Fundamentals and Gamey

[Slick]

I look at it this way. Everyone starts with the same number of points, which is perfectly fair. Then you set up your race the way you choose, which is also perfectly fair. Now, your overall game plan has to be coordinated from the first click of setting up the race until the game is over. You need to set up your empire knowing how you set up your strengths and weaknesses and play accordingly. You have to be flexible to adapt to the in-game specifics, but so does everyone else; again fair. Now managing your empire relations is as important to your game plan as anything else. Sizing up other races as targets, allies, co-conspirators, or whatever should be done with your game plan and your relative strengths/weaknesses in mind.

One of my favorite games is "Risk". In that game, if you are playing with good players, it is often not the seemingly most powerful player that wins. Position, alliances (yes, with some backstabbing too), and timing make all the difference. The same is true in SE4. If you are leading in position #1, be prepared for everyone else to see you as a threat. If you are "sucking the hind tit" (pardon my French), then you are not seen as a threat. In either case, you have to play accordingly. I can remember playing Risk with this one guy who would always position himself around 3rd or 4th place during most of the game and he would always win by a combination of tactics. He would get the strong guys to fight each other and weaken themselves, he would ally with others to strengthen his position, he would strike at the perfect time. All these apply to SE4 and to consider them "gamey" is to lose the flavor of the game.

Yes, there are good players out there, and being beat by them is a good way to learn. It is easy to get into an always-win mode when playing agains the AI and then feel slighted when a human cleans your clock. The goal is to learn from each mistake, take your lumps and one day come back to be king of the hill (to borrow a cool title).

Slick.