Let's Play Space Empires V! - UNDER WAY!
Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 2:19 am
Hello, boys and girls, welcome to Let's Play Space Empires 5. I'm sure before we get started, you've all got a lot of questions, so I'll try to answer those now, before things get under way.
What is a "Let's Play" thread?
A Let's Play is where one person plays through a game, taking screenshots or recording video (I'll be doing the former, in this LP), and posts them up on a forum, with the addition of either in-character or out-of-character commentary, often amusing but sometimes serious. Audience participation is also frequently involved, where I'll ask you guys to make suggestions or to vote on certain choices. These threads are a lot of fun, and this is the first time I've actually run one, so here's hoping all goes smoothly.
What is Space Empires V?
I'm glad you asked! Space Empires V is a 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate) turn-based strategy game, set in an unnamed, randomly generated galaxy. You control a single Empire, and through research, expansion, construction, diplomacy and underhandedness, your ultimate goal is to conquer that Galaxy, and the other alien Empires that inhabit it. This is a really, really deep and complex game, with a massive tech-tree that's almost impossible to get all the way through, incredibly flexible ship-building (though not as much as BSF), and all sorts of fun things. You can bomb your enemies planets from orbit, you can use intelligence operatives to cause their populations to riot, you can drop armies of troops on their planet and conquor them by force, or if you're really feeling like a dick and have the huge amounts of technology and resources required, you can even blow up the suns of their solar systems. Or collapse them into black holes. It's awesome.
That's great, but what do we do?
I'm so glad you asked! Well, each update I post will be about ten game turns, which is a year of in-game time. You guys will be making suggestions and voting on the path our Empire will take! You can make these suggestions either in a normal "Do this, or that!" way, or, if you're really feeling like adding to the atmosphere, you can make your post in-character, as a Senator or Politician of the Empire!
Okay, before we start, however, there are a few things we'll need to vote on, from the start.
First, the name of the Empire: Please try to be serious. Pick a name, if numerous people pick the same name, we'll go with that, unless it's something silly. If not, I'll choose from my favourite one suggested.
Also, the name of our species: Same as the above. Make suggestions. The ones with most votes wins, if no consensus is reached, I'll pick my favourite from those suggested. Alternatively, we could just go with humans.
What type of atmosphere should our species breathe: Oxygen, Hydrogen, Carbon Dioxide, Methane, or None?
What type of planet should we inhabit: Rock, Gas Giant, or Ice? (Note that if you picked "No Atmosphere", you can't pick Gas Giant. A Gas-less Gas Giant doesn't work, boys and girls.)
Also, I'm gonna only going to give five options for the next two votes, because otherwise it'd require me uploading lots of tiny pictures. And because I only like a handful of these anyway.
What should our flag be?
And what should our ship-style be?
There we go! I'll keep this running until I've got enough answers to start, or for about a day or two, then I'll start the LP. If you can't decide and want to skip this step, then just vote "You decide". If enough people go for that, then that's what I'll do.
What is a "Let's Play" thread?
A Let's Play is where one person plays through a game, taking screenshots or recording video (I'll be doing the former, in this LP), and posts them up on a forum, with the addition of either in-character or out-of-character commentary, often amusing but sometimes serious. Audience participation is also frequently involved, where I'll ask you guys to make suggestions or to vote on certain choices. These threads are a lot of fun, and this is the first time I've actually run one, so here's hoping all goes smoothly.
What is Space Empires V?
I'm glad you asked! Space Empires V is a 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate) turn-based strategy game, set in an unnamed, randomly generated galaxy. You control a single Empire, and through research, expansion, construction, diplomacy and underhandedness, your ultimate goal is to conquer that Galaxy, and the other alien Empires that inhabit it. This is a really, really deep and complex game, with a massive tech-tree that's almost impossible to get all the way through, incredibly flexible ship-building (though not as much as BSF), and all sorts of fun things. You can bomb your enemies planets from orbit, you can use intelligence operatives to cause their populations to riot, you can drop armies of troops on their planet and conquor them by force, or if you're really feeling like a dick and have the huge amounts of technology and resources required, you can even blow up the suns of their solar systems. Or collapse them into black holes. It's awesome.
That's great, but what do we do?
I'm so glad you asked! Well, each update I post will be about ten game turns, which is a year of in-game time. You guys will be making suggestions and voting on the path our Empire will take! You can make these suggestions either in a normal "Do this, or that!" way, or, if you're really feeling like adding to the atmosphere, you can make your post in-character, as a Senator or Politician of the Empire!
Okay, before we start, however, there are a few things we'll need to vote on, from the start.
First, the name of the Empire: Please try to be serious. Pick a name, if numerous people pick the same name, we'll go with that, unless it's something silly. If not, I'll choose from my favourite one suggested.
Also, the name of our species: Same as the above. Make suggestions. The ones with most votes wins, if no consensus is reached, I'll pick my favourite from those suggested. Alternatively, we could just go with humans.
What type of atmosphere should our species breathe: Oxygen, Hydrogen, Carbon Dioxide, Methane, or None?
What type of planet should we inhabit: Rock, Gas Giant, or Ice? (Note that if you picked "No Atmosphere", you can't pick Gas Giant. A Gas-less Gas Giant doesn't work, boys and girls.)
Also, I'm gonna only going to give five options for the next two votes, because otherwise it'd require me uploading lots of tiny pictures. And because I only like a handful of these anyway.
What should our flag be?
And what should our ship-style be?
There we go! I'll keep this running until I've got enough answers to start, or for about a day or two, then I'll start the LP. If you can't decide and want to skip this step, then just vote "You decide". If enough people go for that, then that's what I'll do.