First turns Research and builds.

[Alneyan]

I almost always go with Construction, Mines and Fighters early on myself (it should be over around turn 20 or before). Mines are a powerful defence early on, Fighters are a mobile defence, and Light Carriers are adequate vessels (about the same as Light Cruisers, with in-built cargo and more hitpoints, but easier to hit and somewhat more expensive). Light Carriers also make very good minelayers, as they are able to lay many mines on a single turn while carrying quite a few such mines.

I believe your problem with warships and technology was that you did not expand enough: expansion is a key part of the game, as the more colonies you have, the merrier (and the more powerful you will be). Colony ships are cheap to build, and they can be sent to several systems away to build a forward spaceyard there, which in turn will produce more spaceyards to claim more systems.

Your best bet for defence in the expansion phase are those Mines: they pack quite a punch, and several Minesweepers will be needed to remove them. By the time someone else has the means to build a small fleet and enough minesweepers, you should hopefully have a solid economy, allowing you to build adequate vessels. The AI may be eager to get into early wars however, much more so than human players, so this may be a problem (though you spoke of Dreadnoughts, so I guess it was later in the game).

[TheDeadlyShoe]

yes, early expansion is extremely important.

[kerensky]

As said above, expansion is the key. I believe someone on the forums once said that you should colonize like mold. When I first start a game, the first thing that I build is about five to ten colony ships, with a frigate or two thrown in there somewhere. Make sure taht you are also building a couple of research facilities on each new planet to ebsure that you have ample supplies of research points. Another thing that I have heard on the forums is that everyone has their own method of research. Paly the game a few times and experiment with the different tech trees. Also, try playing a game with full research to help figure out what tech treed lead where.

[Atrocities]

Pysics 2 - Phased Poloron Beams
Construction 1
Mines 1
Armor all the way -

Defend your planets with 1 to 2 CSM/DUC weap platform, a swarm of mines. Deploy mines everywhere. Warp Points Planets, etc.

Once you get PPB, as stated above, you've won the game.

[Riesig_Bar]

Alright I am going to print this thread and then try to organize it into a strategy for starting. Then I will try it. I might have time to play this weekend. I hope.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[Hunpecked]

Atrocities' advice is consistent with my experience against the AIs. I would add, however, that PPBs are less effective against optimized AIs (e.g. Berzerkers) or generic AIs with ECM, unless the player counters with sensors and training facilities.

I concur with the advice about early expansion and suggest following the standard 1-colony-ship-per-turn policy for the first 11 turns, with one or two spaceyards ready to take over when the homeworld is forced into slow build.

So far this thread hasn't mentioned min-maxing your racial traits, but this is where the game can be won before it's even played. I'd suggest enhancing research, construction, mining, and maintenance abilities at the expense of ground combat, intel, trade, farming, and refining.

[Blueentity]

Brand new to posting on this forum, but since all I have played is against the computer (AI); I have a few things to add:

You are going along, colonizing a planet or two, clicking screens and all of a sudden, your planets are under attack, your economy is tanking and your ships are facing weapons you’ve never even heard of. Welcome to Space Empire IV (SEIV). Unlike most of what is available from the gaming industry, one can and often does lose in the start of the learning curve of this game. The best advice is to get up and try again. Eventually, you’ll figure out some strategies on your own by learning what doesn’t work. SEIV does not start you with some simple scenarios, then slowly add technologies as you can handle them. You can (as did I did many times) get blasted out of the galaxy very quickly as you learn about this game.

All the suggestions so far assume that you are colonizing every planet you can as fast as you can, building facilities to keep your economy in the black and pumping research as much as you can. My guess is that you may be having trouble holding onto those planets?

Weapon platforms (and satellites if playing with mods)

A. If you are playing against the nominal AI from any of the demos or Gold, use weapon platforms (WP) with capital ship missiles (CSM) and large mounted Depleted Uranium Cannons (DUC) to keep your colonies safe for quite a while. If you keep the construction costs of the WP less than 2k, you don’t even need to start building these until you actually see another AI player, and then only where you need them. In the default game, one of these WP will stand up to quite a bit of punishment in the beginning of the game, giving you breathing room to grow. Suggested research? Ship Construction II, Projectile weapons II-V, Propulsion II-III, Military Science I, Point Defense I-V, Construction.

B. If you are playing any of the mods (especially TDM, which restored my faith in SEIV AI – thank you, thank you, thank you for a wonderful mod), before you research construction for mines and fighters and Military Science for point defense guns (PD), you may need a mix of WP and DUC and CSM satellites for the first few turns to defend your planets. PD becomes more invaluable, since many of the modified AI use them and use them correctly.

C. Never needed min-max to stomp the AI in the regular Gold version, but really look at that if you are playing any of the mods.

Sorry for a long winded intro, but being a fairly new player myself, I can still remember getting the “You Lose” screen

[Atrocities]

For each situation there is a tactic to surivive and prevail.

Read through the FAQ and even the E.R.A.S.E suggestions. Also check out the Dubious Strategy Guide, its old but it might still have some great info. There have been so many great discussion about tactics and strategy on this forum over the years that have fallen from view that to now think of them is to regret not doing more to preserve the information contained within. There was a link library to most, but after the forum was upgraded back in August of last year, all of those links were nullified.

Any ways, the best sources for info are the players who play and they are mostly on this site.

Discussion about Torpedoes It Might help some.