship sets balanced? You can't ask the players to go in and balance a ship set just so they can play it. You certainly can't ask the modder to do it. Some modders have the skills and some don't. With the modding curve of SE5 and the shipset curve I think you will see clear lines of division form. Put another way I could mod a ship sets firing arc but how funky would it be for a Super Star Destroyer to shoot green stuff out its butt right? I liked the first line of your reply Raapys; it made me feel very old!

[Suicide Junkie]

Its not all about micromanaging your little tokens (although that can be great fun if you maintain a tiny little empire)

Rolling in huge fleets to support your allies against a huge and powerful enemy is great too: http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/...an1_turn05.jpg

And using 300 ships with complementary strategies and designs plus a tide-turning strategic manoeuver (pincer attack FTW) to overcome an enemy force of 400? That's golden.
http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/...Tudran2_02.jpg

Once you get up into that level of the game, the little guys don't matter so much anymore... Manoeuvers, supply and politics become key. Individual planets fade, and become defensive lines and shipbuilding provinces.

[Wardad]

SEV still sucks.

[Atrocities]

I played SE V hundreds of times. I have thousands of hours of play time on the game. Albeit none of my games lasted longer than 150 turns before crashing or locking up. Do I play it now, not really. I am still having problems when launching the game. (It tends to crash despite two fresh re-install attempts.)

Would I recommend the game now, in a word; yes. Yes I would. I think it is a wonderful game that any true 4x game lover would enjoy. However I would also recommend that also buy SE IV. While the games are similar in name and game play aspects, most people find that after an hour of playing SE V, they want to throw their mouse out and slam the monitor into the wall. That is why I recommend SE IV, if you find that you dislike the frustrating aspects of SE V, then perhaps you should give SE IV a whirl. Less frustrating.

[Kamog]

Atrocities said:
I played SE V hundreds of times. I have thousands of hours of play time on the game. Albeit none of my games lasted longer than 150 turns before crashing or locking up.

Same here. Every time a new patch comes out, I play a few games, but they don't last more than around 100 turns or so. I like to play 255-system galaxy with 20 players, and SEV still has problems with that. Until the most recent patch, the processing turns got too slow at around turn 80 and I got tired of waiting 20 minutes between turns, so I'd start a new game. The turn processing is faster now with the current patch, so now the slow part is the ship movement at the start of the turn if you've got hundreds of ships. I could live with that, but every game I started with the most recent patch has crashed or locked up before turn 150.

I'm waiting for the next patch and I'm not going to start any new games of SEV until the patch comes out.

[Raapys]

*Shrug*

Gets a little better with each patch. And even if it's still far from top-notch, it's the only game of this type we've got. As I see it, GalCiv, SotS, etc. are so vastly different and simplified that they can't really compare, and Master of Orion 4 doesn't appear to be coming out anytime soon.

[Suicide Junkie]

it's the only game of this type we've got.

Actually it isn't the only one. It has a strong competitor in SE4.

[Wardad]

Master of Orion 4!!!
MOO3 is the only game I ever tossed in the garbage, and they paid me $5 for buying it.

Shame though, I heard some mods made it playable.

[Raapys]

They paid you to buy it? O_O How'd you manage that?!