Let's Play: Space Empires IV Gold

Space Empires Races Part 1

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:
Abiddon.jpg

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.

Amonkrie.jpg

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.

Crylsonite.jpg

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.

Cuecappa.jpg

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.jpg

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.jpg

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.jpg

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.jpg

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.jpg

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.jpg

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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Space Empires Races Part 2

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
Continuing with the rest of the races.

Phong.jpg

Phong: Their faces... I take back all the bad thoughts I had about the Norak faces. They look like they're in an advanced stage of leprosy. The Phong make ships that appear to be... streamlined blimps. No, I'm not going with any other metaphors. Fight me. They live on rocky, carbon dioxide worlds. The Phong are another highly intelligent race and oddly enough have access to the same Crystallurgy tree as the Chrysolonites. Although humanoid, they're not organic but actually a mix of various crystals with polymer skin. They're an honorable, peaceful people with a boost to mineral mining and not much else.

Piundon.jpg

Piundon: A race of... living concrete blocks? Their ships are also quite blocky. Actually the Piundon are sort-of shapeshifters. They can vary their density from concrete to semi-liquid. They live on rocky oxygen planets. They get to reproduce only once in their lives and die in the process, splitting their bodies into multiple new children. They're very violently tribal, organizing themselves into groups and warring both between groups and against everybody else. Piundon get a huge bonus to mining and... yet another user of the Crystallurgy technology tree.

Praetorian.jpg

Praetorian: A race of... insect swarm hiveminds or something? Their ships kind of give me a Star Wars vibe. They live on rocky, oxygen worlds. The descriptive text says their hideously ugly and actually mostly liquid, they need mechanical exoskeletons to move faster than dripping and they need mechanical sensors to detect anything further than right next to them. So a race of gelatinous Helen Kellers. They're tremendously good at farming every single resource and have nothing else going for them.

Sallega.jpg

Sallegda: Aren't these just a recolor of the Piundon? They have some nice looking ship hulls, grey with brown highlights and actually a variety of shapes, they aren't all fork-shaped. They live on rocky oxygen planets. The Sallegda are highly intelligent, political masterminds, and have been divided into "haves" and "have nots" for so long their evolution has forked into two related species. They have recently figured out temporal technology and can access that special tech tree. They're also one of the high-intelligence races.

Sergetti.jpg

Sergetti: So lets get this out of the way. You do not want to kiss a Sergetti, and their ships look like balls. They live on ice oxygen planets. The Sergetti are aquatic serpent-people who managed to spacelift the entire ocean they lived in when they took off. They're a deeply xenophobic matriarchy with a significant bonus to the speed of their ships. They also get slightly reduced maintenance costs and a defensive ship bonus.

Terran.jpg

Terran: Unlike most sci-fi, they don't fly around in blocky boring ships but modular ones with many parts stitched together. Needless to say they like rocky oxygen planets. Oddly enough they have the exact same bonuses as the Sergetti, fast ships with reduced maintenance and a defensive ship bonus.

Toltayan.jpg

Toltayan: You know, a surprising number of these races have faces that are basically a lumpy mess with no mouth and surprised eyeballs. Their ships are Star Destroyers, painted red. They like rocky hydrogen planets. The Toltayans are a feudal society that, against all odds, has had the same ruling family for all of their recorded history giving them great stability and a serene outlook. Toltayans have the absolute most obscenely fast build rate in the game. They're also highly resistant to environmental hazards.

Ukratal.jpg

Ukra-Tal: Very classic looking aliens. I could totally see them in the Mos Eisley cantina. Their ships are kinda wingy blue things. The Ukra-Tal are 4 meter long slugs with tentacles for manipulators. They live on icy methane worlds. Internal strife is unheard of for them. The Ukra-Tal revolve their entire society around intellectual pursuits and yet somehow have no bonus to research. Instead they have a bonus to farming organic materials, and also unlock the Organic Manipulation technology tree which is probably the best of all the special technology trees, unless you start combining them.

Xiati.jpg

Xiati: Another classically alien alien, they subcontract their ship construction out to Batman. No really they probably have the best looking ships in the game. They are yet another rocky oxygen planet race. They're a race of schemers and manipulators but again not actually getting a bonus to it. The Xiati are big on cybernetics, your average Xiati is 30% augmentations by weight. They have a deeply repressive, all-controlling government and were second rate until recently when they gained access to Temporal Technology which catapulted them into the big leagues.

Xichung.jpg

Xichung: The inevtiable evil insectoid race. Their ships are covered in organic spider legs. They like rocky methane planets. They're socially similar to wolves, they like to run in packs and gang up on outsiders. Their extremely patchwork technology lead to the theory that they were once the slave race of some other, more advanced race that's now gone and they're using the few scraps they understand, which is still enough to put them on par with the other races. They gain a steep bonus when attacking and have access to the Organic Manipulation techology tree.
So there you have the various species of the galaxy. You can vote for who you want us to play, or for making our own species. We'll have to use their portraits though we can pretty much mix and match any set of traits (you have a pool of points, you can't just stack every benefit on yourself without cheating).

Space Empires also offers a range of customization in the universe we're in for size, structure of the galaxy, events, and victory conditions. I'm going to leave it at the basics for the first playthough, the odds of being wiped out in the first few turns are fairly high (I've gotten into wars of genocide on turn 2) so we may be back to the drawing board soon anyway if we get a terrible draw and there's hostile aliens in the same starting system. So, who's up for some 4X?
 

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