Space Empires Complete Pack

I can't possibly recount how many hours I've put into these games over the years, but it's a hell of lot. I've been a fan since SE1 and progressed as new versions came out. I think I spent most of my time in SE4, which is truly an outstanding 4x game with incredible depth and design options. Highly recommended if you love micromanagement games, space games and of course 4x games. If you're still on the fence, just do it.

SE1: would not start. SE2: starts; has no manual. SE3: starts; has a manual (.doc format); assumes a CRT display with large pixels (i.e. low DPI count), hence on a modern display (not even a gaming one!) is small and really hard to see. SE4: starts; has a manual (.pdf format); assumes 1280 vertical resolution but stretches horizontally as far as possible, so text is nigh-unreadable. There is a graphics option screen, but it does not work. SE5: starts; has a manual (.pdf format); has a working graphics resolution selector; yay! My only complaint: there is no way to obtain windowed mode, which would be extremely useful since the manual is 300 pages long --- rather more than I can easily memorize. Since the unavoidable-full-screen problem plagues nearly all the the other GoG games in my experience, not deducting any points for it.

After typing a too-long-to-post review I will just say that SEV is vastly less enjoyable than stellaris, it's "strategic" combat AI is terrible which ruins it for multiplayer since the combat can only be AI controlled. I bought it hoping to relive the glory days of VGA planets via PBEM and leave it still wishing there was some modern equivalent of a 90's game that touted its VGA graphics. The PBEM does work. The multiplayer does not require a central server or login. The people who say it requires the 3rd party balance mod are completely correct. The online community and resources for SEV vs SEIV should be your first and last clue that SEV is not worth the money. Learning the game in single player mode was enjoyable until the enemy (organic) planets became invincible. There is a lot of potential depth in this game but in the end it was a disappointment. I bought the pack. Time to see if downgrading to SEIV is any better.

I came back to this game few times. Modding possibilities are on extraordinary level. There are some downsides however: - lack of personal attachment, no heroes of any kind but well...it is 4X after all - after 50+ turns the game becomes very slow in turn processing no matter how strong your rig is, there are mods to overcome that up to some extent, but they could be hard to find today. I wouldn't recommend it.

To start with I own don't SE5, I have SE4, and it's a game I would like a lot, but for one thing. That is, you have to play using a tiny window. In this day and age, a game that forces you use an 8x8 window to play is absurd. I would love to give this game more stars, but the tiny screen in unforgivable. I image SE5 is the same way given how stupid the tiny windows in SE4 are.