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Space Empires IV possesses in full measure that addictive quality that made Civilization so successful. Once you start playing, it’s a struggle to stop. The temptation to play just one more turn... and another... and another... is always there.

Game creation can be a fairly involved process, with all the options available. The player can customize each and every race in the game - including those used by the computer. Galaxies can be pre-generated following different rule sets (editable, of course). Each race has a culture and different aptitudes. For multiplayer games, a description and background information can be entered. Of course, the game when released will come with twenty pre-generated races that can be used right away. A quickstart game option is available, starting a standard game.

Victory conditions can be specified. For example, games can be restricted to run no longer than 1000 turns (or any number of turns). The first empire to reach a specified score may gain victory. Or the game may end after a number of turns without any wars. This option is only useful in conjunction with the “at least x turns have passed” rule.

Ministers

While the game is a micromanager’s delight, it doesn’t have to be. If you decide to do so, you can delegate as many specific duties as you wish to AI ministers. Some of these have empire-wide influence, handling details like research and even diplomacy. Others are based on individual ships and planets. A setting allows all new ships produced to be automatically placed under a minister's control. Later in the game, when managing a galaxy-spanning empire and fighting a war, ministers allow you to focus on the parts of the game you like best.

Some AI issues show themselves when ministers are activated. For one thing, the current rules do not encourage. This omission means that computer controlled empires have a penchant for sending ships into battle piecemeal. While playing against the computer, it does seem to use fleets, but not until there are really large numbers of ships involved. With a fleet minister, however, it will move ten ships one at a time, sending them into combat to be slaughtered. Manually creating a fleet does not help, either. The next turn, if the fleet minister still has control, the fleet will be dissolved and each ship will move on its own. Another issue is the AI's attitude towards colony, supply, and other non-combatant ships. It treats them just like any other, deliberately moving them into combat.