Space Empires II

Well, I didn't expect to see this on Steam! Classic "beer and pretzels" 4X game, rather simplistic compared to later Space Empires games but still fun to play. The UI is a bit clunky, particularly when it comes to issuing ship commands and building things, and pathfinding through warp points is nonexistent. I wish you could play online against other humans, rather than just locally or vs. the AI; the AI doesn't seem to be too good at the game. But it's a fun game to play if you just want to relax and conquer the universe. Pro tip: space yards are OP, you can easily put one on every ship at higher tech levels and build "von Neumann fleets" that are capable of building even more ships in deep space! If only this game supported modding... if you want that feature, try SE3, SE4, or SE5!

[h1]“Previously on Deep Space Nine...” ~[i]Majel Barrett-Roddenberry[/i][/h1] Even though it's 2022, [b]Steam[/b] still has that nasty character limitation, so, I won't waste my time telling you about the origins. You want to know about how it all began, feel free to check out [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/letande/recommended/1425110/]my review of the original [b]Space Empires[/b][/url] game. Which... Wasn't much of a game, really. To be honest, I still can't believe it that [b]Strategy First[/b] is actually selling the bloody thing in both [b]Steam[/b] and [b]GOG[/b] now. Long story short, the original [b]Space Empires[/b] was a proof of concept. A way for [b]Aaron Hall[/b] (a young man from [b]California[/b]) to put his skills to the test. He wanted to know if he can make a game that can look like a proper commercial product. And even though it was pretty obvious that the result was way too limited and overall dated even by 1993 standards (the game was barely able to compete with titles from early 80s), [b]Mr. Hall[/b] still decided that he can do it. That he can establish his own company and start making (and publishing) his own commercial products. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, [b]Space Empires II[/b]. That's right. Even though it's called [b]Space Empires II[/b], technically, it's the very first commercial game in the series (one of the reasons why the first one still doesn't have its own page on [b]MobyGames[/b]). Which means no more excuses. [b]SE II[/b] is a proper product and therefore should be judged accordingly. And that's... One heck of a problem, really. See, at the point of [b]1995[/b], we already had many mind-blowing things. 90s were a brilliant time for gaming. It was that time when games already became incredibly advanced, while budgets didn't went over the top yet. Which means many of the AAA companies were still ready to experiment. [b]Stardock[/b] already launched their most famous franchise – [b]Galactic Civilizations[/b]. [b]Ybarra Productions[/b] already introduced us to their [b]Alien Legacy[/b], which not only looked [i]fantastic[/i], but also allowed us to explore planets in 3D action way (yes, kids, [b]Cyclone Studios[/b] with their [b]Uprising: Join or Die![/b] were far from being the first to combine genres in this way, no wonder [b]Ken[/b] and [b]Roberta Williams[/b] quickly picked up [b]Alien Legacy[/b] for publishing). While [b]Logic Factory[/b] just dropped their own beautiful take on [b]Master of Orion[/b] series called [b]Ascendancy[/b]. Now, here comes [b]Space Empires II[/b] and... OK, it's not like [b]Mr. Hall[/b] didn't try. Quite the opposite, actually. Many of the features from the original [b]Reach for the Stars: The Conquest of the Galaxy[/b] (by [b]Roger Keating[/b] and [b]Ian Trout[/b]) were finally introduced. For example, we've finally got research. Save enough money, purchase the next technological advancement and voilà! The next turn you'll be able to purchase more advanced stuff. The problem is – [b]Mr. Hall[/b] was still stuck in the past. In the same exact 80s to be precise. He was still trying to make his own [b]Reach for the Stars[/b]. And it's one heck of a problem not only because this game looks pretty pathetic in comparison with everything I've mentioned above (just try to compare the researches from [b]SE II[/b] with that awesome research tree from the [b]Ascendancy[/b], it's like comparing [b]Pong[/b] with [b]Super Tennis[/b]). It's pretty obvious that [b]Space Empires II[/b] is just a bunch of copy / pasted things from other stuff. For example, it's really easy to notice that [b]Mr. Hall[/b] is a Trekkie. Heck, when I launched the Steam version of the game for the first time, I literally started on planet called [b]Bajor[/b] (in case you don't know a thing about [b]Star Trek[/b], a planet called [b]Bajor[/b] played the crucial role in a show called [b]Star Trek: Deep Space Nine[/b], which was aired when this game was in development). It's really, like, [i]really[/i] hard not to notice that, while gameplay here is still all about [b]Reach for the Stars[/b], everything else was taken directly from [b]Star Trek[/b]. All those phasors, distruptors, photon torpedoes and other stuff (like emblems)? It's all here. Then again, it was a pretty common thing back in the days. Pretty much every complicated game that took place in space tried to copy [b]Star Trek[/b]. Both when it's about those unauthorized products everybody played back in 70s, and when it's about things like ship design. Heck, even in the original [b]Galactic Civilizations[/b] it's hard not to recognize those legendary warp nacelles! So, I won't go too hard on this aspect of the game. And yet, [b]Space Empires II[/b] is yet another game without its own face. Which, again, was a common thing back in 70s and 80s, but for 1995 title? It feels wrong. Talking 'bout warp nacelles, by the way. The most notable feature in this game is a ship editor. Which gives you heck of a lot of freedom. While making more and more technological advancements, you'll be able to construct your own battleships and space stations from scratch, while making them exactly the way you want. More shields (again, hello, [b]Star Trek[/b]) or more phasors? It's entirely up to you to decide, while [b]Windows[/b]-oriented [b]UI[/b] still does a pretty neat job. Nowadays, people take something like that for granted, but back in 90s, it was really hard not to notice just how comfortable things became thanks to those windows and buttons. The game will tell you which weapon has what range, etc, while there's also a tactical mode now. Which, I must say, was a pretty big advancement for [b]Mr. Hall[/b]. At the same time, though, the game fails to be intuitive. And even an in-built help system is not as helpful and comfortable as you'll want it to be. For example, there's a very big chance that the ships you'll build at your first few tries won't be even able to move. And it'll take some time to figure out why. Ah, and guess what? There are no pre-built ships. You'll need to build everything from scratch and there's no other way. Which is a [i]huge[/i] mistake. I mean, come on! That's just how things work. You have a bunch of pre-built things, but you can make them fit your own play style better by making some modifications, or even construct your own things after learning what is it you really want, right? Well, not in this game. In this game you're supposed to build things... Without even knowing what is that you need. Finally, like I already said, this game still feels like it was caught in some sort of temporal anomaly and ended up arriving in a wrong time. Even in 1993, when [b]SimTex[/b] released their [b]Master of Orion[/b], this game would barely have a chance. While in 1995? Seriously, guys. 1995 was a year when such games went online. In 1995 [b]Star Crossed[/b] released their [b]Stars![/b], which allowed us to play through e-mail (stop laughing, kids, we were rad as f back in the days!), while [b]Mr. Hall[/b] still wanted us to do the same exact hotseat things with for players max. The one we were doing since 1983. So... did the series evolve? Well, yes. Yes, it did. But was it enough? Well, since it's a fully commercial product we're talking 'bout this time, I totally don't think so. [b]Space Empires II[/b] is a cute, yet totally skippable piece of history. You're doing some research or currently on some sort of a personal quest of genre exploration? Well, you may actually check this one in the perspective of genre evolution. But if you want a proper product? No. Just no. Especially since, like many others already mentioned in their reviews, [b]Mr. Hall[/b] and his company actually failed to properly adapt their game to the modern systems. So expect all sorts of problems – from being unable to save to random freezes. One way or another, it's yet another one of those things that belong in a museum and should not be sold as proper products.

There's elements of this game design which still influence space strategy games to this day. The controls are awkward, but it's a 25+ year old game. Once you get the hang of the shortcuts the awkwardness of the UI will disappear and you'll be engrossed in the strategy. It's totally absorbed me for 2-3 days. - Shift+Click Moves focused stack - Make sure you put at least 1 engine on any outpost/colony/settle ship or it won't work (There's ways to play this full screen, but I didn't figure it out for the steam version yet.)

Wow this really does not hold up today. Damn nostalgia! Play SE IV instead.

i like the space battles

***** Editing after a night of messing around with the game to add this: I do still recommend the game, per my original review below. But don't try to play it on native Win10 (I can't speak for other operating systems). Find the steam install location, grab the game folder, throw it into a virtual machine running WinXP or older. Combat is a glitchy, game-freezing mess in Win10. ***** 0.1 hours on Steam, sure, but I still own a copy of this game from 1995. I bought it because I love it and wanted to support the maker again. Compared to its sequels, or any other 4x strategy game from the last 20 years, it's basic. But there's still a charm and (once you're used to the interface), it plays fairly smoothly. The only issue I've had is that the opening cinematic seems to hang up until you hit a key to skip it. No big deal to me, really. You, and up to three other human players (local couch co-op), can compete for dominance of the galaxy. There's also the option for those other three seats to be controlled by the computer, as well as allowing Neutral empires, who never leave their home star system. You colonize, research to design and build bigger ships, colonize more, and fight any who get in your way in turn-based, grid-based ship combat, where weapon recharge and range are just as important as how big your ships are, and how fast they can move. There are a variety of outfits you can put on your designed vessels, though once a design is saved, there's no changing it. But nothing's stopping you from having a design for every occasion. And when you can command thousands of ships, there's little reason not to. This is brief, but there's not much else. You can destroy suns, open and close wormholes, but that's all basically end-game filler once you're already stomping the galaxy. The crux is building and expanding, and defending your ass(ets). I started playing it in '95, and still have fun with it today. I'm glad to have been able to buy it again.

虽然发行日期确实挺久远，但说实话这游戏直接给个原生的windows窗口、各种原生的弹窗 我真的想问，你这真不是一个大学生的VB毕业设计吗？

Возможно что-то крутое для 95 года, но щас без пары бутылок не разберешься...

I own The original game and that version makes this look like an Atari 400 game. very poor game style and graphics.

1995 model oyunun 2. versiyonu günümüzde oynanmaz uzay teması işlenmiş nostalji seven varsa deneyebilir