Things I don't like in Space Empires 4

Fionn · #1 September 6th, 2000, 08:13 PM

I remember having both Rules of Engagement and Breach II - the pair that "fit together" to handle ship-to-ship and boarding actions with the two seperate programs. It was awesome in the extreme! I think the only reason I stopped playing was because my Amiga died and I finally went PC so I could bring work home. Couldn't find copies of the games for that platform by that point . . . :-(

If it were left in my little monkey paws, I'd come up with a data packet protocol that'd allow stats such as boarding party info, ship layout and so forth to be handed about between applications. That way, 3rd party developers could come up with various add-ons (the boarding module, the ground combat module, the super-fancy 3D space combat with retreat option module . . . ) that could be added or subtracted from the line-up as desired.

SEIV Plug-Ins, IOW. :-)

A note on the interchangable launch facilities - I agree (for whatever that's worth) that it is probably just a bug. I picture the facility as specialized launch and recovery faciities that can handle just their specific type of "cargo". I think an interesting addition, however, would be a generic Hanger component. At the cost of increased size and cost, to handle the larger multi-purpose facilities and tenders, it could launch anything from mines to fighters.

Oh, and I'm also a proponent of being able to change star (system) names. I'm tired of setting up shop in the Devonshire star system. I thought Devonshire was in England, not out beyond the Crab Nebula.

wingte · #2 September 6th, 2000, 11:39 PM

Found a new one I don't like.. When I put a space yard ship into a fleet.. I lose tha ability to access it's construction que and it appears to stop building and will only do repairs.

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Wingte

Master Belisarius · #3 September 7th, 2000, 12:56 AM

Wingte: are you using a Space Yard component, or the Repair Bay?
I'm using ships with Space Yard component, and have not problems...

My complaint with the Space Yard, it's that the Space Yard component have a great size, and also, I don't like the limit of only ONE Space Yard per Ship/Base...
In SE4 I can not build a lot of ships at the same time, like I did in SE3: now is very costly to create 10 Space Stations with one Space Yard each one...

Darwin · #4 September 7th, 2000, 02:03 AM

Every time MM does another SE the ship yards get worse and worse.

I loved SE2's build method.

wingte · #5 September 7th, 2000, 03:03 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Master Belisarius:
Wingte: are you using a Space Yard component, or the Repair Bay?
I'm using ships with Space Yard component, and have not problems...

I am sure that I am using the Shipyard. It is 400kts and barely fits in a cruiser.. I have determined that it will complete a build project that was started befor I added it to a fleet. But when it gose into the fleet, I can't add anything to the build que.

My complaint with the Space Yard, it's that the Space Yard component have a great size, and also, I don't like the limit of only ONE Space Yard per Ship/Base...
In SE4 I can not build a lot of ships at the same time, like I did in SE3: now is very costly to create 10 Space Stations with one Space Yard each one...

YEP!!!!! That was what prompted me to start looking at the Vehical Size File since that is where the other limits are set.

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Wingte

Noble713 · #6 September 7th, 2000, 05:46 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Master Belisarius:

In SE4 I can not build a lot of ships at the same time, like I did in SE3: now is very costly to create 10 Space Stations with one Space Yard each one...

Unfortunately SE4 can't support the SE3 method of ship construction queues (which was superior), however, it one can revert to the SE2 method, but I find that to be high on the cheese meter. Building 10 dreadnoughts in 1 turn isn't realistic, but building 10 of them at once and taking forever makes sense. In the Starfire gaming material there are space stations with 50+ space yards, each building a separate ship, and there is no way I can recreate that in SE4.

Mephisto · #7 September 7th, 2000, 02:54 PM

I hope that MM will some day get back to the good old space yards as in SE3.
I loved the space yards, I loved to move the ships to build around and making plans what would be better, repair this ship or that and don't build this because of the repairs or build the new one and repair later...
You got the point. Well, this is now missing, very much to my regret and I don't see why this was done. At least bring back the repair queues, I want to choose which ship is repaired first. Please!

And for the rest... good job, MM!