Your History With SEIV

[bearclaw]

Ahh, memories of SE2...

I had a roomate who had this CD of shareware games. I was checking out the different ones when I came across something called Space Empires II. After two games of the demo Version, I was hooked. Simple yet still intriquing. The very notion of a game that allowed you such customizing features of your ships! Wow. At the time, I didn't have internet access but wanted the full Version, so I called a friend of mine and asked if he could check it out for me. He told me to come by later that day.

Later that same day, I pay my friend a visit. "Sorry," he says. "Couldn't find SE2." Damn, I thought, "But I did find SE3!" Cheeky bastard. Got home and proceeded to play SE3 for HOURS on end. Good thing I was single then...

About a year or 2 later, I heard that SE4 was in the works. I thought 'How could this game be improved?' I could think of nothing that could make this game better than it already is. But then I saw my first screen shots. That made for the longest year I can remember waiting for the release. First July, then september, then October, Then xmas. WHEN WOULD THE TORMENT END!!!

I preordered my copy the same day it was announced.

But then, came this news message on Malfador about something called PBW? Sounded interesting and I haven't played a single player game since.

I met Andreas Lescano through his Star Wars SE site while playing SE3. Imperial shipsets for me, all the way. I had developed one and utilized some of Andreas work into what I played. Once I saw the racestyles of SE4 I knew I wasn't going to be able to create anything like that. So, I talked with Andreas, who couldn't get a full Version in Argentina at that time, and asked him for a custom set. I told him what kind of ships I wanted for each size and Voila!! He created the beautiful Imperial Shipset I use nearly exclusively (thank you Andreas).

Now the Empire is strong and thriving in several SE4 PBW games.

Nick (bearclaw)

[Baron Munchausen]

quote:

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Originally posted by Spyder:


Yep, me too....but I heard that it was going to be an RTS game

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No, only the combat will be real time. And if you think about how complex it is going to be, how can it be otherwise? Have you ever played an SE IV battle with 100+ ships in tactical mode? Did you finish before some part of the computer broke down? They claim it's going to be very slow so you don't have to depend on your click-speed to win. Essentially, it's the 'impulse' or 'initiative' combat we've been hoping for in SE IV, just sped up a little bit.

[Baron Munchausen]

quote:

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Originally posted by ZeroAdunn:
X-ploration
X-pansion
X-???? poliation maybe?
X-termination

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Yes, those are the 4 X's to my recollection. eXploration of the galaxy, eXpansion of your empire, eXploitation of resources, and eXtermination of the enemy. (That reminds me... has someone made a Dalek SE IV race yet? Would be cool to see them go up against the Borg! Exterminate! Assimilate! >pow< )

[TacticDragon]

4X = eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate

MOO3 is actually advertised as a "5X" game, the 5th X standing for eXperience. And yes, the battles will be in real-time, but the strategic dimension of the game is turn-based, as it should be. I am not worried about this, since the MOO series has traditionally always been very concerned about gameplay and game balance. And, as a big fan of Homeworld, I think space battles are actually best rendered in real time and 3D. Imperium Galactica and SW Rebellion battles were also RT/3D and it worked great.

I like the idea of "eXperience", since I am constantly looking for the ultimate gaming experience. I'm sure most of you here would agree that gaming is not about winning, but about playing, i.e. the game or the "experience", is its own reward. I just hope that this is what Quicksilver has in mind when they mention the "5th X", and that it is just not some phony marketing thingy.

It certainly is a challenge for a game designer to create a good gaming experience. Ideally, a game should not have a preset difficulty level. Rather, the game should adapt the difficulty as the campaign unfolds.

Think about this imaginary situation: you have struggled in a SE4 game and overcome all the challenges the AI has thrown at you. You know you have won the game, and what is left of it is only hours of boring "insect crushing" of the Last enemies, as you lazily finish to research the Last technologies, and you spend more time micromanaging your 200 colonies than doing exciting stuff...

Sounds boring? It is... But, suddenly, out of nowhere, a warp point from another galaxy appears and an alien invasion fleet strikes your empire with fiery destructive force... What are you going to do? Sounds cool? It would be... This is an example of how the game decides that you must be bored and it gives you a new challenge. Unfortunately, such a game is yet to be invented. Just think about it...

[DirectorTsaarx]

I found SE2 way back when (in the days of Windows 3.1, so probably late 1995 or early 1996), and loved it. I'd played Star Fleet Battles in college, and had been looking for a computer Version of SFB. Then I switched employers in late '97, and didn't have a computer at home until late 1998. At which point I loaded SE2 on my computer (yeah, you could load SE2 on a Win95 box). Then I realized I should look to see if Malfador was around and making improvements to the game. Lo and behold, there was SE3! So I started playing SE3, and deleted SE2 ( ). And, like everyone else, waited with great anticipation for SE4.

I was one of the first to send in modified files for SE3; like most of the other modders for SE3, my first mods tended to create overly powerful components at early tech levels. So I backed off, and finally settled on adding more fighters (different weapon loads, larger fighters at higher tech levels) and more variety in planetary defense facilities (I especially liked the Ion Cannon - a facility-only weapon with very long range). I have a feeling that those mods (along with everyone else's Versions of fighters & facilities) ended up as the inspiration for the fighters and weapon platforms in SE4...

[dogscoff]

Seems relevant to this thread, and I haven't plugged it in a while: Do you have your SEIV code? Check out my sig for more info. Here's the relevant bit:


4X Legacy
=========
L++++ In my day, computers were the size of houses and we had to play wargames using little painted figures.
L+++ I've been playing 4X games since the days of steam computing. I remember when this was all asteroid fields...
L++ By the time SEII came out I was already a dedicated 4X fan.
L+ My first 4X game was SEII
L My first 4X game was SEIII
L- I played the demo before I bought SE4. Does that count?
L-- SE4 is my first 4X game.
L--- I'm still playing the demo.
L---- I'm still playing SEIII.

L? 4X Legacy. Isn't that an Australian Lager?
L! I don't own any 4X games, not even the SE4 demo. Sorry.
L!+ I don't own any 4X games, but I really want to get into them.
L* I attempted to conquer Europe in a previous life. I'd have done it too if not for those meddling kids...

[Cyrien]

I did some paper pen stuff before I had a decent computer (had a 286 with no HD but two low density double sided disk drives and a monochrome monitor and 640k memory! woohoo) though maybe I'm not being fair since I did play lots of early games off the disk . On the computer I started with SE2 in 1995 off of a Shareware CD with a new Win95 Pentium 100mhz computerwith 16 RAM blah blah(woohoo). Then SE3. Then SE4. And lots of stuff like MOO2, Stars!, Pax Imperia, EotFS and many others.

Look forward to MOO3 and Stars! Supernova Genesis.

All the games have their strong points and their weak points. Moo2 was good... but the combat system was flawed what with the shoot first never recieve return fire thing going on.

I just want to see what the future has in store. Hopefully someone will get the genius idea of combining MOO, SE and Stars! with all their best components into one united game front as these three IMNSHO(Not So Humble Opinion) are by far the best of these types of games.

[mac5732]

I like the idea that TD & Spyer mentioned. Similiar to Birth of Federation where the Borg shows up. Now I'm not a programer but I have seen a lot of the vets/modders here create new races etc, how hard would it be to create a new race, make it super xenophobic, weapons, ships, etc, program it to only enter game on a random factor each game, sometimes after MEE arrives, maybe before MEE, and others situations, it arrives from more then 1 entry point, fleets glaze and capture/colonize planets, begin new empire, all the current tech available to them, they start at specific levels in each or certain tech areas, Maybe give them several starting fleets of a specific number or a random number of turns as reinforcements, to get started, etc. Couldn't you just take a current race and tweak or modify its traits, change weapon names and increase their strenghts etc in order to do this? I'm not sure about how you would implement the random factor.
Is this possible or at least something capable with the current system to implement something like this. If anyone interested, I or maybe one of you could start new thread on this so we don't clog this one up with discussion. Sorry for being off topic.

just some ideas mac

[TacticDragon]

First of all, I realize some of my postings are a little "off-topic" and I am creating a new thread called "eXperience: the 5h X" to move the discussion dealing with how to make SE4 more challenging in the "boring phase" of the game.

But, to address Spyder's concern about Homeworld: I agree that Homeworld easily became a "click feast" and I just hate that in a RTS game (even more than I hate pointless micromanagement). Even though it was pausable, it was impossible to give orders while in pause. But the graphics, the music, the storyline, and the overall "mood" of Homeworld were so great that I still loved it. I spent a lot of time in pause though, and kind of "prepared my orders" while in pause, then unpaused to quickly actually "give one order", then paused immediately again to do the same with the next order. This was true especially in combat situations of course.

[Gryphin]

Wonder if a new thread should be started for:
"My life leading up to SEIV"
My first 2X (eXpand, eXterminate) was a board game, "Tactics II". This ruined my college carrere. Eventualy the paper Version of Star Fires. This brought my retail carrer to an end. At some point I found Empire II, III, and Deluxe.
That was, (my now X) wife's fault, she make me go sell computers. A "friend" introduced me to SE III. That contributed to the "D".
Now that I'm single, it is all I play.
I wonder how many others have the "same" story?