Space Empires

The Space Empires series is a long-lasting series of turn-based strategy games that allow the player to assume the role of the leader of a space-faring civilization. The player develops that civilization from a single planet to a full-fledged empire.

Brief gameplay summary

In Space Empires, the player assumes the role of the single leader of a race of intelligent beings that has recently acquired the technology required to build large fully space-based ships for interplanetary and interstellar travel.

Starting out with only a few possible hull sizes for his ships, on which he can place any number of components to essentially create a unique ship, the player can research new hull sizes and components to use with them, eventually being able to build ships ten times the size of his original hull size.

The components available to the player can vary greatly, from emergency supply components that, when used, will be destroyed but will allow a ship to continue moving for a longer time, ship bridges, long-range scanners and shield generators to weapons of various kinds, boarding parties, cloaking devices right up to Dyson Sphere construction material and sun destroying devices.

Also, the player can meet alien races - which will inevitably happen as the player expands his realm - and conduct diplomacy with them. Treaties can be signed between two Empires, varying from the basic trade agreement to full-blown partnerships and even protectorates. The player can also conduct intelligence operations, also varying greatly, from simple information gathering missions to ship bombs to inciting revolt on a planet.

Interstellar travel in Space Empires is not faster-than-light drive based, but instead relies on anomalies called "warp points," essentially small wormholes between two star systems. A player can open and close these warp points if he has the appropriate technologies, which, when used in the hands of an experienced player, can turn the tide of an entire game.

Modding

Space Empires IV, the latest installment in the series (though SEV is due to be released in the fall of 2005), is well-known and loved for the possibilities it offers in the realm of modding. The most important game data files - save for the game code - are .TXT or .BMP files, allowing users to easily modify the files to suit their needs and desires. There exist a great many mods for SEIV, including Star Wars, Star Trek and Babylon 5 mods. There are also a lot of other, non-scifi mods. A complete listing of mods for the game can be found on Malfador Machinations' web site. Several worth mentioning are:

- Proportions: A mod which adds more proportion to the game - as displayed by its title. Here, your homeworld is a very strong world almost impossible to conquer or destroy, whereas colonies are smaller, less effective production locations.

- Pirates & Nomads: This mod adds the Pirate and Nomad race types to the game. Neither has "normal" colonization technology, and can only rely on its homeworld when it comes to planets. They both have efficient space-based technologies, though.

- Devnull Mod: Classic mod which makes various balance related changes to the stock game. Home of the infamous space monsters.

- Carrier Battles Mod: Makes capital ships less efficient at ship-to-ship combat and greatly expands the effectiveness of fighters. Without fighters, it's plainly impossible to win a CB Mod game.

- Adamant Mod: This mod allows the player to choose from many different technological paths for their empire, ranging from evolutionary based organic races to races which use magic to bend the universe to their will.

- ReDesign Mod: Currently under construction, ReDesign adds a lot of new technologies and modifies the old technologies so that research mainly branches out from expensive but powerful theoretical research.

- Capship: Also under construction, Capship completely modifies not only the hull sizes for ships, which now reach far larger sizes than before, but also uses a completely different ground combat system and fighter combat system.

- Homeworld: A recently started project, the Homeworld Mod attempts to approach the Homeworld games in a large-scale strategic scope.

Space Empires-related sites and info

Space Empires is a 4X game created by Malfador Machinations. http://www.malfador.com

Space Empires IV has been published by Shrapnel Games. http://www.shrapnelgames.com

Wikipedia section on Space Empires, called the Encyclopedia Malfadorica. http://invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/index.php/HomePage