Greetings.

I forgot how addictive this game is and now I am feeling like an addict having a relapse.
Getting late for work, doing mistakes at work because of sleep deprivation and having my mind on other things, forgetting to eat properly, personal hygiene is suffering and my department is not getting a cleaning either.

This is high quality "One more turn" crack!

Yea I have to agree. Game is addicting as hell, I keep coming back to it. I'm surprised more people don't know about it.

It's probably because it was only popular among space 4X fans for a relative short period and wasn't advertised. It went under the radar for many strategy players.

Though I'm also a little surprised it's not more known. Hopefully the sales will go up during a sale or something. :)

I've blown half the day playing it. I really love the combat mechanics. I'm using the psychotic Cryslonite race and waging war with everybody, taking advantage of the long range of their crystalline weapons. Even though they're quite weak, I can quickly fire off a few torpedoes and flee, taking out enemies with much more lethal weaponry before they can even get close.

The combat is slow like Master of Orion and I'm glad there's an option to quickly let the computer decide the results. I'm sure I'll use that option as I become more familiar with the different weapons and strategies, but right now I'm having a blast.

I've been playing a single game that has lasted for a couple of weeks now and I haven't even explored half of the galaxy yet. If I had to guess, a single game could last at least a month or two, if not longer...

Use formation move or whatever it's called. Move the fleet leader first and the rest of the ships in the fleet will automatically move and try to keep in formation. That's a fun way to play the battles. :)

Range is very important against the computer. Missiles, point defence and one direct fire weapon on your ships is something the computer have a hard time countering. Won't work against humans though. :)

I've always liked the Temporal Knowledge best. Gives great bonuses on your systems.
But if I want good weapons Crystal is my favourite.

I'm horribly addicted to this game... WHY ISN'T IT IN THE TOP 10 MOST POPULAR???

Buncha suckers for not playing this...

Seriously, one of the best games I've ever played. I'm not very familiar with the Civilization series, but is there a better 4x game out there? I doubt it!

edit: Well, Alpha Centauri might be better... but it's a tough call.

If I had a gun to my head and was told to name the best 4X game in space I'd have said Space Empires 4 Deluxe. If the question was planet based 4X it would be Alpha Centauri. I've searched for games of the same caliber in these genres since those games was released but I have yet to find one.
On top of that both of them are insanely addictive if you are even mildly interested in the genre/s.

Why oh why don't they just give them a graphical make up and release them again? They wouldn't even have to really update the UI or anything else.

I wish a small team with a decent amount of talent would pick up this game and give it a graphical overhaul as you said. Here are some things I wish would be added or modified in the game:

1. Each component would alter the look of ships to give them more identity. In a 3D environment, having the ability to zoom in and around each ship would be nice.

2. Slicker interface, full widescreen compatibility. One of the things I admire about Galactic Civilizations II is the overall presentation.

3. Cleaner tech tree that's easier to browse.

4. Faster tactical combat, a middle ground between the two options that are currently available would be ideal.

That's about all I can think of so far, but I'm still a noob. I've also never encountered a single random event such as a star going nova and whatnot. Not sure if it's because of my settings, but more little encounters like these would be interesting.

Also, the addition of planets with hostile native populations could possibly prove interesting and give the task of empire expansion and colonization a little extra spice.

whoa, I'm afraid to buy & get into this game after reading this stuff about addiction....
but yeah I guess the only bad thing for me about very good games is that they take too much of spare time.
Even embarrassingly too much :)
I went through Alpha Centauri last year, amazing game.
Never played Space Empires.
Likely getting into SE4 on Summer holidays.
"what did you do on your holidays?"
"Played games..." :D

Yeah man, this game definitely has the ability to suck away all of your free time like a... black hole...

Such a good game though, definitely worthy of your time. I'd like to try out a multiplayer game but I wonder exactly how that's handled, being turn based and all.