Bear Ribs
Well-known member
So, checking interest for a Let's Play on these forusm. Space Empires IV is a 4X about twenty years old at this point and still highly regarded as one of the best 4X ever made. It has it's roots in the original space empires all the way back in the Windows 3.0 days when you had to start your computer in DOS and then boot up windows in a command line interface. The first three were decent but 4 is generally agreed to be the best. Five went 3D and hit the polygon ceiling hard, it's barely playable and killed the franchise.
Space Empires IV is looking primitive these days but still has fantastic gameplay, and there's a feeling of godlike power in just how much you can reshape the universe as you advance. Destroy planets? Hah! You can create and destroy stars at a whim, reshape the structure of the universe, and remake entire star systems in your own image once you get up there in the tech tree.
It's also somewhat unique and interesting among games in that it's tech tree is designed so that the kind of combat ships engage in changes with time and the paradigm shifts. Early on torpedo boats are a sure winner but eventually small fighters start showing up that can't be hit by the sluggish torpedoes and the age of carriers begin. Then point defense takes over and fighters can no longer survive as humongous guns become the new favorite. Mines come in and then out of service as technology advances past them. Drones take the fore for a while but then counter measures make them obsolete. It keeps the game fresh over long play periods as you have to adjust to the new play style technology introduces every few turns.
So let's get started with our empire creation. There's actually quite a few races pre-made with lengthy descriptions nobody ever pays attention to. I imagine we'll be creating our own but the canon races are who we have to use for our portraits and ship hull images anyway so here they are:
Abbidon: A race of gas-giant dwelling winged creatures that build ships that appear to have been thrown on a potter's wheel. They're neutral in tactics, friendly to other races, get a mild bonus to research, and have access to psychic technology.
Amon'Krie: A race of... sapient earthworms. Their ship designs are okay I guess, winged hammerheads? They live on Methane Ice-planets and are highly defensive in their tactics. They're probably the most intelligent canon race which is pretty good though they have no other useful traits.
Chrysolonite: Living really spiky crystals who build really spiky crystal ships. Unsurprisingly they have access to the special Crystallurgy Technology tree. They also have a significant boost to their mineral mining rate which doesn't hurt in this game. I'm really not exactly sure how this works but their mental profile is described as psychotic and peaceful. Yeah. Apparently they're incapable of recognizing that organics are actually alive, especially since all Chrysolonites are in continuous mental contact with all other Chrysolonites so from their perspective, there's no other recognizable intelligence in the universe.
Cue Cappa: Eyestalk monsters with some generic looking purply-colored ships. They live on rocky, oxygen-atmosphere worlds. They're actually two races, the massive "Cue" squids and small, intelligent parasites called the Cappa that live in their bodies. The Cue Cappa are highly honorable, peace-loving and have a terrible reputation because they're parasitic bug-eyed monsters and they have to constantly fight their appearance-based reputation. They have access to the Psychic technology tree.
Drushocka: I'm going to take the high road here and not mention at all that the Drushocka appear to be multi-eyed turds and their ships appear to be moldy turds, so just put that thought out of your head entirely because I'm not going to bring it up. The Drushocka live on rocky, methane planets and value hard work above all else. They are biomechanical, immune to plague events, and gain a massive bonus in ground combat and environmental hazards. Oddly enough despite valuing hard work above all else they don't get a bonus to construction speed.
Eee: A race of giant cells who build ships that look like flying atoms. The Eee live in Carbon Dioxide gas giants. They're friendly, harmonious people who love peace and get to know where every planet in the galaxy is at game start. They're as smart as the Amon'Krie which is really useful and get a huge bonus to refining radioactive materials, which is a lot less useful since you don't need many of those.
Fazrah: The Fazrah appear to be talking salads and their ships look like stealth bombers. Okay, they're actually a highly violent aquatic species. They live on rocky, oxygen planets. The Fazrah reduce the chance of bad events happening by half (and given that one bad event in this game is the star your homeworld is orbiting going supernova, and it can happen in the first few turns, it's nice to reduce the chance of that happening). They get a mild reduction in the cost of maintaining their ships. Overall fairly boring aside from their good luck.
Jraenar: Yeah, they're the mandatory dinosaur/reptilian people who's ships are just barely non-copyright-infringement of the United Federation of Planets. They live on rocky planets with hydrogen atmospheres. They're highly aggressive, also tied with the Amon'Krie for max intelligence, and gain a very significant bonus to hit when attacking.
Krill: Honestly they almost look like shrimp but they're not, they're a species of dinosauroid that's halfway evolved from reptile to bird. Their ships are just blobby red things. They're a violent race that lives on rocky, carbon dioxide planets. Their philosophy is weeding out the weak by constantly fighting, basically the Viltrumite line of thinking though after discovering other races, they declared on temporary ban on killing each other so they can concentrate on killing everybody else. They get a hefty increase to shipyard production (but not other production, not that it matters much), a bonus to dodge incoming fire, and they reproduce more quickly than other races.
Norak: I really can't think of a joke about their faces, they're just that sad. Their ships seem similar to Starcraft to me. They live on rocky oxygen planets. Noraks are deeply religious, so much that they can access the Applied Religion technology tree and do things like build faith-aimed weaponry that never misses. Applied Religion is mostly weaksauce aside from that though if combined with psychic technology it becomes an absolute game-breaker. Noraks get a huge bonus to happiness, you have to work at it to make your people unhappy if you play Noraks. Apparently religion really is the opiate of the people.
That's halfway through the races and hitting our image limit.
Space Empires IV is looking primitive these days but still has fantastic gameplay, and there's a feeling of godlike power in just how much you can reshape the universe as you advance. Destroy planets? Hah! You can create and destroy stars at a whim, reshape the structure of the universe, and remake entire star systems in your own image once you get up there in the tech tree.
It's also somewhat unique and interesting among games in that it's tech tree is designed so that the kind of combat ships engage in changes with time and the paradigm shifts. Early on torpedo boats are a sure winner but eventually small fighters start showing up that can't be hit by the sluggish torpedoes and the age of carriers begin. Then point defense takes over and fighters can no longer survive as humongous guns become the new favorite. Mines come in and then out of service as technology advances past them. Drones take the fore for a while but then counter measures make them obsolete. It keeps the game fresh over long play periods as you have to adjust to the new play style technology introduces every few turns.
So let's get started with our empire creation. There's actually quite a few races pre-made with lengthy descriptions nobody ever pays attention to. I imagine we'll be creating our own but the canon races are who we have to use for our portraits and ship hull images anyway so here they are:
Abbidon: A race of gas-giant dwelling winged creatures that build ships that appear to have been thrown on a potter's wheel. They're neutral in tactics, friendly to other races, get a mild bonus to research, and have access to psychic technology.
Amon'Krie: A race of... sapient earthworms. Their ship designs are okay I guess, winged hammerheads? They live on Methane Ice-planets and are highly defensive in their tactics. They're probably the most intelligent canon race which is pretty good though they have no other useful traits.
Chrysolonite: Living really spiky crystals who build really spiky crystal ships. Unsurprisingly they have access to the special Crystallurgy Technology tree. They also have a significant boost to their mineral mining rate which doesn't hurt in this game. I'm really not exactly sure how this works but their mental profile is described as psychotic and peaceful. Yeah. Apparently they're incapable of recognizing that organics are actually alive, especially since all Chrysolonites are in continuous mental contact with all other Chrysolonites so from their perspective, there's no other recognizable intelligence in the universe.
Cue Cappa: Eyestalk monsters with some generic looking purply-colored ships. They live on rocky, oxygen-atmosphere worlds. They're actually two races, the massive "Cue" squids and small, intelligent parasites called the Cappa that live in their bodies. The Cue Cappa are highly honorable, peace-loving and have a terrible reputation because they're parasitic bug-eyed monsters and they have to constantly fight their appearance-based reputation. They have access to the Psychic technology tree.
Drushocka: I'm going to take the high road here and not mention at all that the Drushocka appear to be multi-eyed turds and their ships appear to be moldy turds, so just put that thought out of your head entirely because I'm not going to bring it up. The Drushocka live on rocky, methane planets and value hard work above all else. They are biomechanical, immune to plague events, and gain a massive bonus in ground combat and environmental hazards. Oddly enough despite valuing hard work above all else they don't get a bonus to construction speed.
Eee: A race of giant cells who build ships that look like flying atoms. The Eee live in Carbon Dioxide gas giants. They're friendly, harmonious people who love peace and get to know where every planet in the galaxy is at game start. They're as smart as the Amon'Krie which is really useful and get a huge bonus to refining radioactive materials, which is a lot less useful since you don't need many of those.
Fazrah: The Fazrah appear to be talking salads and their ships look like stealth bombers. Okay, they're actually a highly violent aquatic species. They live on rocky, oxygen planets. The Fazrah reduce the chance of bad events happening by half (and given that one bad event in this game is the star your homeworld is orbiting going supernova, and it can happen in the first few turns, it's nice to reduce the chance of that happening). They get a mild reduction in the cost of maintaining their ships. Overall fairly boring aside from their good luck.
Jraenar: Yeah, they're the mandatory dinosaur/reptilian people who's ships are just barely non-copyright-infringement of the United Federation of Planets. They live on rocky planets with hydrogen atmospheres. They're highly aggressive, also tied with the Amon'Krie for max intelligence, and gain a very significant bonus to hit when attacking.
Krill: Honestly they almost look like shrimp but they're not, they're a species of dinosauroid that's halfway evolved from reptile to bird. Their ships are just blobby red things. They're a violent race that lives on rocky, carbon dioxide planets. Their philosophy is weeding out the weak by constantly fighting, basically the Viltrumite line of thinking though after discovering other races, they declared on temporary ban on killing each other so they can concentrate on killing everybody else. They get a hefty increase to shipyard production (but not other production, not that it matters much), a bonus to dodge incoming fire, and they reproduce more quickly than other races.
Norak: I really can't think of a joke about their faces, they're just that sad. Their ships seem similar to Starcraft to me. They live on rocky oxygen planets. Noraks are deeply religious, so much that they can access the Applied Religion technology tree and do things like build faith-aimed weaponry that never misses. Applied Religion is mostly weaksauce aside from that though if combined with psychic technology it becomes an absolute game-breaker. Noraks get a huge bonus to happiness, you have to work at it to make your people unhappy if you play Noraks. Apparently religion really is the opiate of the people.
That's halfway through the races and hitting our image limit.
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