Module:Space Empires: 4X

Files

 * - Module Version| version=1.2| |}


 * }

Comments
Space Empires is a game in the finest tradition of 4X space games - eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. Make no mistake. All four "X's" are included in this game. This is a wargame where the purpose of building your empire is not to feel good about your achievement, but to destroy your enemies and burn their colonies. One difficulty in games of this genre is that they are often either overly simplistic or tediously detailed. Space Empires has been almost 20 years in the making and, during that time, many elegant solutions have been developed to keep the theme rich without a lot of rules. The game includes carriers and fighters, mines, cloaking, a very large technology tree, fifteen ship classes from scout to dreadnaught, merchant shipping, colonization, mining, terraforming, bases, shipyards, black holes, warp points, and non-player aliens, yet the rules are short and intuitive and the game can be finished on one sitting. This is NOT a game that is hard to get into. The rules are only 8 pages long for the basic game and increase to 11 pages in length when the advanced rules are included.

Exploration is easy (well, easy for you, it is actually dangerous for your ships) and fun and reveals different terrain (such as asteroids and nebulae) which affect your movement and your combat.

This is a game made by people who love the genre, but play other games too.

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/84419/space-empires-4x

http://www.consimworld.com/post/1219919284/space-empires

KNOWN ISSUES 3.0.5 and up


 * DO NOT UPDATE MODULE MID GAME - Due to the way Vassal handles backwards compatibility with older module versions, do NOT continue an old save or PBEM game under a new version of the module. You must start a fresh game after updating the module. ALL players must be on the same module version as well. Not doing so will cause some features to function in unexpected ways. This is beyond my control to fix as it is a Vassal feature to prevent games from crashing if someone updates their module.
 * Battle Marker does not always function as intended. If needed, delete the marker and drop a new one from the Counter menu -> Common -> Other
 * Ships may not always be sent to Battle Board or Returned to Map as intended.


 * Vassal has recently updated to 3.3.0 of their engine. Preliminary tests show v3.0.6 of the SE module to be compatible but this module was built and tested under 3.2.17. I recommend against updating Vassal's engine in the middle of a PBEM game.

Change log:

v 3.0.6a:
 * Added custom label function to add custom text to the top of a counter.
 * Fixed difficult to reproduce issue of changed ship costs not being saved. Changed ship costs from tech cards etc now should persist on save game load.
 * Snap to opponent move now available in preferences

v 3.0.5:
 * Added Zoom function to Battle Board and Fleet Board.
 * Added more NPA counters to prevent running out on larger maps.
 * Added more dice types to a dropdown menu to facilitate randomization of various effects.
 * Added drop down menu for Facilities toggle button to prevent accidentally hitting it.
 * Removed non-functional d10 from Battle Board.

v 3.0.4:
 * Fixed missing Empire Advantage cards
 * Changed dice roll hotkey to CTRL+1

v 3.0.3:
 * Major revision to Help menu -- Special Thanks to Bret H. for writing the help file!
 * Fixed missing Replicator EXP ship
 * Fixed hidden die roller in info menu
 * Improved NPA counter's ability to return to their deck
 * Card Discard pile now face down
 * Home system Barren planets appropriately labeled
 * CTRL-T to swap to tile counter works on more counter types
 * Added Main Map Zoom Hotkeys (SHIFT +/-) and d10 hotkey (SHIFT 1)
 * Added button to Battle Board to roll the d10

v 3.0.2:
 * Fixed maintenance bug
 * Added missing Replicator ships
 * Added boundaries to maps
 * Improved solo/co-op DM counter

v 3.0.1:
 * Fixed bug with Exploration Technology
 * Changed Facilities toggle to more appropriate icon
 * Added checklist menu for game options/variants to help communicate options to other players. No automation utilizes this menu at this time.
 * Replicators splash image added

v 3.0:
 * Complete rebuild of module
 * Replicators expansion now included

v 2.1:
 * Corrected number of black holes in the White Deep Space Marker deck
 * Made the Colony, Homeworld 20 and Homeworld 30 markers available for Red and Yellow players in the cardboard box menu.

v 2.0:


 * Production sheet automation!
 * Way too many other changes to keep track of! See included help PDF for full details on using the new features.

v 1.3.3:


 * Fixed bug in which the Blue and or Yellow sides could not be joined on certain scenarios.

v 1.3.2:


 * Fixed bug where SY's were able to equip higher than Attack/Defense 1.
 * Implemented user-friendly icons to improve accesibility of mod.
 * Added pre-configured scenarios for all game scenarios except the 8 player map.
 * Added "counter trays" in the form of a build window with specific stacks of markers for each team.
 * Added ability to swap home system markers and home worlds at the start of pre-configured maps. This may only be done during the 1st Economic phase.
 * Added ability to send units from the build window to the appropriate SY and vice-versa.
 * Exploration technology displays as a text box the first time a marker is explored, it is as normal afterwards.
 * Attempted to increase production sheets to 20 economic phases, but not all of them seemed to "take" this change.
 * Added scenario information.
 * Turn marker updates with turn changes automatically. Turn counter now set to rotate through P1-P4 rather than player colors.

v 1.2:


 * Selected units now highlight in orange.
 * Moveable units now show movement trails that will toggle on/off when piece is sent to battle board. (Known issue) When piece is returned to board from battle board, movement trails will toggle back on, but will show incorrect movement trails. These can be cleared by hitting mark as not moved button as normal.
 * Fixed issue where colony level markers would not persist correctly when game save loaded.
 * Minimap window added.
 * Fixed issue where users were unable to use Exploration Technology on a marker if they were not the user who placed the marker.
 * Increased Production Sheet table to go out 20 Econ Phases, like the hard copy of the game.
 * The Home System Marker decks can be shuffled into the White Deep Space marker deck under the Space Markers window so you can play completely random map scenarios.
 * Entering combat is now logged to the chat.

Players

 * fjt_us@yahoo.com@jeb123
 * chrono280@gmail.com@Bob Seifert
 * thewrathchild@gmail.com@MillertimeRC
 * bdegroot@gmail.com@bdgza
 * manasven@gmail.com@MonteB
 * KevinRohr@aol.com@Kevin Rohrer
 * mllange@gmail.com@Michaelangelo
 * bret.hekking@gmail.com@Bhekking
 * jlederer2@hotmail.com@Jim Lederer