User:Kizor/MOO

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Master of Orion
Developer(s)	Simtex
Publisher(s)	Microprose
Release date(s)	1993
Genre(s)	Turn-based strategy
Mode(s)	Single player
Platform(s)	MS-DOS, Apple Macintosh

Master of Orion (MOO or MoO) is a turn-based science fiction computer strategy game developed by Steve Barcia (Simtex) and published by Microprose in 1993. It was followed by Master of Orion II and Master of Orion III. As an early 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) game, MOO came hot on the heels of the popular Civilization and the more adventure-like Iron Seed. It was modeled after a number of earlier titles, especially Delta Tao's Spaceward Ho! and SSI's Reach for the Stars, and is considered to be among the best the genre has to offer. [1]

The player controls an interstellar empire that struggles with other spacefaring races to dominate the known galaxy either militarily or politically. Economic, diplomatic and martial interests have to be managed and customized in steady competition with up to five computer players (who can show uncanny intelligence at times). Players get to design their own space fleet from the ground up, which accounts for much of the fun. There are many random events like rebellion, piracy, gigantic space amoebae and diplomatic blunders. The conquest of the most powerful star system, Orion, usually means victory.

Star Lords, dubbed "MOO 0" by fans, was the prototype version of the game that Steve Barcia pitched to MicroProse and gaming journalist Alan Emrich, among others.[2] Alan Emrich would write the strategy guide for the game and act as a designer for Master of Orion 3.

Contents 1 Presentation 2 Gameplay 2.1 Research 2.2 Combat 2.3 Victory 3 Races 4 Influence 5 References 6 References 7 External links 8 My stuff

[edit] Presentation

Master of Orion runs in VGA, in a 256-color 320x200 resolution mode. Most of the game's graphics were simple but functional in its own time. Closer to its abstract aesthetic completion than then-realistic contemporaries, Master of Orion has aged relatively gracefully - even though by today's standards the combat screen is reminiscent of old 2D shoot 'em ups and the main map, if of anything, Lemmings.

It does have a few decorations that were designed to impress, in particular the almost completely ornamental planetary view (compare the 'city view' in Civilization), that, nowadays, don't. Sound-wise, the game is rather minimalistic: some events have short signature themes, but there's no general background music. Sound effects are nondescript.

Both fields pay disproportionate attention to the characterization of the various races: each one has two or three different ditties and three expressions in diplomatic negotiations, plus a different presenter for each way of acquiring new technology. Researchers fidget (or glow, or clack). On the other hand, the player's own ruler is seen in a cloak from behind, though the player gets to choose its color.

Originally completely mouse-driven, Master of Orion became only nearly so after the 1.3 patch added several supplemental commands without modifying the visual interface, instead mapping them to keyboard shortcuts.

[edit] Gameplay

The primary resource is production: most things are converted to or from it. Food (or any other necessity) is not modeled and wealth has a vestigial, if strategically important, role.

A colonized planet hosts a population that grows automatically (on a bell curve) while generating small amounts of production by itself and large amounts by operating factories. The raw total is adjusted for empire-wide maintenance, espionage and trade, then reinvested into the world. The player controls its allocation with five sliders Ships (building new craft), Defense (building new missile bases; building planetary shields, upgrading obsolete bases), Industry (building new factories up to the current per-population limit of automation technology; refitting existing factories to comply with the , converting production into wealth with a 2:1 ratio) Ecology (removing industrial waste created by factory use, which otherwise harms production and population growth; terraforming and enriching planets, increasing population growth) and Research (converting production into research points with a 1:1 ratio).

In the storyline, the Orions were an ancient race of progenitors that are rumored to have tampered with the genetic development of younger races, in order to study their own development. They mysteriously disappeared long ago, and no one has ever seen a member of this ancient race. The younger races created by the Orions are:

Millennia after the fall of the Orion, the 10 races within the Orion Sector (the region of the galaxy named after Orion) achieve spaceflight and the game follows the various races as they vie for power. The ruins on Orion contain technology that can advance any civilization centuries ahead of any other race; however, an automated Guardian ship defends Orion from attack. Once this "Guardian" is destroyed, the attackers can control the planet of Orion for their own and recover lost technologies such as the death ray and black hole generator.

The player of the game selects one of the ten races and controls their struggle to compete with the other races in a fight for galactic supremacy.

[edit] Research

No direct dependency

A bonus for sustained spending and a small random element serve to follow the law of diminishing results: short-term interests permitting, slight expenditure on many fields is more beneficial than grabbing one advancement at a time.

General ability improvements take effect immediately, planetary improvements and new ship components need to be built.

[edit] Combat

Ground combat is a non-interactive process where the opposing sides line up and see who runs out of soldiers first. Its strategic value comes from the larger scale: the entire planetary population fights, forcing the attacker to commit comparative numbers. Colonists travel in created-on-demand, uncustomizable and unarmed ships that are easy prey for defenders, yet may overwhelm them by numbers. A successful invasion is the most lucrative attack, handing over the colony, its infrastructure and, depending on the damage caused from space, possibly captured technology.

Unusually for a 4X game, Master of Orion has such a thing as undeclared hostilities: The AI may not consider a minor incident worth a war. Border skirmishes can almost be expected during expansion, while any ground invasion is a massive provocation.

[edit] Victory

There is no cooperative or allied victory: even when the galaxy unites one race ends up on top. The most straightforward way to victory is the complete extermination of all other contenders. Failing that, the High Council convenes periodically once 2/3rds of the galaxy has been settled. Each race receives votes in direct proportion to their colonists and the two most populous ones are nominated for galactic rulership. A two-thirds majority wins the game. Voting for or against a candidate has a significant impact on relations, while abstaining slightly harms relations with both; thus, races often risk a loss rather than another's wrath. The player can choose to reject a ruling to vie for conquest victory, an act that triggers Final War as the rest unite into a New Republic.

Instead of a conventional tech tree, research is divided into six fields with their own tech levels that increase as discoveries are made.

Each technology requires a specific tech level before it becomes available. Research points are allocated freely among the six fields, each working simultaneously, with a bonus for sustained spending^[1] to discourage nabbing one tech at a time.

[edit] Races

Ten species, two to six per game, achieve spaceflight closely enough to vie for galactic supremacy. The game begins with their first colonization efforts and follows their development into interstellar empires. This process is highly simplified: all start simultaneously, with the same resources and world governments that do not change functionally as they expand. Biology determines allegiance. Later spacebound strategy games, including MOO2, would introduce governments and minor races.

Each side is in large part defined by its racial abilities. Each also has default attitudes towards others (Humans get on with everyone, Mrrshans distrust Sakkra) and aptitude or ineptitude in specific research fields. AI-controlled races follow a personality type ("honorable", "xenophobic", etc.) and a strategy ("pacifist", "expansionist", etc.), either of which can be replaced one of two secondary ones.

The races are:

• Humans, skilled in trade and diplomacy
  • Abilities: +25% profit from trade agreements, +5 to checks for whether another civ will accept a treaty or trade agreement in diplomatic negotiations
• Sakkra, a lizard-like race with excellent reproductive rates
  • Abilities: +100% growth rate
• Mrrshan, a matriarchal feline race with superb combat instincts
  • Abilities: +4 on to-hit rolls and initiative in space combat
• Alkari, an avian race with natural talent for piloting and maneuvering
  • Abilities: +3 to defense and initiative in space combat
• Bulrathi, a bear-like race, unstoppable in hand-to-hand combat and ground assault
  • Abilities: +25 to Ground Combat rolls
• Psilons, a four-armed race of enormous intelligence and scientific acuity
  • Abilities: +50% research points, rated as "Good" (-20% tech cost) at all research fields. Can research 75% of technologies instead of the usual 50%.
• Darloks, a wraith-like shape-shifting race who excel in espionage
  • Abilities: +30 on spy infiltration rolls, +20 on rolls to catch enemy spies
• Klackons, an ant-like race of efficient workers
  • Abilities: Double production from population points
• Meklars, a mechanized race skilled in automation and manufacturing advancements
  • Abilities: Can build an extra two factories per population point
• Silicoids, a crystalline race barely humanoid in both looks and properties
  • Abilities: Can settle on any planetary environment without the aid of technology, ignores the effects of industrial waste, -50% growth rate

[edit] Influence

Master of Orion was an acclaimed game in its days, but The 4X genre flourished in the following years and MOO saw two sequels.

Having predated the massive popularization of the WWW, MOO never had much of an online presence (though patches were distributed via BBSes). It has no rank on game review aggregate website GameRankings.com.^[2][3]

Simtex went on to make the fantasy 4X Master of Magic (1994), which most resembles a mix of Master of Orion, Civilization and Magic: The Gathering without the cards. The influence of the latter two is far clearer, but Magic does have a tactical combat system.

Master of Orion II (1996, DOS, Windows 95) is an expansion and modernization of the original. The setting is exactly the same, the goals and means nearly so.

The result is much more like Civilization with some concepts taken from Master of Magic, and was warmly relieved despite concerns about its increased cumbersomeness. The game has a GameRankings rank of 84%.^[4] The production model is abandoned for a food/production/research split, all technologies are available but presented as groups of one to three, only one of which can be chosen. The backstory is only expanded by naming the Ancients "Orions" and introducing an ancient evil race as their nemesis. Additions include governments, new and custom races, multiple planets per system and leaders who give bonuses to star systems or ships.
Master Of Orion II features online multiplayer support

uses the now-defunct TEN for TCP/IP (outside local networks) play but with some effort can be made to work with modern programs that emulate a LAN. [3]

Master of Orion III (2003, Windows) was produced by Quicksilver Software, involving none of the original developers. Quicksilver reinvented the wheel to create an elaborate and very different game meant to resemble managing a real interstellar empire. The end result was panned for its cumbersome interface, poor AI and lack of the charm of its predecessors; it is generally considered an ambitious failure.^[5] The game has a GameRankings rank of 59.4%.^[6] The game's extensive backstory makes sweeping changes to the galaxy, states that both of the previous games happened and makes the younger races the results of the older ones' experiments.

[edit] References

This game is a member of Computer Gaming World's Hall of Fame. http://www.cdaccess.com/html/pc/150best.htm The editors of PC Gamer magazine ranked 'Master of Orion' #31 of the Top 50 Games of all time, in their October 2001 issue. They go on to credit the game for the creation of the '4X' genre of strategy gaming ('explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate'). Master of Orion was voted #37 overall in PC Gamer Magazine's Readers All-Time Top 50 Games Poll (April 2000 issue). Master of Orion was ranked # 44 in the 50 Best Games of All Time list published by PC Gamer Magazine in its April 2005 issue.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Star Lords a pre-release version of the Master of Orion download
• The Master of Orion series at MobyGames
• Master of Orion at Home of the Underdogs
• Sirian's Master of Orion Page includes resources and full game narrations for the first Master of Orion
• Bladrov's Palace, another fan site, hosting a number of resources for the series (I-III)
• FreeOrion, an open-source, platform independent galactic conquest game in the tradition of the Master of Orion games.
• MOO Resources, original disk files, ship codes, editors, etc.

v • d • e Master of Orion computer games

Master of Orion • Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares • Master of Orion III

[edit] My stuff

• [4]
• [5]
• [6]
• [7]
• [8]
• [9]
• Tech tree