Red Alert!

[Atrocities]

OMG, another new 4X game has come.

To Read Gamespots review (http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/reviews/0,10867,2840236,00.html)

Star Ships Unlimited (http://www.matrixgames.com/games/starshipsUnlimited2/features.asp) web page.

[ 31 January 2002: Message edited by: Atrocities ]</p>

[disabled]

The game has weakness now, but it can easily cause significant damage to Space Empires IV. MM must move quickly to provide gamers a reason to come to the SE franchise while the narrow window of chance put fate's favor in MM's hands.

[Atrocities]

Hey, when are you going to add my sites link to your site?

[disabled]

When I get SE.org back Online. More hands are needed to help keep it Online with the new format... sadly..

SE.org 7.2 will be nearly 5 times larger then what it was at it's climax.

[Skulky]

So are we all banding together to fight of the SUII menace or something? I think SE4 is much better even if only for the community. As a game it is much better and will continue to be so, no worries.

[Emperor's Child]

The game looks like junk to me, I don't think anybody who plays SE4 has a worry. They describe an "average" game as having about 6 ships, which is peanuts for your SE crowd. Not much depth to the tech, no mod ability by players... Naahhhh, it will never really be a threat.

[geoschmo]

The graphics look cool I guess. This is not a new game though. It's been around probably as long as Space Empires as a shareware game IIRC. This is just a new Version with publisher support.

Am I so hopelessly out of step with the whole gaming world? What's the deal with all these "Real Time", strategy games. Why does everybody want their games to be real time? I like turn based. I like being able to plan and plot at my own pace, and even do other things away from the computer without worrying about coming back to the charred remains of my empire.

The features say you can pause it at any time. So what's the point with making it real time to begin with if you can pause it at any time?

One of my favorite shareware games was a little World War II game called WinWar. They updated it while back and made a bunch of cool graphics and added some very nice fog of war features. But they made it real time. ARRGGHGHGH!

I guess I just don't get it.

If SEV is gonna be real time, I don't want it.

Geoschmo

[Puke]

i tried to play the demo, and i found the interface dificult to use. i didnt have the control over my ships that i wanted, and the research seemed very linear. complex structures could be built on planets, but i had no feeling for what they did (aside from guessing based on their name) or what limitations were. i was able to build ships and blow things up, but it was more like shooting in the dark.

maybe with the manual or if someone who was smarter than me took a look at it.. i just didnt find it very fun.

[mottlee]

I looked at the web site and the screen shots...SE4 is IMO much better the graphics are different but SE4 can be played on a 200MHZ system and this one takes min of 300 (tho is there a way to get SE4 to run off CD? can't load onto laptop http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif ) I think I'll keep SE4 and drool till I get my copy of Gold http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Richard]

I wouldn't worry guys about this game, while quality, is completely different than SE:IV. Pre-sales of SE:IV continue to be strong, this game has been out for about two months now.

[Aub]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by geoschmo:
Am I so hopelessly out of step with the whole gaming world? What's the deal with all these "Real Time", strategy games. Why does everybody want their games to be real time? I like turn based. I like being able to plan and plot at my own pace, ...<hr></blockquote>

I agree completely - I am the same kind of guy. I wasted too much tiem and money already trying to start liking any of the "real time strategy" games out there, and I gave up. My only problem now is that the "real time strategy" and "real startegy" games usually get the same space on all gaming sites. So I have to filter out all real time ones myself. It's like if someone decided that strategy games and first-person shooters are similar kinds of games and started putting their reviews into the same column...

Having said all that, there is some sense in the way "real time" is implemented in SU. Suppose they made it completely turn-based. Because you don't have too many things going on (only 6 ships, a bunch of planets slooowly building expensive structures), often you would get no events when you hit end-turn. So the only logical thing you can do really is to hit the end-turn buttin again and again, until something happens (or you are blue in the face http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif ). Their real-time simply means that they press that button for you. The game goes on until something happens, and then it pauses and waits for your actions.

Now I am not claiming SU has executed that policy 100% accurately (e.g. they DONT pause when you spot an enemy ship on your radar!). And, independently of that, there are too many things it is missing (starting with multiplayer http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif ). But being real-time is not the weakest point here. It's one of the rare cases when real-time does not hurt much.

Aub

[LLB]

I'd like to echo some of what Aub and Geoschmo have said here regarding RTS games: I can't warm up to them either. I haven't tried SU, but judging from the review it sounds as if SEIV is much the better game.

One of the things I saw in the review that sounded very loud alarm bells for me was the weak AI criticism. Nothing can kill a 4X game deader for me than an AI that doesn't properly develop its empire in the early game, so that by the time you find them they are so far behind that there's nothing for them to do but roll over and stick their paws in the air. SSI's Star General, for example, had some really nice features (including a planet invasion and ground combat system that I wish somebody else would emulate), but the AI was so weak that in the end the nice features didn't matter.

By contrast, I've played MOOII *a lot*, and at the highest difficulty levels I can still lose if I'm not careful. I don't have nearly as much experience with SEIV, but I'm still finding the AI a competent opponent.

[Atrocities]

Speaking of being able to pre-order, guess what.. I can do it now. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[tesco samoa]

Guys. Matrix games has put out some great games over the years. And there war games are great.

IF this game isn't good right now they will get it right. Which in my books is good for us and good for the community.

You should check out some of there other games and there free games.

Steel Panthers is a great game. And they have Pacific war !!!!

So download the demo and try it and post your findings here.

[disabled]

I always watch the other guys, it's not paranoia, but I never dismiss anything as being insignificant unless I made it get that way.

I suggest we drop to Yellow Alert.. lol

[Tampa_Gamer]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by LLB:
SSI's Star General, for example, had some really nice features (including a planet invasion and ground combat system that I wish somebody else would emulate)<hr></blockquote>

I totally agree. I still load that game into my hard drive every now and then just to get a taste of *real* invasions. I am hoping that the MOO3 described invasions will come close to this.

-TG

[LLB]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Tampa_Gamer:


I totally agree. I still load that game into my hard drive every now and then just to get a taste of *real* invasions. I am hoping that the MOO3 described invasions will come close to this.

-TG<hr></blockquote>

Yeah, the descriptions sound promising. Or maybe we can coax Aaron into taking it on for SEV. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[Daynarr]

Well, ground combat has lots of room for improvement, that's for sure. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
Like you guys, I was also enjoying Star General. I am just too busy to play it lately (and there is SE4, of course).

[PsychoTechFreak]

It does not look like it would become a multiplayer game soon, does it mean the AI is THAT good ?
http://www.matrixgames.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=7&t=000049

[mac5732]

Tampa Gamer & Daynar, I'm another who enjoys Star General, However, It always ends up freezing up, I have never been able to get the patch to download, and belive me, i've tried everything!!!
Any ideas or suggestions? Both my one son and I enjoy this game, its the freeeze ups that tick us off... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif so we don't play it that much anymore

just some ideas mac

[LLB]

I haven't played a game of Star General in probably three or four years. I don't recall any problems with freezing, but I was playing solo games only. I haven't tried it on newer machines and OSs, and I haven't tried it multiplayer, so it's possible that your problems with the game are coming from one of those sources, Mac. As I said, the weak AI killed it for me.

[LLB]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by PsychoTechFreak:
It does not look like it would become a multiplayer game soon, does it mean the AI is THAT good ?
http://www.matrixgames.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=7&t=000049<hr></blockquote>

Well, the Gamespot review that Atrocities provided a link for in the first posting in this thread *criticised* the AI.