Are You Addicted To SE IV?

[Atrocities]

Its a simple question to answer so take the poll and or post.

[tyrrian]

addiction is such a strong word... i can stop anytime. really. i swear.

<font color="green">&lt;starts to sweat, convulse, becomes irritable&gt;</font>

just one more turn, though...

[Kamog]

Actually, I haven't played it very much these last few months. Too busy with work and other stuff. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Frederick_d_Ohlmann]

I were single before the game so it doesn't affect... But sure SEIV don't help...

[Renegade 13]

Yep, addicted.

[Gozra]

war gaming is part of my lifestyle. I used to play all sorts of different games. But this game(SEIV) has taken the place of just about all the others. A day will come when I can no longer play SEIV. I hope it is far off. I do recognize that I tend to make life decisions on if I have a turn waiting for me at home however I am seeing that I can't let the game take over my life so I do try to cultivate other activities. I still go to work even though it cut's into my playing time.

[NullAshton]

SE4 is fun, but I play other games more that it.

[Captain Kwok]

Addicted in the sense that it's been the only game I've really played for the last 4 years, and in terms of the time spent working on various items connected to the game.

[Imperious_Leader]

I'm in the very early stages of the addiction.....I have to get up at 7am each morning ....the other night I got home around 8pm decided to play a few turns next thing I knew it was 5am it was a very long day at work.I figure it will wear off eventually ,I'll still play but not as much as I am right now.

I wonder if I have time to play a turn before I have to leave.......sorry got to go play just one more turn.

[NullAshton]

Woohoo, you hate the Eee too?

[Atrocities]

I like the game for many reasons.

One it is fun to play, two it is fun to mod, and three it is fun in that it helps bring out my creative nature be it in story telling, ship set making, or modding.

It amazes me that the game is still going strong nearly five years after its beta release. Who could have imagined that this garage game, created by one or two people, could go up against such heavy weights as MOO3 and Gal Civ and win? My God what a testimate to the brillance of this games design.

Of course the modding community has played a big part in the success of the game and their controbutions should never be over looked.

To bad Aaron opted to go on to make SE V instead of providing an expansion pack for SE IV.

I would have gotten as much road out of this game as I could have before making a new one. If SEIV is still going strong, and I honestly do not know since I we do not have access to the sales reports, then why not make an expansion like they did with Gal Civ?

[Renegade 13]

For your first question "How many times a day do you play?", I answered 1-3 times, but the fact is that those sessions can last up to 3-4 hours at a time. Time just flies by.

[bearclaw]

Has it really been 5 years already? Wow.

[kerensky]

What is the meaning of this word, addiction? Space Empires does not rule my life. I am entirely free to leave the game as I choose and can even go for days without looking at it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and vaporize some EEE.

[Atrocities]

I should of allowed for multiple answers. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif me not that smart, I r aaa hi skool garyoudate. Dhuhhhhhhhhh

[luke_slovakian]

lol ja i am on the way to addiction espicially with me bad knee and all i can do is that:-(. but happy in a way:-)

[Intimidator]

Addicted ?

YES, offcourse. Indeed I plan my reallife to fit with my SEIV/PBW engagements http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
I still work offcourse , but at the job my mind is lot on SEIV/modding/role-playing.

So I think it's time to shoot myself , man am I pathetic http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[NullAshton]

Hmmm, I think i'm becoming addicted to it. NOOOO! Make it stop!

[luke_slovakian]

My day at school thinking.... Gal,Se4,gal,se4,se4, oh man i want to play that game. Gal, play se4 with her hahahahahahahah pathetic

[Fuzzie]

You mean that inner voice " come play .... , come play..." is not a normal thing? And honestly, that little crooked arrow is so tempting.......

Fuzzie

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Hello.

[CaptainAL]

I definately am not addicted... I can quit ant time I want to. I just like it a lot but that doesn't equal addiction. Addicted - that's what my wife said. What does she know? She is not in my brain - she is not a physic race! For her own good, because she does not understand what addiction really is, I let her know that I am doing business work when she yells at me to come to bed at 2 AM. I really only play on weekends, but because I hate to hold the other players up I am forced to play on weekdays, but only out of the goodness of my heart. I have to get the turns in, right? Sometimes I am late getting my son from school or for a doctor appointment because of that. Darn nag emails. That's what does it. "Hey! get your turn in already" makes me do it. If only it wasn't for those nag emails I would manage my time better. They do it. It's them, not me. Anyway, I don't have much else to do I don't think - not that's REALLY important anyway. Then there's those times when my empires get really really big. Whew, so many hours. That's not my fault. Wish there was more then 24 in a day. I'd get in a few more games that look good. Well, I am rambling - sorry. Just wanted to say that "addiction" is a very strong word, so think hard before admitting to that. BTW, I wanted to check out a SEA (Space Empires Anonymous) meeting because my wife was on my back - but only just to make her happy. I couldn't find one. Imagine that...

[Fuzzie]

Hi!

[Aris_Sung]

You know you're addicted when you start to formulate ideas on ship designs, potential treaties, who you can go to war with and win and make up war plans...while you sit on the bus, reading assignments, in lectures.... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Fuzzie]

In response to the spouse nagging, do what I did. I got my husband hooked too! :}

Fuzzie

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

I haven't really played the game in quite some time now. I mod, I mod, and then I mod some more. Then I go to sleep. In the morning, I go to school and actually dream up ideas during school time and sometimes I put them in a semi-data-file-like txt file and email it to myself. When I get home, I start modding. I have dinner. I mod some more. Then I go to bed.

In fact, up until about a week ago, I realised I haven't played any game for three or so weeks - VERY unusual for me as I'm totally addicted to computer gaming, and I used to play games for hours on end each day.

[Alneyan]

Fuzzie said:
In response to the spouse nagging, do what I did. I got my husband hooked too! :}

Fuzzie



Odd; it is usually the other way around, with the husband try to get the wife hooked to the game. But from what I heard (single here, so how would I know?), this is easier said than done. At any rate, hello and welcome aboard!

I would say I am not addicted either. It has been quite a while since I last felt the "one last turn" syndrom, and I never had any trouble quitting SEIV; at least, not any trouble worth mentioning compared to other games, like adventure or MMORPGs (or even trivia). Fortunately, I seldom have access to the web in the nights, so I do not have to fret about "playing until five in the morning before sleeping one hour and heading to school".

[NullAshton]

Now I've got JOMT syndrome, because of this thread. ARE YOU HAPPY?!?

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Yes, I'm happy. Heeheeheeheehee!

[NullAshton]

Must... play... one... more... turn... SOMEBODY STOP ME!

[Alneyan]

NullAshton said:
Must... play... one... more... turn... SOMEBODY STOP ME!



Very well. Shall we use lethal force to take you down? You have three seconds to surrender your SEIV disc. If you fail to do so, you shall be destroyed.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Strategia already pulls out the same WWI-looking rifle and fixes a sniper scope on top of it. He pulls back the slide to load a bullet into the chamber. As he aims and focuses the scope, NA gets up from behind his computer with his hands in the air. Strategia arches his finger around the trigger.

Alneyan: "No Lieutenant! Can't you see he's already surrendered himself?"
Strategia: "But sir, you said lethal force! Please...?"

Meanwhile, NA quietly sits down again and tries to hide behind the monitor.

Alneyan: "What the... He's playing again! Fire at will, Lieutenant!"

Will just enters the room as Strategia swings the rifle around to him. He stares puzzledly for a microsecond and is about to say something when the bullet hits.

Alenyan: "No you fool! Not THAT Will!"
Strategia: "What Will then, sir?"
Alneyan: "NullAshton! Shoot him! Now!"

[NullAshton]

STOP MAKING PEOPLE SAY STUFF THEY WOULDN'T SAY!!!

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Strategia, that's kinda rude.

[Atrocities]

We do have a list that one can read to see if they are addicted to SEIV. Its in the New Members Please Look Here sticy thread.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Ok. Sorry, Will.

And btw NA, why are you so jumpy? I mean, I only saw you say "don't make people say things they wouldn't say" AFTER I had already posted this.

[NullAshton]

*shrugs* Must be the phong. Ever since their invasion fleet penetrated my defenses, I've been very jumpy. Made the P-Blaster in defense. Very low amounts of PDC's, and high shields and weapons.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

I thought the Phong were pretty peaceful...? So whaddaya do to agitate them?

[NullAshton]

I became a threat to sentient races.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Mega Evil Empire huh? And howdya manage that without at least some research into PPBs?

Oh I know - quick expansion and rapid colonization. You've got so many colonies that you've got massive income but your battlefleets can't really keep up with your vast territory.

[tyrrian]

ROES (Rapid Over-Expansion Syndrome), otherwise known as "galactic sprawl" get's 'em everytime ;-)

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Not me. I colonize more slowly and focus on economic considerations. Especially research thrives under my rule. If a planet has 100% or more value of a certain resource, I'll buuld the appropriate extractors, but if all values are under 100% I only build research... even on a huge breathable planet. That way my research is HUGE. Once, I had researched EVERYTHING in a Low tech game - I scrapped all my research centers and built intel facilities instead..... CIA meets the SW Empire anyone?

[tyrrian]

monolithic technology is the way to go... depending on how resource-rich my starting system/sector is, i usually try to gain the monoliths as early as i can. by colonizing a few planets that have 100%+ to boost production in each of the three resources, i can usually afford to begin converting my homeworld or richer planets to monolith facilities in very little time. of course, building orbital spaceyards is key to maintaining an adequate level of defense during the industrial buildup.

once the changeover of ONE resource-rich breathable planet is complete, i usually have enough resource-income to pump up defenses massively while continuing to build monoliths on any decent planet.

a key here is to only build monoliths on planets where you will earn a decent return in at least two of the three resources. i would recommend building them only on planets with 100% or more in at least two of the three resources. (if your sector is resource-poor, ofc you can work with lower numbers like 90-80%.)

because monolith facilities are so expensive, building them on planets with weak resource ratings is usually impractical, as their income will not be sufficient to recover the building costs (in SEIV both the time and the resources not able to be allocated to other projects/maintenance can be critical in early turns.)

[NullAshton]

I got max PPB tech. It was 1 dreadnaught vs about 6-8 light and battlecruisers.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

And the DN was Phong?

I don't usually build Monoliths, as standard extractor facilities give you better production at a much lower price. Also, I often research Atmosphere Converters ASAP, and when I get Lvl 3 Converters I scrap all of my moon facilities and one facil on every non-breathable planet to build a converter. Cripples my economy for 3 years or so, but in the end I get to have a large domain of breathable planets. I don't usually start to build warships in earnest until I encounter a hostile species.

[Fyron]

StrategiaInUltima said:
I don't usually build Monoliths, as standard extractor facilities give you better production at a much lower price.

Monoliths give vastly more production than standard extraction facilities. 2.7 times as much, in fact. Even if you just want to produce minerals, that extra 1700 can be converted to minerals with a Resource Converter I and you get a total of 1850 minerals every turn, instead of 1000 for Mineral Miner III. Standard facilities don't even come close to the production of Monoliths.

Now, the cost of Monoliths is a concern. It does take a while for them to become profitable compared to standard facilities. But once they do, your economy will be so much more powerful than normal empires' that you can easily overwhelm them. Assuming same sized empires and that the others did not use Monoliths.

[NullAshton]

The dreadnaught was mine http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Most of my B-Destroyer's space is utilized with shielding and PDCs.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

I assume you're talking about some mod here Fyron... in stock Monolith III produces 700 of each resource per turn, and as I often get into slight economic trouble early on (nervous laugh) when my Min stores hit rock bottom and I'm forced to put all but one queue on hold, I prefer to go with the 1k Mineral Miner III (or am I mistaken here) to produce more resources... also getting hi-lev Miners/Farms/Extractors requires less research than getting Monoliths.

(And btw - I never build Monoliths on gas giants. Everytime I do, they seem to multiply and turn the planet into a small star system http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif)

[Alneyan]

His point was, Monoliths produce minerals and organics and radioactives, so 2,700 resources in total. You will not need that many organics and radioactives, but they can be converted into minerals, for 1,700X0.7 (about 1,200 minerals I would say). So a single Monolith is almost twice as productive as a Miner, provided all planet values are equal; but then, you won't be building Monoliths on planets with 0% radioactive and 3% organics.

The problem of Monoliths is, of course, the time needed to get them up and running. But nothing prevents you from first building the regular facilities and then switching to Monoliths; they only require SM III, and you *want* that technology as soon as you can afford it, while the other economic techs (Mineral Extraction, Organics and Radioactives) do not give a lot of benefits, unless you are willing to sink a *lot* of research to get all the way to level 9 (where, at least, they beat the Computer facilities, and only since 1.91).

[Fyron]

StrategiaInUltima said:
I assume you're talking about some mod here Fyron... in stock Monolith III produces 700 of each resource per turn...

That would be the Monolith II. The Monolith III produces 900 of each. Mineral Miner III produces 1000. Monoliths are far, far more productive than normal miners. They just cost a lot more, so it takes a while to get the monolith economy going.


StrategiaInUltima said:
...and as I often get into slight economic trouble early on (nervous laugh) when my Min stores hit rock bottom and I'm forced to put all but one queue on hold, I prefer to go with the 1k Mineral Miner III (or am I mistaken here) to produce more resources... also getting hi-lev Miners/Farms/Extractors requires less research than getting Monoliths.

Monoliths are an added bonus for the required stellar manipulation technology. I never build them in the early game, more of the mid to late game. I usually only start building them around the time I can support a sufficient fleet to start conquering my first neighbor...

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Problem is, I never sit around a (sp) game for long enough to even GET to mid-game for at least four months or so. Probably six or more.

Oh and I know the value of Stellar Manip tech. Once, when playing the Pexlerr (a game where I actually researched everything and colonized about 15 or 20 systems) I started out in a corner and a damned system full of a Neutral race (forgot their name, the green rocky Berzerkers) was blocking my path to the rest of the Galaxy. Battle cruiser after battle cruiser (stock game, not Capship, as that wasn't really in development then) was lost. Fleet after fleet got crushed when trying to glass their homeworld. Eventually, I sent in a cloaked star destroyer... the rest was history. So was that Neutral race. I recreated the planets and colonized where appropriate.

Then later, I ran into the Phong and had an on-off relationship with them for a while until my last save. The game is still loitering on my HD.

[NullAshton]

Use monoliths instead of organic and rad mining facilities. By the time you get it, organics and rads will hardly be of any use. And yes, mineral mining facility III gives you 1k minerals each. With the scanner II, you get 1.2k a turn http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

System robotoid factories. And planetary robotoid factories on each planet. I do not know if the values will stack but if they do I get 60% production bonus on everything, which means 1.6k production (at 100% value). Now I do not construct extractors for things with values lower than 100%, so the 1.6k value will be higher still...

and I do not use resource converters for some reason.

[NullAshton]

Interesting... I never use resource converters either, more micromanagment x.x

[Fyron]

Resouce converters are a galactic dictator's best friend. Not using them is a very bad idea.

A planet and a system robotoid stack. They also affect Monoliths, which brings the total production of each of them up to 4563. Compare this to 1600 and Monoliths are even better. 2963 extra production instead of 1700.

[douglas]

StrategiaInUltima said:
System robotoid factories. And planetary robotoid factories on each planet. I do not know if the values will stack but if they do I get 60% production bonus on everything, which means 1.6k production (at 100% value).


Not only do system and planet robotoids stack, they are one of the few things that stack multiplicitively instead of additively. That is, a system and planet robotoid combined multiplies production by 1.3*1.3 = 1.69 instead of 1+.3+.3 = 1.6. Of course, this makes mineral scanners better by an even larger margin, as a mineral scanner 3 and system mineral scanner 3 combine to give a 110.25% production bonus.

[NullAshton]

Holy crap...

[RudyHuxtable]

My problem is that I'm addicted to addictions.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Erm... correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that (stock) Scanners Lvl III and Robotoid Factories both have 30% bonus? So a system scanner + planet scanner is equal to a system robotoid + planet robotoid for minerals? With the difference that the robotoid also improves org/rad collection ofcourse and only takes up one facility slot... (two if it's the planet with the system factory, as it will probably have a planet version as well, unless it's a worthless moon)

[Alneyan]

Mineral Scanners/System Mineral Scanners (and their equivalents) give +15/+30/+45 bonuses since 1.91; before this patch, they gave +10/+20/+30, like Robotoid Factories, and were thus useless. Now, they can actually be helpful, if you have several million research points to sink into getting Mineral extraction to the highest levels.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Ah, I see. I've still got 1.61. Oh well. But I guess that from now on most of the games I will be playing will be either Capship or Realism as soon as I get those finished, and they've both got additional helpful facilities.

[NullAshton]

I got the latest version http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Atrocities]

I recall there was a stack issue or something with one or both of the Robotoid Factories when stacked with either the system Mineral Scanners or other. I don't recall specifically which was which but I do recall it was an issue at some point.

[Fyron]

Atrocities said:
I recall there was a stack issue or something with one or both of the Robotoid Factories when stacked with either the system Mineral Scanners or other. I don't recall specifically which was which but I do recall it was an issue at some point.

It might have been a bug many years ago... however, a planetary Mineral Scanner is meant to stack with a System Robotoid Factory, or a System Mineral Scanner with a planetary Robotoid Factory. But not planetary Mineral Scanner with planetary Robotoid. You get the best of all of the planet-affecting abilities on the planet and the best of all system-affecting abilities in the system for each resource. Robotoids and Mineral Scanners use the exact same abilities (at least, as far as mineral enhancements go).