[Suentiend]

Originally posted by Proteus_MST
Wow,
the space empires series sounds great for anyone who loves complex 4X games.
Too bad the previous 4 parts of the series never got published in germany, so I never got to know it. At least SE 5 is available here, so I will very probably buy it Well you could always try digital download. I got the game as a direct download from the publisher.

It certainly is a complex game with a lot of possibilities and the interface design is well organized and easily understandable. One aspect I like is races who are adapted to certain atmospheres such as methane, hydrogen, oxygen, etc and certain types of planets such as rocky, icy, and gas giants. It makes terraforming more abstract unlike the MoO2 where the goal was to make everything into earth like planets.

After looking at the tech tree, I'm rather amazed. Apparently with enough research you can create and destroy stars and planets as well as build ring worlds and dyson spheres around stars.

Another well developed feature of the game is intelligence services and diplomacy. With intelligence services, you can do things ranging from create false messages to try and get to empires to fight one another to conducting mission of sabotage to counterintelligence. Diplomacy has a lot to offer too with a lot of treaty variations.

MoO2 used to be my favorite 4x space empire game but I've got to say Space Empires IV is incredibly well developed and the added complexity makes the game re-playable.

My only complaint so far is that colonists have to be loaded on colony ships. In my first game I sent several colony ships to settle planets without a population.