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Master of Orion

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Re: Master of Orion

#51

Post by simonebrunozzi »

chem83 wrote: post #28
thriftwy wrote: post #12

Civilization, Master of Orion, Master of Magic and Alpha Centauri are the four 4X gems. Unfortunately they don't seem to make those anymore.

I thought MOO: Conquer the Stars was a very fair/faithful remake. It's more of the same, though.

Nah. I tried it once and was disappointed. It was unfinished, and barely a copy. Better graphics and sound, sure, but nothing else. If I recall correctly, the tactical combat system was real-time, instead of turns, and it had flaws. There was a community patch as some point that fixed some of the issues.

Re: Master of Orion

#52

Post by omnibrain »

giantrobot wrote: post #48

I was always partial to Stars![0] though I did enjoy MOO. It looked a lot like a Windows productivity app so I could play it with no one being the wiser. It wasn't as deep as MOO other some other games but I enjoyed it. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars !

I remember from around the same time another game in this windows "productivity" optic. Something with ships. You don't happen to know the name of that one?

Re: Master of Orion

#53

Post by kadoban »

frabert wrote: post #45
kadoban wrote: post #15

Really enjoyed this game. My real favorite is Space Empires 3 though. Anyone else? The multiplayer for that one is especially great. A few friends and I still play it to this day, it's a blast.

I was never able to understand how to "git gud" at that game :( The AI always seemed to be able to outperform me on any front, and the only solution was to use ministries for everything, which turned the game into a battle between AIs

Ah, interesting.

I'd definitely recommend playing against humans if you can, I never found the computers quite as fun to play against.

Which may have helped me avoid that issue, by the time I ever played against a computer they were pretty easy just because I'd played my friends a lot.

If there's any big advice I'd give though, it's just definitely focus on expanding your production and planets as quickly as you can near the beginning.

Re: Master of Orion

#54

Post by JoeAltmaier »

My favorite win: ally with the Darlok, the reprehensible race. Share all technology with them profligately. They grow with you to be the top 2 races in the galaxy. Upon the first election nobody will vote for the Darlok (a racial characteristic - everybody hates them) so they all vote for you. Win!

Re: Master of Orion

#55

Post by JoeAltmaier »

FredPret wrote: post #47
Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #40

I have once played a hot seat game of Moo2 with two friends. I had an increased production race, one friend had an improved science race, and second one had silicoids on steroids - he picked all kinds of maluses to get eating rocks and surplus birth rate. ... and he wiped the floor with both of us, silicoids are OP, please, nerf. Great games and happy memories from childhood. Moo1 was better in feel, but moo2 was bet…

I always found population trumps all else. So if you have modifiers like subterranean (higher max pop per planet) plus maybe a pop growth increase, you’re likely to win. Another one I always went with was to pick Repulsive (no diplomacy) since you’ll end up at war with everyone anyway.

I liked Telepath and silicoid - you skip all food and ground-combat skills, since you take over planets with your mind! Better than the Psilon who get all tech branches - you don't even need half of them! And can do industrial development on all planets (no wasted population making food)

Re: Master of Orion

#56

Post by JoeAltmaier »

hyperpl wrote: post #2

Probably my favorite 4X game ever made. Been playing as the Darloks for the past 6 months on Impossible but looking to switch to another fun race to play. Any suggestions?

The cat-people are the hardest. They have no significant racial traits.

Re: Master of Orion

#57

Post by beloch »

The sequel to MOO, and most 4X games made since then, have always felt inferior to me. MOO was like a game of chess. The rules were relatively simple, but complex enough to give you the "box of chocolates" games this article talks about.

MOO2 bogged you down in micromanaging colony buildings, etc. and other 4X games made since have added far more complex systems. The results feels like chess where each piece now has bolted-on RPG stats that have to be individually micromanaged. The game becomes more complex, but not in an elegant way. I don't want to manage maces and chain-mail and morale. I just want to play chess!

I haven't really kept up with 4X games. Are there any that have tried to get back to the basic chess of MOO instead of bolting on complications that bog you down in micromanagement?

Re: Master of Orion

#58

Post by billyhoffman »

Dwedit wrote: post #39
dingleberry wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

darlocks can be fun tho, you can win without having any fleet. just spy, sabotage missile bases to 0 and then send troops.

Their ships still shoot down your troops. Then you get bombed into nonexistence. Trying to take a planet without a fleet there won't end very well.

Get Transports Teleporters, and your troops have a 50% change to bypass the ships in orbit. If its late game, the planet you take should have high population and production, so it can build a bunch of missile bases on the turn after you take the planet.

Re: Master of Orion

#59

Post by astockwell »

giantrobot wrote: post #48

I was always partial to Stars![0] though I did enjoy MOO. It looked a lot like a Windows productivity app so I could play it with no one being the wiser. It wasn't as deep as MOO other some other games but I enjoyed it. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars !

Stars!! Finally another living human who has heard of it.

I remember finding the limited demo on one of those "101 games!" $1.99 CD-ROMs, and then tracked down a full version at some remote Circuit City. Still have the installer and the key, and occasionally load it up on a VM (plays fine, only needed like 32mb of RAM :P )

A great game, but another one which suffered from the burden of overwhelm in the late game stages, and was hampered by the un-expected and abrupt limitation that you could only have 255 fleets (or some such thing). I read a breakdown that the cause was due to the designers only using an 8 bit integer for the FLEET_ID, so once you had that, the game would just discard any additional fleets you made.

Ahh, nostalga.

Re: Master of Orion

#60

Post by hubblesticks »

IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #43
seanwilson wrote: post #20

Are there any games like Civilization and Master of Orion where the number of units and choices in the later game don't get so overwhelming? I usually lose interest at this point but enjoy the early game. It's not the same kind of game or as grand in scale, but I really enjoyed Into the Breach because each turn you only have a limited number of choices and units each turn, and each choice feels important.

Stellaris does a fantastic job at this. Stays relevant until the very end.

Agreed. I grew up on MOO2, played too much of it, mostly hotseat with a friend.

I tried a few other 4X space games, but none scratched the itch that Stellaris did. It's the only 4X space game I play now. And Paradox keeps adding content!

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