I grew up having been introduced to space exploration/conquer games, by an Imperium Galacticum, which is no longer available. We played it by inserting floppy disks. They'd heat up and we'd have to call it a day. We would have to press run and other commands to get it going and all. Anyways . . . well, I liked Imperium Galacticom because it was straight forward. Today's space colonization games are often scenario based; you can't just develop your economics and your technology and go exploring, and even design your own spaceships and all. No, you have to play as a certain character - a merchant, or a soldier, or something. This space empires IV is the closest I've seen to a straightforward space exploration game.Over Christmas break, I took some time to try and build a dyson sphere and so on. I had difficulties getting all the resources and timing it before the spaceyards around my local star fell into disrepair; but, then I did it. I guess I was building to many spaceyards! While my hyper density cables and planetary plating was falling into disrepair, my sphereworld(dyson sphere) generator was built; I said, screw it, activiate it and see what happens . . . my sphereworld was created! I guess I only needed ten spaceyards for each technology needed and then the spherworld condenser. I thought I needed twenty of each. Oh well. So, there I am with like millions of points of resources each, instead of thousands by turning all my planets(I had four star systems developed; when you first start colonizing another solar system, often, most planets are not oxygen, and you can only build 1, maybe 2, sometimes five facilities on a planet. You have to make an atmosphere terraforming facility to convert to oxygen; then, the amount of facilities goes up depending on how large of a world it is) into resource collectors. I'm able to build starbases around each planet, plus fully loaded battleships - cloaking devices, master computers so they don't need a bridge and personal facilities on the ship, and lots of other goodies the a.i. doesn't build into them, while building up my spherworld to a hugh intelligence center. I also started warping to other star systems to find E.T's to battle. I found one.This E.T. wasn't particularlay built up. My spherworld was only half built up as a total intelligence center, and I was converting planets to us, and making their ships become part of my fleet instead of the other way around. The ships log after each turn was like top to bottom of all these sabatages! By the time my ships get to this other star system, I'll have them absorbed into my collective! So, I'm responding to them in the politics section. I see a surrender option. I thought I was telling them to surrender. As it turned out, I surrendered my entire empire if you will to them, lock, stock and barrel, all those technologies(I researched them all). Next thing I know, I get a front page saying Pangea society is no longer in existence!
