OT: SEIV

[tinkthank]

Sorry, I see "SEIV" written here in different contexts. Seems like it is a game. Or is it something else? What is it? And is it good?

[Arralen]

Think, tank ... it's Space Empires IV.
Guess where you can find it ...

[quantum_mechani]

tinkthank said:
Sorry, I see "SEIV" written here in different contexts. Seems like it is a game. Or is it something else? What is it? And is it good?

It stands for space empires 4, another game published by shrapnel. I have played it, but it never captured my interest like dominions.

[The_Tauren13]

I have the demo, but didn't really get too interested. I guess its supposed to be really good though...

[Oversway]

I played it for a long time before dominions. I'd say that yes, it is very good.

[Gandalf Parker]

The game is OK, but the MODs really make it. Increases everything a hundredfold or more. Map size, images, techs, and definately the races you can play. It has alot of the same "hooks" that dominions has such as a large number of variations for creating your starting nation which allows for alot of "playing it your way"

[Ironhawk]

I played the SE4 demo as well but could not get into it. It had some really cool and innovative features. My particular favs were the diplomacy features and the different (positive and negative) relationships you could have with other empires. And the way it handled Intelligence/Counter-Intelligence operations. But aside from those things it was an absolute MM nightmare. Like Mictlan blood economy MM on crack!

[PvK]

That's interesting to me, because I like both games a lot, and am slightly surprised that only some of the players of both games appreciate the other game. It's also really interesting to read this:

Ironhawk said:
I played the SE4 demo as well but could not get into it. It had some really cool and innovative features. My particular favs were the diplomacy features and the different (positive and negative) relationships you could have with other empires. And the way it handled Intelligence/Counter-Intelligence operations. But aside from those things it was an absolute MM nightmare. Like Mictlan blood economy MM on crack!

Even though I know each player has really different tastes, it's quite interesting to me that one of the few players here on this OT D2 forum topic who so far has expressed a appreciation of SE4, says the opposite of the typical SE4 fans! That is, if you read a thread on the SE4 forums where the diehard fans list the weaknesses of the game, they will point to the diplomacy and espionage systems as two of the weakest points of their otherwise beloved game, and they sometimes say Dominions' management keeps them from getting into it! Really interesting.

Anyway, I guess for both games, if it's a type of game you like, then both games are really good at what they do. Personally, these are two of my favorite games!

PvK

[Taqwus]

Last I played (a loooong time ago, pre-Gold even) late-game micro was a bit painful; I had to take notes to track which planets needed atmosphere converters and which facilities needed to be exchanged for Monolith IIIs. In particular, Monolith IIIs are very very nice given a resource converter, but you couldn't give an 'upgrade' order that would work en masse and you couldn't afford to scrap them ALL at once and go for Mono IIIs. 'course, for multiplay, this might be less of an issue with one their being more pressing things to do than massively overhaul of the economy with Mono IIIs and improvement plants.

[PvK]

The Gold edition and the later patches really fix a lot of quibbles and to me really added up to a major improvement. Resource coversion only requires one facility to convert huge amounts of resources, and can be set to repeat orders.

However, like Dominions, the amount of late-game management depends on the map size and your play style.

SEIV has a great automated multiplayer site too at http://seiv.pbw.cc .

PvK