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Overall, colony management is very simple. You enter what you want to build into a build queue, and after the correct number of turns have passed, a completed building/ship/etc. pops out. The build queue has some nice options, such as “build one turns’ worth of mines”, or “build 1000 of these”, but the overall colony screen is fairly sparse.

Two major points stand out in the colony management system. The first is that you are NOT automatically notified when a colony has build everything you ordered—which is something of a hassle. The second, however, helps make up for the first. You can turn on a computer “minister”, who will handle building for you. This is great in the late game, since it cuts down on your micro-managing load.

Resource Management:

Space Empires IV differentiates itself from the competition by having you manage three, rather than one, resource. Both Civilization and MOO (standard benchmarks for turn-based sci-fi) basically come down to you managing one resource: money. You use it to build new things, pay for maintenance, and so on. Space Empires IV has you manage three natural resources: organics, minerals, and radioactives. Building and maintaining units costs you a certain amount of each. By having you manage more factors of production, Space Empires IV adds a new dimension to play: needing to trade.

Different kinds of planets in Space Empires IV tend to offer different amounts of each resource. For example, gas giants usually offer plentiful radioactives, while asteroids (which can be colonized just like a planet) tend to be rich in minerals. Since each race starts with the technology to only colonize one kind of planet, and since certain kinds of planet are short on certain resources, you can find yourself needing to trade in order to get necessary building materials. This makes certain planets truly strategically valuable, since they may very well be your best or even only source of a badly needed resource.

Trade & Diplomacy:

The game shines in this area. You can offer to trade nearly anything with other races: planets, technologies, and resources can all be offered. What makes the game special, however, is that you can package these three things together into one trade deal. So, for example, you might be technologically ahead of your neighbors, but badly need organics to build new ships. You can offer to trade technology to other races in exchange for resources, and vice versa. More impressively, other races respond in a realistic fashion: instead of simply saying “yes” or “no”, they may issue counterproposals, which you can respond to (if you want) with a counter-offer of your own. Space Empires IV allows you to negotiate, barter, and haggle with neighboring races in meaningful ways.

Diplomatically, the game is more basic. You can offer a variety of treaties with your neighbors, and they can accept or decline at their discretion. One nice thing about the game, however, when compared to other games in this genre, is that the AI seems to make more sense. The computer-controlled powers will uphold their end of a treaty until a clear, specific (to them) reason exists to break it. So, unlike MOO II, you allies will not suddenly turn on you—unless you give them a reason to.