This game is the origin of so many mechanics that are now standard in 4x. It is one of the games that shaped how I look at the world. If you like 4x at all, if you like philosophy and/or science fiction, play this game.
Space Empires IV is a historical and ambitious game that deserves its place in your 4x collection. As you play, keep in mind it was made in 2000 and you will realize the ripple effect that it has had on the depth of today's empire builders. Don't expect a space-opera fantasy with sexy alien girls. SEIV is an empire builder, designed to have you churn out massive batches of ships in supply chains stretching across the map, using and expending the resources of star system after star system to push your enemies to annihilation. I've heard stories of sprawling play-by-email games rivaled in length only by Diplomacy (yes, the board game). If this is not your bag, the game just isn't for you. The game has buildable ring worlds, dyson spheres, and planet destroyers, huge machines that you actually need to deplete star systems to build. Careful resource management and good organization of designed are a must with expandable supply pools and limited filtering respectively. The galaxy creation, in my opinion, is a huge selling point-- It's powerful and concise and lets you control how worldgen shakes out to make every game different. Same with the tech tracks such as Psychic and Crystallurgy that you pick during racegen. Yes, of course there were plenty of development tradeoffs. Malfador Machinations is just one man and art was never his strong suit. The race portraits look especially dated and ship designs just look like bricks or turds, diplomacy is not really a factor, AI is not amazing. The music, stark and minimal, was surprisingly good in my opinion but won't be a strong point for most. SEIV also helped inspire a production chain heavy play style that was a clear influence on MOOIII and disliked by many in that game. As someone who's played thousands of hours of 4x from MOOII through Stellaris with everything in between, I can't overstate the influence of this independently produced game on both the genre as a whole and my personal views on what makes a good 4x.
