Master of Orion Series

[andrewgprv]

I recently have become burnt out on Civ and was looking for a new game to try. I found a preview for Master of Orion III on Gamespy and thought it looked fun. So anyone out there play the master of Orion series and if so would you recommend it?

 

[Lucky]

MoO is probably the best space strategy series and one of the best strategy games series along wiht Civ!

I began playing MoO2 and loved it. Even though it has a few flaws, or things that could have been done better, it is by far the best in space empire building I´ve seen. I´ll definitely buy MoO3 asap.

 

[GenghisK]

How could you not play at least MOO 1??
MOO 2 was way too hard. And if you're looking for some good other games in space then I have played those ones and found good:
Reunion
Pax Imperia
Imperium Galactica series (but there's also some simulation and not only strategy)
Stars!
Spaceward Ho!
Allegiance (gremlins)

But you should now look for the recent releases: Imperium Galactica 3 and O.R.B.

 

[Cantankerous]

Master of Orion 2 is among my very favorite computer games of all time. And I'm looking forward to MOO3 with great anticipation.

If you like space-based "4-X" type games, the MOO series will NOT disappoint.

Much like Civilization, I lost a lot of sleep because of MOO2.

 

[munzy76]

I ave lost a lot of sleep because of MOO2 also. I can't determine which has caused me to lose more.

I would also add to the list almost the full range of KOEI strategy games as causing sleep loss. They should have a warning on the box....might be a good advertising gimic.

 

[Zelig]

I have MOO2 and enjoyed it a lot.

GengisK: You played Stars!? I really like that game too. They're working on a new one called Stars! Supernova Genesis, but work seems to have stalled.

 

[GenghisK]

yes, stars! and spaceward ho! have been really simple but fun games. The ones you can spend a lot of time on

 

[Dogberry]

If you want a rather more complex x4 space game should you try this one. A working demo can be picked up at Shrapnelgames.com . There is an active forum & a dedicated server for multiplayer.

Dog

 

[Lucky]

Originally posted by GenghisK
How could you not play at least MOO 1??
MOO 2 was way too hard.

I have played MoO1, but only later. And at that point MoO2 was far superior. I even downloaded the free predecessor of MoO and played it a while.
MoO2 was WAAAAAAAYYY too EASY!!!
The AI was incapable of effectively designing ships. With the same technology (which I gave them through an editor) and on Impossible difficulty, I still had my fleet of 3 Doom Stars, 4 Titans, 4 BB and 4 Cruisers against his 50+ Doom Stars, 80+ Titans, 20+ BBs and other smaller ships. In the endgame, when I refused the election and the resulting empire was 2-3 times my size!!!
In such a battle I would hardly loose any ship, only the planet bases and the star base.

Antares was a little more of a challenge, but you had to wait too long for them to assemble a real fleet in their system.

And if you're looking for some good other games in space then I have played those ones and found good:
Pax Imperia

Very interesting concept and nice graphics, but the battling was flawed, especially the mine fields and the super long range weapons. The interface and overall playability also lacked quite a bit, the RTS nature was the least annoying part.

Imperium Galactica series (but there's also some simulation and not only strategy)

Only have IG2, couldn´t find 1 anywhere, but IG2 was also a VERY nice concept, good storyline and many other great features. The only problem was the UNREASONABLY HIGH buggyness of the game.

Stars!
Spaceward Ho!

Stars!, Reach for the Stars, Space Empires I-IV and many others started as Freeware and Shareware games. At that point they concentrated on the strategy aspect of the game, not on pretty graphics or nice animations. You could more or less control every feature and the games were highly editable. And of course they featured MUCH more space, i.e. stars and systems than the commercial counterparts.
But since graphics and sounds are also part of the game, they are not good for single-player, as multi-player platforms they were unbeatable.
Unfortunately they decided to go commercial and now you can buy games like SE IV in stores. The problem is that they only minimally improved the graphics and other features of the game, which sentenced them to death on the commercial sector. We´ll see of they have to offer anything else in the future.

I can only recommend MoO3 and IG3, among another game I recently found but which will be released next year.

 

[GenghisK]

Hehe, just got Haegemonia Legions of Iron, and O.R.B.
Those are amazing homeworld/imperium like. Btw Haegemonia is made by Digital Reality too (makers of IG1 and 2 )
Some jaw dropping graphics.... wow!

 

[VinCaiden]

I got Master of Orion 1 and its really good. I got Civ3 for Christmas last year and I played that until April, when I got, at the same time, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter and Master of Orion 1 (off the net.) I played Master of Orion 1 first! Very addictive, and not bad challenging on the upper difficulty levels.

 

[handyandy]

can you get a demo of master of orion 1 or 2 from the web?

 

[ERIKK]

Originally posted by handyandy
can you get a demo of master of orion 1 or 2 from the web?

I believe MOO1 is free downloadable. MOO2 and 3 can be bought at online shops. For more info about the MOO series check out the MOO3 website: www.moo3.com

 

[VinCaiden]

That's right Erikk, you can get MOO 1 at several websites. PM me if you want to know which ones

 

[munzy76]

becareful about posting about abandonware sites...the owner of CFC and the mods frown upon that. I would suggest that you modify your post and maybe PM or email the information to people in the future. Just a friendly warning.

 

[Lucky]

MoO1 is NOT free!

For everyone who still doesn´t know:
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ABANDONWARE!!!

Now everyone, repeat that at least 10 times.
No matter how many sites tell you that it is legal to download older games that are not sold anymore, it´s simply NOT true. If you want, go check out your local copyright laws or even better, the international ones. You will find NO mention of abandonware as a form of legal software.

If you go to the official developer site of MoO, you will see that they don´t allow you to download MoO1 for free, only a demo last I visited it.
The only free full game of the MoO series is the predecessor to MoO1. It´s a game that wasn´t published, but it served as the basis for MoO1. Go get that if you like.

 

[VinCaiden]

Well, I also got the full version of MoO from a game Demo CD. Thanks for the tip about the post, Munzy.

 

[Lucky]

A demo game CD, e.g. those that come with a game magazine, are something wholly different. Those usually are legal, since the producers of the CD contacted the game developers.

Abandonware, as you suggested that you can download at "several sites" is NOT legal. So stay away from it, at least refrain from posting about it here, since it´s against the rules.

 

[VinCaiden]

Ok, lesson learned. No more plugs for illegal sites. I kinda wondered about that when I first posted it. Hope I don't get in trouble. Another thing about the "A-word", I'd buy the games if I could. And, some "a-ware" is legal! If a company releases the copyright or something like that, then it can be downloaded. But that's only for really old games. Like, older than me games. Anyway, I shall say nothing more about abandonware (oops). Back to the game suggestions....