Abandon SE4?Opinions:Space Empires 5 screen shots?

[Captain Kwok]

Production is like SE:IV but you can construct multiple items per turn for any item.

[Roanon]

I have stopped playing SE4 some time ago, not enough time being one but not the sole reason. I will give SE5 a try, definitely. I still have doubts that I will start playing SE again with the new version, though. From the screenshots on the Malfador webside, eye candy seems to have the biggest part in the new design. Seems to be the new design style: take an old game, make it simpler and worse, add eye candy and fancy 3D graphics. A concept that fails every time I have seen it. I hope Aaron doesn't get too carried away with graphic design. A screen with 90% graphics and 10% boxed in a corner with a tiny part of the total data, forcing me to make my own spreadsheet in order to have a minimal overview over the game - I don't have time or fun to do this any more.

As also mentioned by others, real-time is an issue. It ticks me off every time I read it. If I want to play a game where the number of mouseclicks per second is the most important factor, I would go and play Unreal or whatever, not a so called real-time "strategy" game. It seems to be there is no forced realtime aspect in SE5, but I still fear - it's a crazy idea to introduce realtime in a strategy game in the first place, and with crazy designers you never know what happens...

MOO3, the biggest failure ever - I hope Aaron doesn't try to use parts of its design in order to prove there is a viable game behind it. Games where 90% of my efforts are directed to prevent the "helpful" stupid AI to ruin my empire are not my idea of fun. I don't mind management even if it means micromanagement. They way to reduce micromanagement is macromanagement and scripting, not artificial stupidity ruining the game if allowed to.

I do hope the testers do their job properly. Which is difficult if you hire dedictated fans to test your game. The proper testing is not seeing a new feature, getting all exited about how wonderful it is, and using it every way the designer intended to admire it even more - even if this is what I too whould probably do . A proper tester must have the will to BREAK every feature, trying not to use but to EXPLOIT every rule in ways never intended by the designer - this is the only way to find loopholes that may otherwise ruin the game when hitting a market full of merciless players after release. I would recommend a second beta phase with more testers, especially players being totally new to SE if possible.

All in all I have mixed feelings and it seems to be very unpredictable what will finally emerge. I hope the lack of informations about SE5 does not mean the designer expects disappointment and disapproval, and tries to hide to avoid the heat.

[dogscoff]

Where has this myth come from about se5 having realtime combat?

Everyone listen carefully:

SE5 DOES NOT HAVE REAL TIME COMBAT.
It will be turn-based combat, just like se4. Prettier, yes, but otherwise no different to se4. Definitely not realtime.

Are we clear on that? I mean it's been stated half a dozen times in this very thread already but the message doesn't seem to be sinking in. Should we get it added to the thread title?

The next person who breezes in here whining about non-existant realtime combat is gonna get a swift kick in the combat simulator.

[Kamog]

Um, Malfador's site lists "Detailed Real-Time Tactical Space Combat" under the features for SEV...

[Roanon]

dogscoff said:
SE5 DOES NOT HAVE REAL TIME COMBAT.

I'll fully believe it as soon as you convince Aaron to scratch it out of his official feature list of SE:V on malfador.com. Till then, I'm still in doubt.

[Captain Kwok]

*sigh*

Space Empires 5 does have tactical real-time combat.

However, there are lots of options available so that a player may execute the combat in any way they want. This includes automatic pausing, which allows for a fair simulation of the turn-based tactical combat in SE:IV with the exception that the ships execute their orders concurrently.

[Aiken]

I only care about freedom of modding in se5. AI scripts is an improvement which I'm waiting for.
The more you can change, the better game's potential.
And I've already abandoned se4, it has nothing to offer to gamer and modder already. It has no tools to change an inner game mechanics and different mods add only a little variety. It was a great time playin' se4, but something new shall appear.

[Captain Kwok]

There is twice as many data files in SE:V than SE:IV.

[Ed Kolis]

Would you be at liberty to name a few of the new ones, just as a teaser?

[StarShadow]

Ack! If that's what combat is going to be like, then the chance of me liking SE:V just dropped to 15-20%, real-time anything does not belong in a TBS game, regardless of what it can kinda, sorta emulate. I'm definately with Roanon when it comes to graphics, too many games lately are graphics heavy/gameplay lite. Most of the games I play are old games, such as Alpha Centauri (I can barely stand Civ4). I'll give the demo a try, but I'll likely be going right back to SE4.