.com.unity Forums
  The Official e-Store of Shrapnel Games

This Month's Specials

BCT Commander- Save $8.00
winSPWW2- Save $5.00

   







Go Back   .com.unity Forums > Shrapnel Community > Space Empires: IV & V

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old June 14th, 2007, 01:32 AM
cshank2's Avatar

cshank2 cshank2 is offline
Corporal
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 121
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
cshank2 is on a distinguished road
Default Man, it\'s just not there.

Is there something wrong with me? I could spend almost an entire day playing SEIV. It's been, and still is, one of my favorite games.


I was pumped for SEV but... I don't know... I just can't play it for hours like I can SEIV. It has to go in thirty-minute spurts or something.


What's different?
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old June 14th, 2007, 01:36 AM
Kana's Avatar

Kana Kana is offline
Captain
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Texas
Posts: 962
Thanks: 0
Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts
Kana is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Man, it\'s just not there.

For me its hunting for information.

I fired up SE4, so I could get ramped up to particpate in the PBC IV game. Now you could say it was just familiarity with SE4, but I found it very easy to get any information I needed while playing with one or even two clicks of a mouse. And basically that is how the rest of the game played. I may need to play a bit more of SE5, but I really don't have that same kind of experience.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old June 14th, 2007, 01:45 AM
Randallw's Avatar

Randallw Randallw is offline
Major General
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Tasmania, Australia
Posts: 2,325
Thanks: 1
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Randallw is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Man, it\'s just not there.

I am a devoted SE player. Happy to help out, even if it does sometimes cause trouble. Personally though I prefer multiplayer. I get bored fairly quickly if I play single player. Better to have a handful of games where I do one turn every few days. Also I am not very nostalgic. I have no trouble moving on to something new. All my SE4 games have dried up and I am considering deleting SE4 to free space.

So that's me. I can't answer your question as it seems I just experience them both differently to others.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old June 14th, 2007, 02:16 AM
Kamog's Avatar

Kamog Kamog is offline
Lieutenant General
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 2,903
Thanks: 1
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Kamog is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Man, it\'s just not there.

Same with me. I used to play SEIV sometimes almost continuously for a whole day or more. With SEV, I couldn't do that because there's still some little annoying things about the user interface that start to bother me if I keep playing for more than a couple of hours. SEV has improved tremendously though, from when it was first released, and it is becoming more and more enjoyable to play, and I could it play it for longer and longer before I have to stop. The patches and Captain Kwok's Balance Mod have really made things better.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old June 14th, 2007, 02:20 AM
Randallw's Avatar

Randallw Randallw is offline
Major General
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Tasmania, Australia
Posts: 2,325
Thanks: 1
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Randallw is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Man, it\'s just not there.

oh yes of course balance mod. It's the only type I play. I played stock once and quit when I discovered I couldn't build base yards from the beginning.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old June 14th, 2007, 03:16 AM
cshank2's Avatar

cshank2 cshank2 is offline
Corporal
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 121
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
cshank2 is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Man, it\'s just not there.

Yeah, I think it's the interface in SEV... It's just... so... clunky. I mean, really. Why couldn't they just keep the normal interface and add 3D? Or something.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old June 14th, 2007, 10:38 AM

Raapys Raapys is offline
First Lieutenant
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 689
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Raapys is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Man, it\'s just not there.

There's three major problems I'd say. The UI, as has been mentioned, very long turn processing times, and harmless AI.

It's great to see the dedication Aaron is giving the game, though, and I have hopes that all these three issues will eventually be at least partially removed.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old June 14th, 2007, 11:04 AM
Atrocities's Avatar

Atrocities Atrocities is offline
Shrapnel Fanatic
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: USA
Posts: 15,630
Thanks: 0
Thanked 30 Times in 18 Posts
Atrocities is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Man, it\'s just not there.

Quote:
cshank2 said:
Is there something wrong with me? I could spend almost an entire day playing SEIV. It's been, and still is, one of my favorite games.

I was pumped for SEV but... I don't know... I just can't play it for hours like I can SEIV. It has to go in thirty-minute spurts or something.

What's different?
I think that SE IV and SE V are two different kind of games. One is certainly more fun to play than the other and as to why well who knows.

I ten to play SE V for only a few minutes before stopping. I think the game is a great game, but just not the kind of game that I enjoy playing for long periods of time. As you said is just simply doesn't have it.

The game dynamics are very different between IV and V. While I think IV is a superior game for game play, V certainly has far more features for modding and it has 3d aspects and ground combat.

Personally I would have loved to see the UI updated for SE IV, and small 3d models used for the planets and ships. This way the planets would spin, the ships would be true 3d and wouldn't get all pixely when seen at angles. I would have been fine with keeping the top down combat system, so long as the ships were 3d and looked and acted according. Adding ground combat would have been a great addition, and updating the UI to have a more SE V look would have been great.

After thinking about it for a while I think that SE IV is for the true gamer, a person who isn't interested in eye candy so much as function ability, game form, and immersion. SE V is a beast compared to its older brother. The ships are bigger, the planets and systems are larger looking, and the game is for all intents, a brand new take on an old idea. SE V is a new game period. Like all new games that take on the mantel of an old and beloved treasure such as SE IV, expectation are high and seldom equaled.

I love both games. I just prefer to play SE IV over SE V because SE IV is more my type of game. SE V is a great game in its own right but it isn't the kind of game that blows my skirt up. Much like the GalCiv games. They are all good games, just not what I am interested in.
__________________
Creator of the Star Trek Mod - AST Mod - 78 Ship Sets - Conquest Mod - Atrocities Star Wars Mod - Galaxy Reborn Mod - and Subterfuge Mod.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old June 14th, 2007, 11:07 AM
Spoo's Avatar

Spoo Spoo is offline
First Lieutenant
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Toledo, OH
Posts: 641
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Spoo is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Man, it\'s just not there.

For me, the major drawback to SEV is the turn processing times. In SEIV, most turns processed in seconds - leading to the "just one more turn..." feeling. SEV takes much longer. By the time a turn is done processing, "just one more turn..." has changed into "well, I guess I'm done after all."
__________________
Assume you have a 1kg squirrel
E=mc^2
E=1kg(3x10^8m/s)^2=9x10^16J
which, if I'm not mistaken, is equivilent to roughly a 50 megaton nuclear bomb.
Fear the squirrel.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old June 14th, 2007, 11:16 AM
Atrocities's Avatar

Atrocities Atrocities is offline
Shrapnel Fanatic
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: USA
Posts: 15,630
Thanks: 0
Thanked 30 Times in 18 Posts
Atrocities is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Man, it\'s just not there.

For me the main turn offs for SE V are:

1. Although I love the 3d systems, they feel to large and overwhelming for my tastes. I like the smaller look of the SE IV system view. To me the SE IV system gives more information at a glance and I don't have to "navigate" the camera to see what I want to see.

2. The lack of information and or sorting of information that is SE V's trade mark drives me bonkers. I love that in SE IV I can look at something and know instantly what it is I want to know. If I don't see it, its a click away or a quick sorting option to find. SE V is bulky and cumbersome and doesn't offer the same ease of finding information that SE IV does by default. I miss my icons in SE V.

3. The click fest that is SE V.

4. The lack of logical controls. If you click on the main panel which might be a planet or a ship, all you get is a larger view of that object. What help is that? It just seems that things are not as well organized in SE V as they were in SE IV.

5. The music at game start up is just annoying. I would love to have the ability, and I am sure its there somewhere, to turn that off once and for all.

6. The lack of characteristic settings. God I miss those.

7. The fact that Kwoks Blance Mod hasn't been made part of the stock game. (No offense Aaron, but Kwok is onto something.)

What I do like about SE V couldn't fit on this forum. There are so many things that just make me smile from ear to ear when I think about them. SE V is a wonderful game filled with many wonderful things. From the 3d ships to the new treaty system the game is packed full of coolness.

To me SE IV and SE V are two seperate games. A long time ago I suggested that SE V be named something different but was laughed at. Now in retrospect that wasn't such a silly idea after all. Calling SE V Space Empires: Conquest of the Stars would have been a great name for this stand alone game. Calling it SE V just wasn't fair to either game.
__________________
Creator of the Star Trek Mod - AST Mod - 78 Ship Sets - Conquest Mod - Atrocities Star Wars Mod - Galaxy Reborn Mod - and Subterfuge Mod.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 12:00 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©1999 - 2024, Shrapnel Games, Inc. - All Rights Reserved.