[MoO] MOO2: Galaxies and Starting Positions of Opponent Races

[Per-aa]

New member here, big fan of nearly all 4x games both historical and space related.

What I have been intensely curious about and have yet to be answered by doing internet searches so far is this one question I have: Is there any way to place opponent AI races in a galaxy in Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares? (this has nothing to do with the new Steam MOO redo.) If anyone knows of a mod or a hack that can design galaxies and place/seed race starting positions I would be very appreciative if someone can spell it out for me or at least point me in the right direction. The past few games I have played have really annoyed me by being overwhelmed before my galactic empires really have a chance of taking off. Many times I get stuck in a corner, my technology lags behind, or I have a neighbor that is much too close in early game.

 

[vmxa]

I did a search and there is a "balance" map gen listed on github. No idea, if that would work for you or how it works. Back on the Atari forums I talked to someone that made a map editor, but I never tried it and the boards are gone now afaik.

 

[Ponkyo]

You can download and install MOO2 fan patch (currently v1.50.18.1) then play the Mirror mod. It should place players at symmetrical positions with same planets around for a very fair game. You can also get O2M with the same results, but easier to manage, your choice. You may also edit the Mirror mod if you know a bit of Lua to control placement, but that's a more advanced solution. You can find links for these right here, on the same forum.

And probably the easiest way, you can try Corion2 (it's a MOO2 save game editor, http://www.moo3.at/moo2/files.php) that can be used to edit saved games, move stars around and other stuff: start a game, save it, then load it into Corion2 and move home worlds to where you want them.