Space Empires: 4X - Tips & Strategies

My 12 year old son and I are really enjoying Space Empires 4X. We will soon integrate parts of the Close Encounter expansion, but while we’re gaining confidence with the base game, we’ve decided to make a variant that would increase the presence (and dangers) of space, while helping to specify a tile marked “Danger!” that usually results in instant death though we do not know from what. GMT has included their variant that provides a player a 20% survival rate, yet we still don’t know from what. Nebulae and Asteroid Fields effect a ship’s movement and offense and defense, but are 100% navigable. A ship or squad has a 60% chance of surviving a black hole (and 20% survival rate for a risky sling shot move).

Thus, if you have the misfortune of flying into a “Danger!” tiled hexagon, know that you have awakened a 1d10+2 fleet of Borg-like aliens from their dark slumber. Pull the alien ship’s randomly from a small bag. The player ship(s) that stumbled upon the “Danger!” will have to fight it out with this fleet. Should the alien fleet win, they will follow the turned over(cleared) tile path towards the player’s colonies and/or home world. The alien fleet will adhere to movement rules as created by GMT. Should you defeat this force, you will get to choose a random Alien Tech card (from the Close Encounter expansion), or a new tech as agreed by the players before the start of the game. This additional alien presence will certainly add more challenges and adventure to your game. Enjoy.