Master of Orion 3
Adrian often rants about taking over the galaxy, but we just ignore him these days.
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Few series of games has attracted the devoted following that the Master of Orion games (or "MOD" for short) have. MOO2 was arguably one of the finest strategy games ever developed for the PC, and still, even years after being relegated to the bargain bucket, MOO2 is a rousing romp through the vastness of space visiting neutronium death on unsuspecting populaces.
This is the legacy that MOO3 has to follows, and from the offset, it's not surprising that Quicksilver opted to try to do things… well… a little differently.
MOO3 is the official sequel to the Antaran War (aka MOO2), and takes place twenty years after the end of the last game, and those mean Antaran scumbags have appointed themselves head of the galactic senate that attempts to regulate order in the galaxy (or Orion sector) where the game takes place.
Enter you, the supreme leader of one of 16 pre-generated races, from the bog-standard human, through the reptilian Saurans, to the fiendish Ithkul. If you like, you can also modify one of the starting races and adjust some of the strengths and weaknesses available. You may choose to be incredible scientists, hardy farmers, super industrious or have the entire race you command swear absolute loyalty to you, thereby reducing the levels of unrest that can occur from mistreating them horribly (as, let's face it, every despotic ruler should do).
The game commences with you ready to explore the galaxy around your home star system with a couple of reconnaissance scout ships and a Colony ship to start your expansion, then when your forces are ready, trample your foes and visit them with neutronium d... erm... you get the picture.
At first impressions, the user interface is not exactly friendly, but gets the job done. However, I found with the poor documentation, the very unhelpful Galactic Encyclopedia, and the limited "Master's Notes" that pop-up as you are learning, that even with a large amount of experience with previous games in the series, I was more than just a little lost. Shrugging it off for now, I instructed each of my scout ships to explore a nearby system and then checked out my home planet.
Okay, now I was very confused. The planetary status screen is a veritable cornucopia of information, but without any mouse over help, I was not getting anywhere.
This is where we introduce the planetary Viceroy. As in most games of this nature, there is an option for you to rely on the Artificial Intelligence of a Governor, who will suggest what you might want to build in some cases (as in MOO2) or in this case, just go ahead and build it for you. Now to start with, this was awesome, because to be frank (or am I Betty? I forget) I had zero idea what I was doing, so turning the responsibility to Bob the Planetary Viceroy was a great help.
Feeling somewhat more confident for the moment, I clicked the "Next Turn" button. Each of my scouts progressed a little further down the star lanes between systems. Having done that, I figured I would take another look at the planetary statistics screen.
Each planet has a number of different characteristics, which as far as gameplay goes, does make for some interesting choices. To start with your race has an ideal environmental preference where it wants to live. As you'd expect, finding additional planets with the exact same conditions is rare. Instead you will discover one of the 6 additional types of planetary make-up which range from Green 1 which is a very close match, through Yellow 1 and 2, which are hostile worlds, but tolerable to, finally, the Red 2 worlds, a veritable hell hole, comparable to, say, New Jersey.
Comments
So disappointed. I loved MOO2 and have been waiting for this game for a long time bu tit now seems like it has been designed by my local council's housing department, ineptly.
Here's hoping Galactic Civilizations gives a spacers want we want. And a real good review that were an all.
This game was shockingly disappointing. For a game that insisted on micromanaging EVERYTHING for you, the menu systems really did display a complete disregard for ergonomics.
The attempt to make the game easy to use via complex assistant AI was totally undermined by the needlessly counter-intuitive interface.
What a waste.
Sorry for the double post. It gave me a server error, so I hit submit again.
Mental note: Look for reviews before buying a game
I've never seen a game so complex while having so little control. AI incumbers you with an endless supply of what you don't need. "300000 troops are not much help when your getting bombed from above"
There are 2 ways to win... Kiss other Civilizations butt...
Or run you planet like a ruthless dictator and crush all.
This to me leaves little to stragity.
There is now a patch avalible at the official MOO3 web sight. But a total transplant wouldn't fix this game.
You can't polish a turd.
Ain't nowt wrong with Slough (wish the same could be said for MOO3... DAmn you Quicksilver! Some people LIKE micromanaging!!!), we are the home of "The Office"
(OK, I lied, we're a complete dump:( )
dude why turn on the AI????
I was delighted when MOO3 was released, but to say I am disapointed, after buying it, is an understatement. I do not believe the game is redeemable with any amount of patches. Its interface is atrocious and the game lacks any aesthetic appeal. Not a worthy successor to MOO1 and MOO2. What a waste of an opportunity!
I have baught the game one time and took it back the next day as i found it completely confusing. BUT i have just baught it off ebay in some hope of this time round reading the huge ass manuel that the game requires. I havnt played MOO1 or MOO2 but by the types of things i have read here MOO3 seems like its worth rocks compared. I know you guys may think i'm wasting my money and time but I am up for working it out.
u must up date your advertisments
Well I told the guys developing this game that it would suck when they put real time battle in it and took control away from the player. They made it so you have to use the AI. So if you like watching you computer play by it's self then by all means buy this game. Oh and all those professional review like on ign and gamespot. Thier just paid off magazines by the companies making the games. Don't trust them. Thie cluelss. I played this game for 2 weeks trying to get some wheres I really wanted to love it. Because I loved 1 and 2. But MOO 3 just sucks. Hopefully there will be a moo 4 which will go back to a more like MOO 2 type of game. Deeply sorrowed Keev.
Well I told the guys developing this game that it would suck when they put real time battle in it and took control away from the player. They made it so you have to use the AI. So if you like watching you computer play by it's self then by all means buy this game. Oh and all those professional review like on ign and gamespot. Thier just paid off magazines by the companies making the games. Don't trust them. Thie cluelss. I played this game for 2 weeks trying to get some wheres I really wanted to love it. Because I loved 1 and 2. But MOO 3 just sucks. Hopefully there will be a moo 4 which will go back to a more like MOO 2 type of game. Deeply sorrowed Keev.
Worst Moo Ever.
Greates pile of rubbish ever. This game has my wote to be the worts game ever created. I played it, i played if for a week, and more, trying to get some enjoyment out of it, i went down to micromanagament level, countering the stupid ai i could not shut down, and trying to do the decisions myself. I even got to unsderstand the economic model they have been using. For what? To see tiny dots flying around eachother, firing small red lines and hear my klackon general talking like some moron from the US army and seeing a sketch of a planet turning red.
I can tell you why this game has become like this. Not only did infogames push the makers to release this alpha of a game, but quicksilver had this
After playing MoO3 since March 4th 2003 I have to say that most ppl gave up to easily. The Official 1.2.5 patch helped the AI to be more aggressive. The game IS Complex. It's not meant for the RTS/FPS crowd but for Turn Based Strategy players. Most of the ppl posting their negative reviews here wanted a snappy little space romp that you finish in 2-4 hrs. I've played individual games of MoO3 that have lasted Months. The only negative about MoO3 was/is the lack of Official support. BUT the Fan Community has advanced the game by leaps and bounds. A Canadian with the username Bhruic has created a whole set of Patches used with a Pather program that addresses and fixes almost every known issue. There are Multiple Fan Mods that alter gameplay in various and interesting ways. By the way Modding MoO3 IS one of it's greatest innovations.
Most of these reviews are knee jerk reactions from the release and Do NOT represent how the game actually is and plays.
My username is JosEPh and you can find me at Atari's Community Forums under the MoO3 Sub Forum. I've played it solidly for almost 4 years now. What game that you play gets that kind of attention.
JosEPh
Hah!!
If anyone read the review and thought that a 40% was what I originally deemeed this game, they have severe Mathematical Incomprehension Syndrome... If I recall correctly, I rated it in the high teens... like 18%, and My dear Editor (Yo Lukey BABY!) adjusted it up because he felt I was being to harsh. (Sneaking the rating up again, huh, whatever happened to the right to call crap CRAP? :D )
anyway... since release, the awesome community of this game worked their butts off to make it playable, but even so... this game should have never, ever EVER been released so pathetic it was out of the box.
Galciv definitely is a winner, and Space Empires V is good too if you're willingly to ignore the pathetically easy AI.
SOMEBODY PLEASE make some smart AI!!!
This is one of the worst games I have ever played. If you want to watch a movie of you winning or losing then Moo3 is for you, for the rest of us who want a strategy game where you micro-manage your empire, skip this.