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Detailed Preview of Masters of Orion 3
garibald writes "Constantine, the head developer, promised that there would be a detailed preview of the game this week, and here it is at Apolyton. Constantine also said the game was in it's final regression testing. Here's hoping that the game will be out by the end of this month." Oh, Lordie, if I counted the hours I spent playing MOO and MOO2 - I'm really looking forward to this one.
I think you got a couple of songs mixed up. It's Master of Puppets and Orion is another song from that album altogether.
Does this game's developer have a track record like Nintendo's or Rare's of delaying games (until they're perfect - good) for years? IF so, then I wouldn't bet on seeing the game soon, no matter what the developer says. Perhaps someone can shed some light on this.
My favorite part about MOO 3 is the real time ship-ship combat. It always seemed anoying and wrong to have turn based combat. Turn based strategy is fine, but after playing a few RTS's I realized that there are just some really cool things you cant pull off in turn-based.
Help I'm a rock.
Muusssst have my ORION 3F)JSKDL Musssst have it now. WHy do they taunt me? WHY DO THEY TEASES ME? I hatesssss them. precioussssss
I enjoyed both MOO1 and MOO2, but was a bit disappointed with the fact that the skills in MOO2 were basically a carbon copy of those in M001. I liked the improved graphics and interface of M002, but would have appreciated more expansion of content.
It gets kinda dull when you reach the end of the game and start exhausting what you can research. Researching Planetary Future Tech 24 , or Weapons Tech 33 may improve my score...but I'd rather have better guns/ships.
Does anyone know if the skills have been expanded for M003?
The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky
By the way, still playing computer geek games past the age of 12? GROW THE FUCK UP!
Let's all guess who just turned 14 and thinks he's the hot shit now...
After reading the gobblygook article and looking at the race types, I went in search of something that would tell me what the game play is like.
After seeing this screenshot , I decided I just didn't care.
The article and the screenshot together just make the game look mush-brained.
Ok, so I slightly changed it. ;-)
--gal
Very popular slashdot journal for adul
I've had my preorder at EB since October. I really hope they get it out soon, it looks like it's going to be great. Maybe they'll actually make a Master of Magic 2 as well...oooh...*drool.* For those of you who haven't played the old Simtex games, see if you can find them, they're worth playing even now.
This 'review' is just a cut'n'paste from the manual section describing the species, plus screenshots of the species description screens. Oh, and he throws in a screenshot of the logo selection screen. Some info about, ya know, gameplay and such would have been nice.
"A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
A friend of mine gave me access to his copy of the game when I was attending school. I ended up choosing a Lithovore race (can live in toxic environments by eating rocks). I was doing ok, but an aggressor species kept attacking me and demanding tribute. I had a few plantets, but had lost most of them quite quickly.
But lucky for me, I had some excellent research abilities. I managed to discover Planetary Converter lasers (one shot kills a planet) and Doom Stars. But I was so heavily out numbered, that I kept losing most direct confrontations. But I had enough to hold back the attackers from wiping me out.
At this point in the game, I had maybe 5 planets, and my opponent had everything else (about 100 planets). I was despearate, so I started sending my ships to planet colonies of the attacking race, and vaporising every planet in the system, and moving on.
Initially, he continued to demand my surrender and 75% tribute. After toasting about 20 systems, He demanded 50%. Another 20 systems turned to asteroid fields, and he was willing to settle for 25%. A few systems later, he was saying that I was no longer worth his time to squash, so lets call the whole war off. After destroying his home system, he began offering me tribute.
I ended up destorying every star system in the entire galaxy and all life (except my own). It was the only time I can recall winning a game by committing wholesale galactic genocide.
I look forward to buying MOO3.
END COMMUNICATION
It sounds like the MOO series is a lot like Starflight, but I never got into any of them. Can you still buy the ealier version? Should I bother looking on ebay or whatever, or just wait for MOO3 and play that? I mean, will playing MOO2 help me to appreciate MOO3, or is 3 a stand-alone game?
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
Remember kids, it's all fun and games until someone commits wholesale galactic genocide.
The MOO series is probably one of the best strategy series of all time.
:)
it is constantly recommened by long time gamers who have experienced the joy that was MOO1 and MOO2. to put it in perspective, it is the sole reason i keep a DOS machine around, just to play this one stupid game.
Some other player's opinions can be found all over the 'net, and they love the MOO series.
and it's not just the fans, game sites constantly wax nostalgic about the MOO series as seen here
the third title, which is close to Gold at this point looks to be another great game in a great series, although it's not going to have the best graphics ever, it will likely have excellent game play, if it's anything like its predecessors.
don't let the anemic review above be your sole example of MOO3, there are lots of better ones around (although i don't have links on-hand)
This 'preview' is an excerpt from the manual concerning game races. Would my copying the spell section from the Neverwinter manual qualify as a 'preview'? It's as detailed as Cheesetor's review of Grand Theft Auto: "It's the best game in the world. You can steal cars, shoot cops and run over prostitutes!" Elftor
Slashdot, don't waste our time.
For more detailed previews of the game, check out Gamerankings
The observant reader might notice the subtle hints, like "PART 1: LET'S MEET THE PLAYERS" and suspect that (surprise) there might be OTHER parts in the article, perhaps posted LATER. And that those OTHER parts of the article might contain more information about OTHER parts of the game. =)
It's not that hard as the Psilons - Creative was a major advantage, vastly underpriced IMO. Build a communications network out of Outpost Ships, making sure to plant the flag on any handy terran or Gaia planets early. This way you make contact with everyone before they meet each other, and you can set up lots of trade and research pacts. If someone starts looking nasty, you can buy 'em off with technological trinkets. You're extremely vulnerable in the early game, because someone with a big productive base (Sakkra or Bulrathi maybe) could just roll over you.
Later on, once you've converted some of those outposts to colonies and got something of a fleet and a serious technical lead, go after the monsters. A rich, huge Gaia with natives, defended only by a dragon is a good thing to have ;-) Attack the Guardian once you've got ships with graviton guns or better, and zortrium armour at least. The best combo in the mid-game is a volley of grav cannon to knock down the shields, then a volley of ion cannon to demolish internal systems. A couple of Titans with this setup can destroy the Guardian without giving it a chance to return fire.
If you're in lamer mode, you might like to refight the Avenger several times. Loknar gives you four technologies at random - most are unresearchable, but he may give you Moleculartronic Computer. The ones you want are Xentronium Armour and Damper Field. Death rays and particle beams are heavily overrated - they don't miniaturise, so late in the game you'll get more value out of maulers. The black hole generator is cool, but not that useful in practice. Make sure you have a spare slot in your ship captains list before attacking Orion, else you'll just get the ship and not Loknar.
Once you command the Avenger and start integrating Orion tech into your ships, and with microlite construction at your shipyards and Recyclotrons coming into play, and the megafluxer being invented - all at about the same time - you're suddenly the ultimate superpower. You might consider building android worlds - the manual says androids are unaffected by morale, but they are. A planet full of Android Workers with +5 morale churns out Titans every couple of turns. Now pick a fight with someone you don't like. Preferably the one you've had to buy off a few times, the one who bullied you when you were small.
At the end? HV AF SP Phasors w Achilles Targeting System. 'Nuff said. Also, it's worth investigating the potential of phasing cloaks and timewarp facilitators. Does the 'decloak - fire - recloak' tactic appeal to you? ;-)
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
That's how I played Stars!
Anyone remember that one? Anyone interested in cowriting a Linux or Java clone?
What's this Submit thingy do?
is that when they are removing features?
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
I never played the second one much, but I remember in the first one if you were whipping up on a race and had them down to 1 or 2 planets early in the game, they'd suddenly whip out a stack of 32,000 ships and attack you. There was no way they had the resources to legitimately build that many ships and they'd wipe out planets that you had worked diligently to build up. Very frustrating.
The Civ 3 tree isn't much larger than Civ 2, but when you play the game some you appreciate how much better it is. Just killing the problem with Leonardo's [Free Lunch] Workshop was a huge deal. Play balance is everything. Variety's nice, but if there's a killer race trait or technology, you won't even bother to try all the other options anyway.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
Try using VDMSound. It helps with both memory and sound issues on these old DOS games. It's a "must-have" utility for retro-gaming.
Just last week I used it to play MOO on my Win2k box.
My best moment in a space sim was an old PC (as in, IBM PC) game called Reach For The Stars.
During one of these games several computer opponents steamrolled over me early on and conquered *all* of my systems. Even though I now had NO systems and NO ships the game wasn't over. I couldn't do anything except hit "next turn". Now, in RFTS you had to maintain a certain level of military presence to control the planet. So when another computer opponent tried to invade one of my former planets they didn't conquer it - but they reduced the number of troops there so my people rose up. I had a planet again! And I went on to win the game.
From zero planets to galactic overlord.
*bow*
I think MOO came out in 1992, but was predated by a similar Mac game, "Spaceward Ho!".
Interestingly, Delta Tao chose to release upgrades to the Ho and not completely redesigned games. I believe they just released the latest version of the Ho a month or two ago.
The link was described as a "detailed preview." That would be why it wasn't really a review.
- DDT
So long, michael. Don't let the door hit you...
I'm surprised to hear slashdotters rallying behind the MOO series. There's an independent developer that has created the ultimate 4X (Expand, Extend, Explore, and Exploit) galactic empire game. Space Empires IV seems to be everything that MOO3 is, plus it is user-extensible -- every aspect of the game is editable and customizable.
I've never played any of the MOO games. Can anyone tell me what it can do that Star Empires cannot? As far as I can see, the only advantage MOO3 has is internet multiplayer. SEIV has all the gameplay. Or am I wrong, and missing something magical about MOO?
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
The website for this game, www.moo3.com, the official site from Quicksilver, has stated this game has been in final regression testing since before December 4th, 2002. Read the Infogrames discussion boards, linked from the MoO3 site, if you want a better scoop as to what's been going on with the "We're near release" deal. I'm not getting excited until I see the game, they were supposedly going to have it done just after Thanksgiving. I'd take Chantz's statements that they're about ready with a grain of salt.
If not now, when?
4 Titans with 6 of those Gravity disruptor things that make the ships spin round and round (can't remember the name of them), Reinforced Hull and Heavy Armor. If that doesn't kill the Gaurdian try 5 or 6 of the same ships.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
Of course, they would have to be really, really confident in the quality of th new version...
I've been tracking the release date since about November - not at the Apolyton site, but at online retail sites and actual retail stores. The release date has moved up, from 18 January to 15 January, the last couple times I've checked. I think when they say it'll be January, they mean it.
Plus, consider this: If they don't release soon, they risk having the plug pulled. I'd imagine Chantz and company will have to settle for "good enough" within the next few days or weeks if they can't get everything worked out by then.
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
Same way I play Civ 3 for that matter.
;-)
Please never run for office in real life!
"First lesson," Jon said. "Stick them with the pointy end."
No, that review/preview was for shit and you know it. That hast to be just about the worst game review I've ever read....
I also found it distasteful to genocide a race. --I'd let them do whatever they wanted on their planet surface. Didn't want to interferr with anything in their culture. I just wouldn't allow them to go building up wrathful armadas and such. I found it frustrating that they'd keep sending ships at me to destroy. Depressing.
I think the game would have been improved had there been an option whereby Starfleet Federation style organizations could have arisen, rather than the law of 'All Races Must Kill All Other Races,' bullshit.
Actually, I kinda hated that game. I liked to build, but the finished structures were always ugly, evil things. --That such must be the reality is a total lie. I gave MOO-2 a 5 out of 10 for this reason. Cool beginnings, sucky follow through.
-Fantastic Lad
So. .
I maintained three types of ships in my fleets; Death Stars in the rear, billions of tiny, nothing ships to waste the enemy time/target resources on in the fore, and a heavy division of what I somewhat unimaginatively dubbed, 'Ghost Ships.'
Ghost Ships were equipped with cloaking, time-warping (for the extra moves), all the extra distance modifiers I could give them, as well as the wonderful, 'Stasis Field' generator (for freezeing enemy vessels). Ghost Ships had nothing else; no weapons or armor to speak of.
And so. . , even if the aggressor went first, they used up most of their firepower on my ranks of clay pigeons, (which I liked to imagine were remote controled). Mass destruction, etc. But when my move came along, it was game over; The Ghost Ships would immediately slip across the game board undetected and snuggle up to the target vessels. --They'd then decloak and put EVERY ship in the enemy fleet into stasis. Twenty or so Ghost Ships could usually do the job.
Then, one by one, you pull a target vessel out of stasis, and concentrate all your Death Star power on it, and efficiently win the battle.
So long as you had enough Ghost ships and at least one major weapons platform remaining by the time it was your turn, the aggressor was done for.
And if you got to go first. . . Well. Having zero casualties in massive space space combat? Not a bad system. I easily trounced races with far superior fire-power and technology.
Another tactic which I used now and again, was to equip fifty or so tiny ships with really big self destruct units. It was like entering battle with a fleet of precision controled missiles which by-passed that annoying bullshit where the computer could tell me that I 'missed'. Very simply, you'd fly them up to a target and detonate them. Fairly effective, so long as the enemy didn't really rank up in the armor. When technologies were reaching their peeks for all races, Ghost Ships were the final answer.
-Fantastic Lad --Tactics. It's what's for dinner.
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
I can reliably beat moo2 on impossible every time. No cheating. Of course, I've been playing it semi-regularly since it was released. And will probably play it some more now in preperation for Moo3.
Kintanon
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
Oops, I forgot to answer the last two questions...
do you still have a cool movie clip that plays when you fire that mega planet destroying weapon?
I don't know about movie clips, but the "blow up the planet" option is gone. I *think* there is a weapon option to sterilize a planet and turn the entire surface into a smooth sheet of glass.
Do you have to let battles between large fleets run overnight because the engine bogs down?
As I mentioned battles are realtime. I've read that 1000+ ship fleets can be a strain, but system requirements are a mere 300 Mhz Pentium II. It shouldn't be a problem.
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
Gamestop has MOO2 for ten dollars as well. Doesn't say whether it's jewel case or not.
I went and grabbed MOO1. Only got 5.1KB/sec. Still only took a couple minutes... :-)
-B
Ash and Hickory, straight-grained and true, make excellent bludgeons, dandy for the cudgeling of vegetarians.
I'll be 36 in March, you stupid fuck! I just stopped playing cocksucking video games when my dick started sprouting pubic hair.
So let me get this straight... you haven't played a video game since pacman came out? seems like you might want to take a look at the market before you start knocking other people's pasttimes...
90% of the fun in a game is developing strategies of your own, not reading them out of a manual.
That's the problem I have with Warcraft 3 these days--Everyone just goes to www.imbalanceexploitoftheday.com and makes cookie-cutter armies. It gets very old very quickly.
Even *that* site was cancelled.
http://www.classicgaming.com/mom/
*sigh*
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!