Is this a Space Empires clone?

[AndonSage]

ORIGINAL: Zakhal

Is the SEV balance/AI mod any good?

http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php

Just wondering if I should buy the game after all and try it patched & modded? Is it good for singleplayer now? In the forums they say the AI is bad atleast in the regular unmodded game.

I know people that won't play SE V without the Balance mod, as it really improves the AI. The problem I have with SE V is that, as bbmike mentioned, it doesn't run well on Windows Vista. Even turning off font smoothing as is suggested only makes it barely playable due to mouse lag. I haven't tried running SE V on Windows 7 as I figured it would have the same problem, but since I haven't I can't say for sure if it does.

If only Malfador Machinations were as good with patches for SE V as Illwinter is for patches with Dominions 3... (just a comparison between independent developers)

Anyway, I just had a friend tell me that Armada 2526 was out, so am reading the forums to get an idea of the game

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: AndonSage

I haven't tried running SE V on Windows 7 as I figured it would have the same problem, but since I haven't I can't say for sure if it does.

It seems fine on Windows 7 at 1680 x 1050. It was never unplayable for me under Vista, but certainly the mouse is smoother and that flashing white screen thingie seems to have gone.

Zakhal, I'd certainly recommend at least trying it if for no other reason than you can get it for the price of a Big Mac if you hunt around!

[AndonSage]

ORIGINAL: Hertston

It seems fine on Windows 7 at 1680 x 1050. It was never unplayable for me under Vista, but certainly the mouse is smoother and that flashing white screen thingie seems to have gone.

Good to hear. I guess I'll install, patch it up and check it out.

*EDIT* I installed. While the game is playable, it still has the mouse lag problem in Windows 7 that it did in Vista, which is extremely annoying The only way to not have the mouse lag is to play in windowed mode, but then my 24" 1920 x 1200 monitor goes to waste, besides which the game window is small. With full-screen I can see an entire system without having to scroll, with windowed mode less than half a system.

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: AndonSage

*EDIT* I installed. While the game is playable, it still has the mouse lag problem in Windows 7 that it did in Vista, which is extremely annoying

I can see it would be, but the problem seems to be system dependent and not a general one. My Logitech MX 518 is as responsive within SE5 as it is on the Windows 7 desktop, even down to in-game speed selections.

[nukkxx5058]

talking about SE clones , or more precisely, SE being a clone of other games, did someone tried FreeOrion the open source game? Not that I want to advertize for other games but I am happy with free market concurrence  

[Iceman]

Pop transportation IMO kind of dilutes the Habitability differences between system types. Quality is always better than Habitability, and making it easy to transport pop to any system doesn't help balance these factors.

[PDiFolco]

ORIGINAL: Iceman

Pop transportation IMO kind of dilutes the Habitability differences between system types. Quality is always better than Habitability, and making it easy to transport pop to any system doesn't help balance these factors.

Agreed, the game should have different max-pop-size planets so that Habitable would possibly have more room than Rich but badly habitable planet. This would also empower "real" terraforming. On this aspect the game is cruelly backwards from most 4X that have these features (MoO, SE, BOTF, all have it).

[Iceman]

Yep, Terraformers increasing space in systems would be great, while Weather Controllers kept increasing growth rate. Having both do the same is kind of weird.
The game is so streamlined that it's difficult to add variety [;)]

[solops]

ORIGINAL: Iceman

Yep, Terraformers increasing space in systems would be great, while Weather Controllers kept increasing growth rate. Having both do the same is kind of weird.
The game is so streamlined that it's difficult to add variety [;)]

Agreed. And different sized max pops, as suggested, would add variety and a reason to build some things.

All of these items might be implemented by xml file editing, except maybe the max pop (?)

[Archy]

to op : no, this game has some very nice and original aspects. Lots of Potential.
 
 

[Iceman]

Different pop caps were suggested during beta. Increasing them through structures would require that the code could support them in the first place. Since the cap is static, I'm not sure there's anything you can do in the XMLs. At least I haven't seen anything like that.