Was Considering getting this Game -- Opinions

Corey,

1. I find 1.44 stable enough. From the sounds of things 1.58 needs a patch, and then that should be everything on my bug wish list fixed.

2. There was one remark about it, once. It's basically a rumor until we hear more. But it's a guarantee I'll be getting a copy if there is.

3. There better be a Space Empires VI, else they'll be a riot or something. I don't see why the series would stop. But it'll be another few years yet I imagine. Remebering that Malfador Machinations is a one man band.

4. Balance Mod is very good. I'm also really looking forward to Captain Kwoks Nova Mod.

5. The game is fun single player. Multiplayer is where it starts to become a really amazing game. Even the smallest games are epic, lasting months and the diplomacy and deals can rival a series of B5. Getting a group together to play is hard though.

imho:

The game is stable. There are no show stopping bugs, just a couple of things to be fixed, which no doubt will be.

An expansion is reportedly planned, but is not worth waiting for, we don't even know what might be in it. Same answer for SEVI. There was a 6+ year wait between SE4 and SE5, that would mean SE6 is 5 years away, not worth thinking about now...

The single player stock game is more of a tutorial if you are a hard core 4x fan because the AI doesn't play well. The good news is, its a fun tutorial and there are at least a few well done, commercial quality mods that make the AI worth playing against in Single Player.

The game is fun in Single player with a mod. I love seeing a large fleet action of dozens of Capital ships, fleet carriers, fighters, picket ships blasting each other to space dust. Even a one on one ship action is pretty cool. Compared to Moo2 (one of my top 10 all time games) its got triple the options for research and ships and weapon systems.

IMO, the 4X games you mention are all of a different breed than SEV, though I have not played Civ 2-4. I have played MOO3, and I have played MOO2 fairly regularly, mostly online, for the past 8 years or so. For the most part, I play SEV multiplayer...I just recently started my first "intend to go a long ways with it" single player game.

The difference is in the scope and depth of the game. Comparison point: I can play a 1-versus-1 game of MOO2 against a human opponent in 4-10 hours, depending on game setup and such. Assuming one micromanages most of the game's elements, a 1v1 game of SEV can take weeks or months, simply because there's so much to do...turns can take a significant amount of time once the game develops. Things can settle into a mode of "several turns per week", depending on compatibility of schedule between you and your opponent. When more players get involved, games can get a lot longer.

The same relative difference in time requirements will also apply to single player games. Note that turn processing time is one of the complaints folks have made about SEV, though I understand it has improved with patches.

I like SEV. A lot. Unless you are very strapped for both $$$ and time, I'd say it's well worth your $15 or $20 to try out; save yourself some trouble and get the Balance Mod when you start your first non-tutorial game.

However SEV is likely not the best straight-across replacement for MOO2, Civ, or whatever, simply due to the difference in scope.

answer to your questions:

1- the game has been fairly stable after 1.43 patch. It is really not the buggy anymore. Most of the current bugs don't crash or stop the game; some game mechanics don't work as well as they should. And 1.58 IMHO is definatley a lot better feature wise than 1.43; the extra features make it a totally different game.

2- expanion packs are not planned yet but /c the game is already so moddable some view the expansion pack irrelevant. IMHO, BM 1.10 is luck an expansion pack for most games out there.

3- Probably but not in the near futures. I would say at least 2+ years.

4- Modding in this game is definatley its strength. Let me say that before SEV, I would never mod a game b/c of difficulty and bugs that arrise. IS SEV, there is a gametyoes folder. All you need to install a mod is extract the mod to that folder. You can have multiple mods that way. My favorite mods are:
1) unnammed AI ( very smart AI compared to stock; will beat most good players)
2) Balance mod (BM 1.10)- In my opinion a totally different game as in expansion pack. ALso packs good AI

5- I have the following 4x games (Stars, GalCiv2, CIV4) and I play SEV the most. There so much to do in the game that time flies. a good single player game normally last around 200 turns or 40+ hours per game for me. The AI in Stock is not as bad now as people make it to be. It is a decent challenge for new players. with unnameded AI mod; I am always challenged to stay even with them. After 150+ turns, only then the some AI empires start to lag me as of lack of resources. It is very compititive game AI.

I hope i covered everything.

I would ask back, what kind of player are you and what do you look for in a game?

This is not a smooth easy to play simplified 4X game like Masters of Orion 2. This is a very complex, tinkerers game, where you can basically customize just about anything and even jump in and start re-programming it if you want to a certain extent.

I will always love this game for it's near infinite customization capabilities, but it is not nearly as stable as a fine product from MicroProse or (the immortal) Blizzard.

That's because it's basically a one guy show. He's no Derek Smart, though, he's a very NICE guy, and we have the god-like Kaptain Kwok here on the board as auxillary support man, er, green eye-stocked thingy, who has given me huge amounts of help and support through the birthing pains of this product.

All that is done before the naked stars is remembered

I would say the stability problem is solved quite good now with patch 1.58. it may depend somewhat of your system. for me 1.44 was still quite bad but with 1.58 i had not a single crash so far.
I checked everything that came in the market and for me SEV5 is the first game that can be considered as a improvement of the legendary moo2 made 1997.

when it first came out it was in a very, I mean a VERY bad shape, now it's a different game altogether, so if you like to take your time with games and think things through take it - because if not for any other reason - it's only going to get better and better.

Well most of what i want to say has been said already. but as a fan who got hooked on SE3 i feel the need say it again

The game is stable. There a couple of things that don't work so well, such as alliances, although i think they're getting fixed right now. and ground combat is awkward. its do-able but i find it more simple just to glass a planet and start over.
expansion is a maybe. i don't see the point. anything new MM comes up with i think he should just put into SE6. which i'm most certain will come along. unless MM makes enough money to retire on SEV, i'm willing to bet he will make SEVI and maybe Starfury II ??

As for mods. unnamed AI is a must for me. i like the stock layout (research, component stats) but the AI is to weak. Balance mod is another good one i have, it changes ALOT in the game though. the research tree is different and component stats are all different. still good, and the AI is stronger too. FQM is some galaxy art. Everything looks prettier, its really nice.

Overall opinion? I'm addicted. i play this game for days on end. its sick. I've only played mutliplayer a few times, i keep missing game starts... blah. The single player is good to learn with. The computer is too weak and stupid to do anything interesting. (unless you have a mod) I just tinker around, blowing up stars and such.
Empire building is pretty complex. you have to worry about supply to your ships. Invasions can get cut short if you run out of supply and since your ships can't fire or move without supply they don't last long in enemy territory. Population control is pretty involved. Keeping planets full to increase production but still spreading across the galaxy. I think happiness is broken right now but that will add more when it gets fixed.
i've played CIV 1-4 and got sucked into them too. SEV is much more involved. Turns in CIV4 took a max of 10min? i've spent over an hour doing 1 turn in SEV, between battles(you zoom in to the action - Total War style), creating ship designs (you design all your ships/units) and planning invasions the hours fall off the clock

Keep up the good work MM

The game totally rocks now with the 1.58 patch.
Don't hesitate any longer.

excellent.
i'll play a stock multiplayer game with you.
how do we go about setting this up??

Make it out via instant messengers or on IRC or private messages on the forums - instructions how to set up a game can be found on pbw (in the faq)

http://seiv.pbw.cc/text/index.jsp?menu=mainmenu.jsp&body=faq.html

~~~~
http://wiki.spaceempires.net - Visit the SpaceEmpires Wiki and help improve it.