SE 4 Gold

[c_of_red]

Ok, I'll try again, but that isn't what happens with me. My cokkies are enabled, but only local and short term.

[c_of_red]

Thanks Capt', that time it worked. I figure by monday or tuesday, it will be here. I'm so excited my toes are curling.

[Suicide Junkie]

While you are waiting, you should download the updates, mods and expansions.

1.95 patch:
http://malfador.com/se4dwngp.html

The imagemod:
http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/MM/SE4/imagemod/

And any mods that strike your fancy.
I reccommend my own, Carrier Battles mod
http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/...arrierBattles/

[c_of_red]

Updates yes, mods no. I'm not much on modding. I'll play for a year or so and then once I have the basics down, I'll try to find a fill in slot in an on-line (PBW?) game. I'm retired and have the time, so it would be a nice hobby. Brsides, the mods I've looked at seem like something from a Buck Rogers re-run. The Movie not the series. There is absolutly no need for aerodynamics in space, so a real spaceship will look more like a box girder bridge then 'spaceship'. Why go thru the cost and manufacturing problems to provide air-tight envitonments where they aren't needed? Curved surfaces cost more to design, manufacture and asssemble, not to mention, they are radar reflectors.
A spaceship most likly will be a main spar with the engines on one end to form a thrust axis and Modules with everything else attached to that spar. More like a tinker toy project then something from Star Trek. It is quicker, easier and cheaper to build a little box to put equipment in that needs atmosphere to function then to put that equipment inside an airtight 'hull' and pressurize it.

The reason why I want IV instead of waiting a few months for V is the patches. IV is a 'mature' game with the bugs worked out and the quirks know. V will have to go thru that process without me.

[Fyron]

None of the mods I have seen look anything like a Buck Rogers universe. What does the talk about how space ships look have to do with mods? Unless maybe you are confusing shipsets with mods?

If you think about it, why would advanced star-faring nations make ugly, purely functional ships? You don't inspire much fear or awe when your ship looks like it is just cobbled together. Further, the added cost of curved surfaces vs. boxy ones would be fairly trivial compared to all the high tech systems inside. I don't think it is reasonable to assume that real spaceships (at the point when we can travel to distant stars quickly and form 100s of planet empires, not in the very near future where it costs a considerable portion of GNP to just get a few spaceships running) will look like box girders or just be modules strapped to a spar.

And besides, there are a ton of SE4 shipsets that have no thought given to aerodynamics, only to aesthetics. But don't take my word for it, have a look for yourself.

There are some shipsets that look like your model of a spaceship though. 2001, for example.

[c_of_red]

Prolly I am. I was looking for patches and ran across a bunch of stuff that was called mods and consisted of new sets of Icons for various ship types.
I have thought about it. What is the point of building something esthetic that will never be "seen" except by radar or infared? You install all the fear and awe you want, I'm going to blow stuff up and kill things.
As far as cost goes; Nervos belli, pecuniam infinitam.
2 ships with the exact same performance and weapons, only yours is 'pretty', or scary ( to you, I doubt that your opponent gives a hoot. I KNOW the Computer doesn't), while mine is cheap and ugly. So your's cost 10K whatevers and mine costs 8K. So for 100K units, you get 10 and I get 12.
Like Uncle Joe said "Quanity has a quality of it's own"
Example; In WW2 the best US Figter was the P-51. What made it the best was that 14,819 were built in 4 1/2 years. The P-47 and F4U had better performance then the P-51, but they were more expensive to build (P-47) and took longer (F4U).
Technology changes, people don't. An engineer of 200 years in the future is going to look for the best solution, just like an engineer of today or 200 years ago.

[Fyron]

25% cost hike? Yikes. I doubt it would be anywhere near that significant just to make it more shapely... Maybe 2.5%.

[psimancer]

closer to the original subject
of mods vs shipsets

in spaceempires mods are actually more used as a way of changing the physics of the universe and adding components
specifically space empires basic uses non newtonian propulsion wheras most mods attempt to add some measure of newtonian physics to spaceship movement
and almost all mods add componernts for ship design like new and different weapons different armors different engines
some are designed to allow simulation of specific mass media environments
an example the starwars rebellion mod is designed to add components ship hulls movement and weapons that simulate the star wars universe

wheras shipsets/races are a set of pictures and sometimes also behavior control files (a.i and minister)to add flavor to the playing experience as such the race/shipsets have almost no impact on game mechanics (exceptpossibly in the mind of the player)

mods range from as little impact as fqm deluxe (allows the generation of larger more populous maps with more realistic terrain features)
to star wars rebellion
to a full change like space food empires or backyard wars (the toys will own your yard !!!!!)

so in actuallity you might try a few mods
the suggested basic mods are fqm deluxe and the image mod (adds additional images for use by other mods )
many people who play single player believe the game's a.i. to be easy to beat so one masterful designer created the TDM mod to add further smarts to the ai and make single player games more challenging

as such you might discover some of these more basic mods could add a bit more challenge to your single player games

[c_of_red]

Imperator Fyron said:
25% cost hike? Yikes. I doubt it would be anywhere near that significant just to make it more shapely... Maybe 2.5%.

This was scary, sort of.
Either you have zero understanding of 4X games or SEIV will end up being another box on the shelf where I keep bogus games. I hope not.
Let me try once to explain. The actual percentage is meaningless. All it (the percentage) does is affect the time factor (t) in the equation.
If you own a widget shop, and I own a widget shop across the street and I have ANY sort of efficeny advantage over you while all other factors are equal, you have a chapter 11 in your future. The difference between 2.5 percent and 25 percent is the time it takes to achieve dominance.
If the game doesn't relect this then It is worth the hard drive space it will take up.
I got the game Saturday and I'll load it tommorrow, so we will see.

[c_of_red]

So the Mod thingy allows players to play god and design a universe run by their own laws of Physics, if I got it right. Does that include the Laws of Economics and Politics as well?
I mean 4X is called 4X for a reason. Physics applies to eXplore and eXterminate mostly, but eXpand is mainly the Economic portion and eXploit is the Political aspect of a 4X game. Not that there is a distinct line between the seperate functions.
While the Laws of Economics and Politics are not as well explored as the Laws of Physics, they are just as immutable.
Any way, I got the CD and I'll start on this tommorrow and I'll know by the weekend.
In 1899 the director of the US patent office recommended shutting dwon the Patent office because everything that could be invented already had been and no new inventions were possible.