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Master of Orion

February 13, 2024

"MoO" redirects here. For other uses, see Moo (disambiguation).

Master of Orion (abbreviated as MoO) is a turn-based, 4X science fiction strategy game in which the player leads one of ten races to dominate the galaxy through a combination of diplomacy and conquest while developing technology, exploring and colonizing star systems.

Sometimes described as a scifi-themed spin-off of classic Civilization, the game has proven to be quite enduring, becoming a cult classic in its niche of sci-fi-themed 4X strategy games. It has received several direct sequels, and additionally, a number of other games published since have been described as inspired by it, with reviewers and players divided on whether any has succeeded at recapturing the feeling and gameplay of the original.

The game was released in 1993 by MicroProse on the MS-DOS operating system.[1] It was ported to the Mac OS in 1995 by Take-Two Interactive and distributed by GameTek. It is the first in its franchise, and the rights are held by Wargaming.[2]

Gameplay edit

Master of Orion is a turn-based game. In the first iteration of the franchise, one can only play against the artificial intelligence (AI). Human and AI players control the management of colonies, technology development, ship construction, inter-species diplomacy, and combat.[3]

The software generates a map randomly at the start of each game; the player can only choose the size of the galaxy, and the number and difficulty of AI opponents.[4] In the first game, star systems have at most one colonizable planet and a few have none. Later games have more planets.[5]

Master of Orion has 10 playable races, each with a specialty. For instance, the Humans have advantages in trade and diplomacy; the Bulrathi are the best at ground combat; the Silicoids ignore pollution and can colonize even the most hostile planets, but have slow population growth.[6] Each race is predisposed to like or dislike some of the other races,[7] and is advantaged or disadvantaged in different research fields. The other 7 races are; Alkari, Darloks, Klackons, Meklar, Mrrshan, Sakkra, and Psilon.

The game begins with a single homeworld, one colony ship, and two scout ships that can be used to explore nearby stars. The game will sometimes produce random events which can be harmful or advantageous. One planet is Orion, "throne-world of the Ancients" and most valuable research site in the galaxy,[8] protected by a powerful warship, the Guardian. Victory is gained either by eliminating all opponents or by winning a vote on peaceful unification.

There are seven normal and six hostile planet types.[9] The various hostile types require increasingly advanced technology to colonize.[10] Size determines the planet's initial population capacity. Mineral wealth dramatically influences a colony's industrial productivity while Habitability influences population growth rates. Hostile planets are the most likely to be rich or ultra-rich in minerals.[9] Artifact worlds contain relics of a now-vanished advanced civilization.[9] All planets can be upgraded to Gaia class with the appropriate technologies.[11] Planets can be upgraded in three ways:

  • Terraforming increases population capacity by a fixed amount for each tech level achieved, up to a maximum of 120 extra units.
  • Soil enrichment increases a planet's population capacity and growth rate but can not be used on hostile planets. The advanced version increases capacity by up to 50% of its initial value and doubles the rate of population growth. Growth is increased by assigning the planet the modifier "Fertile", and then eventually "Gaia".
  • Atmospheric terraforming converts hostile planets to normal ones, making soil enrichment possible there.

Planet type does not affect the costs and benefits of terraforming and soil enrichment.

 
The main screen, showing the planetary management controls on the right.

Sliders are used to allocate a colony's output between ship construction, planetary defenses, factory construction, ecology, and research.[10] Planetary population generates production, especially when assisted by factories.[12] There is a limit on the number of factories a unit of population can operate, but building upgrades can increase this.[13] Defense spending is used to build additional missile bases, upgrade missile bases or planetary shields.[13] Military and spy maintenance is deducted from every colony's production.[14] A planet's output can also be transferred to the treasury at a loss.

Ships can travel to any star system within their range and combat always occurs in orbit over a planet - it is impossible to intercept enemy ships in deep space.[15] Players can control space combat manually or ask the software to resolve combat automatically.[16]

Technology edit

The designers regard technology as the most important contribution to a player's success.[17] Funding can be put into one or all of the game's six independent tech tree fields, including Computers, Construction, Force Fields, Planetary Science, Vehicle Propulsion, and Weapons.

If a ship uses a component from a particular technology area, further advances in that area reduce the cost and size of the component; this effect is called "miniaturization". When one has researched all of the technologies in an area of the tech tree, further research can discover "advanced technologies" in that area, which do not provide specific new capabilities but increase the miniaturization of ship components.[17]

Battles are almost always decided by numbers and technology rather than by clever tactics.[18] Players can design and use their own ships. There are four hull sizes; smaller sizes are harder to hit while larger ships can survive more damage and hold more components. There are eight types of components, each with different effects. Only six ship designs can be used at a time.

Weapons edit

Weapons are used in combat, and can be mounted to ships or given to ground units. When on ships, weapons are often unique and have their own effects, with their own cost and space taken up. Weapons for ground troops make ground defense and attacks more effective.

Special weapons edit

Special weapons are a branch-off of weapons, which do not take up standard weapon slots, rather special slots. these cannot be stacked, unlike standard weapons. They have much more unique effects, and some just make other weapons better, rather than dealing damage themselves.

Biological weapons edit

Biological weapons are weapons that, when used, will reduce the maximum population of a planet that is hit. These cannot be used on ships, and only enemy planets. Use of these is generally not recommended, because often, people will want to colonize a planet after they destroy those defending it. Note that biological weapons can be avoided by researching the Biotoxin antidote, and Universal antidote. these make them less effective, by reducing their power by 1 million and 2 million respectively

Bombs edit

Bombs are weapons which are designed to attack planets rather than enemy ships. They deal more damage than any other weapon type to colonies, but cannot target ships, and always have the minimum possible range.

Diplomacy edit

Master of Orion provides a wide range of diplomatic negotiations: gifts of money or technology; one-time technology trades; trade pacts that boost industrial output; non-aggression and alliance treaties. Players can also threaten each other, declare war and arrange cease-fires.[19] Each AI player remembers others' actions, both positive and negative, and will be unwilling to form alliances with a player who has broken previous treaties with it.[7]

Under AI control, each race has a ruler personality and an objective, such as Xenophobic Expansionist or Pacifistic Technologist. These traits guide their politics and economic management; for example militarists maintain large fleets and prioritize technologies which have military benefits, while ecologists put a lot of effort into pollution control and terraforming.[20] Traits vary from game to game.[20] Each race has most probable traits and avoids their opposites.[7] Races may occasionally revolt and change traits, but players can force a revolt, and turn the population against the leader using spies.

Hostile actions do not automatically cause war. Clashes are even expected at the opening of the game, when all sides are sending probes out into the unknown. On the other extreme, a ground assault must be knowingly targeted at an inhabited planet, and is a massive provocation.

Colonies can be bombed from space, or taken in ground invasions. Ground invasions can be conducted through enemy defenses. Present enemy ships or missile bases will fire on the approaching transports, possibly destroying some or all of them.[21] The invasion itself is fully automatic.[22] Results depend on numbers, technology and (if one of the races involved is Bulrathi) racial ground combat bonus.[23]

Invasion is expensive.[24] In the first game, there are no special soldier units; colonial population itself is sent to fight, exterminate the existing inhabitants, and form a new planetary population.[23][25] The production capacity of any remaining factories can be gleaned, and plundering of technologies if enough factories survived the attack.[23] Controlling a new system extends the range of the invader's ships.

Development edit

Master of Orion is a significantly expanded and refined version of the prototype/predecessor game Star Lords (not to be confused with Starlord, also released by MicroProse in 1993). Steve Barcia's game development company Simtex demonstrated Star Lords to MicroProse and gaming journalist Alan Emrich who, along with Tom Hughes, assisted Barcia in refining the design to produce Master of Orion;[26][27] and the game's manual thanks them for their contributions.[28] Emrich and Hughes later wrote the strategy guide for the finished product.[29] MicroProse published the final version of the game in 1994.[30]

Star Lords, often called Master of Orion 0 by fans,[31] was a prototype and never commercially released (its intro opens with "SimTex Software and Your Company present"). The crude but fully playable prototype was made available as freeware in 2001, stripped of all documentation and copy protection, in anticipation of the launch of Master of Orion III.[31] Major differences between Star Lords and Master of Orion include inferior graphics and interface, simpler trade and diplomacy, undirected research, a lack of safeguards to prevent players from building more factories than are usable and the use of transports rather than colony ships to colonize new planets. One feature of Star Lords that Master of Orion lacks is a table of relations between the computer-controlled races. The game was eventually made available for download on FilePlanet[32] and the home page for Master of Orion III.[31]

Reception edit

Master of Orion sold over 100,000 copies.[36] It also received strong reviews. Emrich in a September 1993 Computer Gaming World preview described Master of Orion as "the best that galactic conquest can offer", and summarized its type of gameplay as "4X", meaning "eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate".[24][37] He and later commentators noted earlier examples of this genre, including Civilization (1991)[38] and Reach for the Stars (1983).[39] The magazine's full December 1993 review stated that "Master of Orion is one of those games where one must actually put effort into finding something inadequate about the game design, and that in itself is probably the highest praise this reviewer can give a product". The magazine concluded that it was "a definite Game of the Year candidate as well as Exhibit A in many divorce cases".[40] A February 1994 survey of space war games gave Master of Orion a grade of A−, stating that "it's still conquest, but it's conquest that begins to have an interesting point to it". The reviewer wished that the game supported multiple players, but predicted that "I think MOO will safely reign supreme well into the new year".[41] A 1994 survey of strategic space games set in the year 2000 and later gave the game four-plus stars out of five, saying that it was "a richly-textured product. Graphics coupled with high play yield a high recommendation".[34]

Next Generation reviewed the Macintosh version of the game, rating it two stars out of five, calling the game as "strategy game of the year, NOT".[35]

Master of Orion was named the best strategy game of 1993 by Computer Games Strategy Plus.[42] It also won Computer Gaming World's Strategy Game of the Year award in June 1994. The editors called it "a game that is worthy of being called 'Civilization in Space'", and wrote that it "epitomizes and expands the 'Conquer the Galaxy' motif in strategy gaming".[43]

Legacy edit

In 1996, Computer Gaming World ranked Master of Orion as the 33rd best game of all time.[44] In 1998, PC Gamer declared it the 45th-best computer game ever released, and the editors called it "a great sci-fi space epic".[45] In 2003, IGN ranked it as the 98th top game.[46] Master of Orion is a member of both GameSpy's Hall of Fame (2001)[47] and GameSpot's list of the greatest games of all time.[48] The Gamer included it in their list of top 10 games in the 4X genre.[49]

In retrospective reviews, Allgame, GameSpot and IGN regarded MoO as the standard by which turn based strategy games set in space are judged.[50][51][52]

Sequels edit

Three commercial sequels to Master of Orion have been released, Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares, Master of Orion III and Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars. The sequels are significantly more advanced in graphics and sound and feature large differences in gameplay, with some players claiming the original game remains the best version of the series.[53][54]

In 1997, MicroProse released a Master of Orion "Jr." scenario as part of the Civ II: Fantastic Worlds expansion for Civilization II. In 2001, Star Lords, developed as Master of Orion prototype, was released as freeware as part of the promotion for Master of Orion III. Also a potential future release of the MOO and MOO2 source code was indicated by the MOO3 developers in 2001.[55] In 2011, a clone of MoO II, titled Starbase Orion, was published by Chimera Software, LLC for the iPhone. The game setting has been the influence of Russian writer Sergey Lukyanenko's trilogy, the Line of Delirium.

In July 2013, Wargaming bought the Master of Orion franchise from the Atari bankruptcy proceedings.[2] A "reimagining" subtitled Conquer the Stars[56] was released on August 25, 2016.[57]

Influence edit

Master of Orion became an influence on future space strategy games. It was the first game to be described as a 4X game,[58] and helped establish the conventions for the genre going forward.[59] The team behind Stellaris based their game partially on the Master of Orion series,[60] but also said it was important to "try new things and leave the old formulas from the 90s behind".[61] Writer George R. R. Martin mentioned it among the games he used to play most often.[62]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Master of Orion - PC - GameSpy". Gamespy. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
  2. ^ a b "Wargaming Takes Master of Orion, Stardock Gets Star Control". SpaceSector.com. 2013-07-23. Retrieved 2013-11-06.
  3. ^ MOO Manual (PC) p. iii
  4. ^ MOO Manual (PC) p. 2
  5. ^ MOO Manual (PC) p. 4
  6. ^ MOO Manual (PC) pp. 39-41
  7. ^ a b c MOO Manual (PC) pp. 33-34
  8. ^ MOO Manual (PC) p. 56
  9. ^ a b c MOO Manual (PC) pp. 11-12
  10. ^ a b MOO Manual (PC) p. viii
  11. ^ MOO Manual (PC) pp. 31-32
  12. ^ MOO Manual (PC) pp. 23-24
  13. ^ a b MOO Manual (PC) pp. 8-9
  14. ^ MOO Manual (PC) p. 31
  15. ^ MOO Manual (PC) pp. vi-viii
  16. ^ MOO Manual (PC) pp. 27-28
  17. ^ a b MOO Manual (PC) pp. 25-26
  18. ^ Thomas, B. "Master of Orion - Sirian's Perspective: The Player". Retrieved 2008-05-21.
  19. ^ MOO Manual (PC) pp. 21-22
  20. ^ a b MOO Manual (PC) pp. 42-43
  21. ^ MOO Manual (PC) pp. vi, vii
  22. ^ MOO Manual (PC) pp. 51-54
  23. ^ a b c MOO Manual (PC) p. 14
  24. ^ a b Emrich, Alan (September 1993). "MicroProse' Strategic Space Opera is Rated XXXX". Computer Gaming World. No. 110. pp. 92–93. Retrieved 2015-01-18.
  25. ^ MOO Manual (PC) p. vi
  26. ^ Emrich, Alan. "Master of Orion: The History of a Game Series - One Man's Telling of a Cosmic Tale". Retrieved 2008-05-15.
  27. ^ "Star Lords". MobyGames. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
  28. ^ MOO Manual (PC), "Credits" page
  29. ^ . Archived from the original on 2008-06-07. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  30. ^ Sources differ on this:
    • Supporting 1994:
      • "June 1, 1994" at "Master of Orion - PC - GameSpy". Gamespy. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
      • Geryk, B. . Gamespot. CBS Interactive Inc. Archived from the original on 2010-07-01. Retrieved 2014-08-08.
    • Supporting 1993:
      • Chick, T. (2001). "PC Retroview: Master of Orion II". IGN. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
  31. ^ a b c "Master of Orion: The History of a Game Series — Star Lords". Quicksilver software. 2001. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
  32. ^ "Star Lords Info". fileplanet.com. 2002-06-06. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
  33. ^ Osbourne, Jason A. "Master of Orion - Review". Allgame. Retrieved 2014-06-04.
  34. ^ a b Brooks, M. Evan (May 1994). "Never Trust A Gazfluvian Flingschnogger!". Computer Gaming World. pp. 42–58.
  35. ^ a b "Finals". Next Generation. No. 7. Imagine Media. July 1995. pp. 75–76.
  36. ^ Hawkins, Lori (February 27, 1995). "Fun Games Big Profits". Austin American-Statesman. p. 21. Retrieved January 17, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  37. ^ Quick, D (2002-02-01). . GameSpy. Archived from the original on 2008-04-21. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
  38. ^ . IGN. Archived from the original on 2008-05-05. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
  39. ^ Bruce Geryk (2001-08-08). . GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2010-06-28. Retrieved 2014-08-08.
  40. ^ Cirulis, Martin E. (December 1993). "Hanging From Orion's Belt". Computer Gaming World. pp. 16–19. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  41. ^ Cirulis, Martin E. (February 1994). "The Year The Stars Fell". Computer Gaming World. pp. 94–104.
  42. ^ Bauman, Steve (November 2000). "A Decade of Gaming; Award Winners of 1993". Computer Games Magazine (120): 58.
  43. ^ "Announcing The New Premier Awards". Computer Gaming World. June 1994. pp. 51–58.
  44. ^ "150 Best Games of All Time". Computer Gaming World. November 1996. pp. 64–80. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  45. ^ "The 50 Best Games Ever". PC Gamer US. 5 (10): 86, 87, 89, 90, 92, 98, 101, 102, 109, 110, 113, 114, 117, 118, 125, 126, 129, 130. October 1998.
  46. ^ . Uk.top100.ign.com. Archived from the original on 2013-11-04. Retrieved 2013-11-06.
  47. ^ Fudge, J (2001-01-01). . GameSpy. Archived from the original on 2009-08-28. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
  48. ^ Ocampo, J. . GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2005-11-13. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
  49. ^ Timberlake, Rebecca (2022-05-12). "Best Classic 4X Games". TheGamer. Retrieved 2022-05-27.
  50. ^ Osborne, J.A. "Master of Orion". Allgame. Macrovision Corporation. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
  51. ^ Chick, T. (2001). "PC Retroview: Master of Orion II". IGN. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
  52. ^ Geryk, B. . GameSpot. CBS Interactive Inc. Archived from the original on 2010-07-01. Retrieved 2014-08-08.
  53. ^ . Archived from the original on 2007-10-14. Retrieved 2007-10-16.
  54. ^ . Archived from the original on 2007-10-09. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
  55. ^ MARCH 12, 2001 on moo3.quicksilver.com by Constantine Hantzopoulos, Senior Producer "MOO1 and 2 source code: The official word on MOO I/II source is we will not be releasing it any time soon. That doesn't preclude us from releasing it at a later date, and indeed we have secret plans for such things."
  56. ^ . Archived from the original on 2015-06-09. Retrieved 2015-06-09.
  57. ^ "Master of Orion - v48.3.1 Patch Notes". 25 August 2016. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  58. ^ Emrich, Alan (September 1993). "MicroProse's Strategic Space Opera is Rated XXXX". Computer Gaming World (Issue #110). pp. 92–93. from the original on 2014-07-16. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
  59. ^ . GameSpy.com. 14 January 2009. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  60. ^ Thylin, Atle (2016-04-22). "Interview with Paradox Interactive on 4X space exploration game, Stellaris". GameZone. Retrieved 2022-05-27.
  61. ^ Hamilton, Alex (2016-06-11). "Stellaris Interview". GameGrin. Retrieved 2022-05-27.
  62. ^ "George R.R. Martin Reveals 3 Video Games He Used to Play a Lot". The Escapist. 2021-12-20. Retrieved 2022-05-27.

Bibliography edit

  • Barcia, S. (1993). (PDF) (1.2 ed.). MicroProse. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-27. Retrieved 2009-10-08.

External links edit

  • Official website
  • Master of Orion at MobyGames
  • The MS-DOS version of Master of Orion can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive
  • includes resources and full game narrations for the first Master of Orion
  • 1oom an open-source recreation of Master of Orion with bug fixes and rule patches
  • FreeOrion an open-source 4X game inspired by the Master of Orion series

February 13, 2024
master, orion, redirects, here, other, uses, disambiguation, abbreviated, turn, based, science, fiction, strategy, game, which, player, leads, races, dominate, galaxy, through, combination, diplomacy, conquest, while, developing, technology, exploring, coloniz. MoO redirects here For other uses see Moo disambiguation Master of Orion abbreviated as MoO is a turn based 4X science fiction strategy game in which the player leads one of ten races to dominate the galaxy through a combination of diplomacy and conquest while developing technology exploring and colonizing star systems Master of OrionDeveloper s SimtexTake Two Mac Publisher s MicroProseProducer s Jeff JohannigmanDesigner s Steve BarciaComposer s David GovettPlatform s MS DOS MacintoshReleaseSeptember 6 19931995 Mac Genre s Turn based strategy 4XMode s Single playerSometimes described as a scifi themed spin off of classic Civilization the game has proven to be quite enduring becoming a cult classic in its niche of sci fi themed 4X strategy games It has received several direct sequels and additionally a number of other games published since have been described as inspired by it with reviewers and players divided on whether any has succeeded at recapturing the feeling and gameplay of the original The game was released in 1993 by MicroProse on the MS DOS operating system 1 It was ported to the Mac OS in 1995 by Take Two Interactive and distributed by GameTek It is the first in its franchise and the rights are held by Wargaming 2 Contents 1 Gameplay 1 1 Technology 1 2 Weapons 1 2 1 Special weapons 1 2 2 Biological weapons 1 2 3 Bombs 1 3 Diplomacy 2 Development 3 Reception 4 Legacy 4 1 Sequels 4 2 Influence 5 See also 6 References 6 1 Bibliography 7 External linksGameplay editMaster of Orion is a turn based game In the first iteration of the franchise one can only play against the artificial intelligence AI Human and AI players control the management of colonies technology development ship construction inter species diplomacy and combat 3 The software generates a map randomly at the start of each game the player can only choose the size of the galaxy and the number and difficulty of AI opponents 4 In the first game star systems have at most one colonizable planet and a few have none Later games have more planets 5 Master of Orion has 10 playable races each with a specialty For instance the Humans have advantages in trade and diplomacy the Bulrathi are the best at ground combat the Silicoids ignore pollution and can colonize even the most hostile planets but have slow population growth 6 Each race is predisposed to like or dislike some of the other races 7 and is advantaged or disadvantaged in different research fields The other 7 races are Alkari Darloks Klackons Meklar Mrrshan Sakkra and Psilon The game begins with a single homeworld one colony ship and two scout ships that can be used to explore nearby stars The game will sometimes produce random events which can be harmful or advantageous One planet is Orion throne world of the Ancients and most valuable research site in the galaxy 8 protected by a powerful warship the Guardian Victory is gained either by eliminating all opponents or by winning a vote on peaceful unification There are seven normal and six hostile planet types 9 The various hostile types require increasingly advanced technology to colonize 10 Size determines the planet s initial population capacity Mineral wealth dramatically influences a colony s industrial productivity while Habitability influences population growth rates Hostile planets are the most likely to be rich or ultra rich in minerals 9 Artifact worlds contain relics of a now vanished advanced civilization 9 All planets can be upgraded to Gaia class with the appropriate technologies 11 Planets can be upgraded in three ways Terraforming increases population capacity by a fixed amount for each tech level achieved up to a maximum of 120 extra units Soil enrichment increases a planet s population capacity and growth rate but can not be used on hostile planets The advanced version increases capacity by up to 50 of its initial value and doubles the rate of population growth Growth is increased by assigning the planet the modifier Fertile and then eventually Gaia Atmospheric terraforming converts hostile planets to normal ones making soil enrichment possible there Planet type does not affect the costs and benefits of terraforming and soil enrichment nbsp The main screen showing the planetary management controls on the right Sliders are used to allocate a colony s output between ship construction planetary defenses factory construction ecology and research 10 Planetary population generates production especially when assisted by factories 12 There is a limit on the number of factories a unit of population can operate but building upgrades can increase this 13 Defense spending is used to build additional missile bases upgrade missile bases or planetary shields 13 Military and spy maintenance is deducted from every colony s production 14 A planet s output can also be transferred to the treasury at a loss Ships can travel to any star system within their range and combat always occurs in orbit over a planet it is impossible to intercept enemy ships in deep space 15 Players can control space combat manually or ask the software to resolve combat automatically 16 Technology edit The designers regard technology as the most important contribution to a player s success 17 Funding can be put into one or all of the game s six independent tech tree fields including Computers Construction Force Fields Planetary Science Vehicle Propulsion and Weapons If a ship uses a component from a particular technology area further advances in that area reduce the cost and size of the component this effect is called miniaturization When one has researched all of the technologies in an area of the tech tree further research can discover advanced technologies in that area which do not provide specific new capabilities but increase the miniaturization of ship components 17 Battles are almost always decided by numbers and technology rather than by clever tactics 18 Players can design and use their own ships There are four hull sizes smaller sizes are harder to hit while larger ships can survive more damage and hold more components There are eight types of components each with different effects Only six ship designs can be used at a time Weapons edit Weapons are used in combat and can be mounted to ships or given to ground units When on ships weapons are often unique and have their own effects with their own cost and space taken up Weapons for ground troops make ground defense and attacks more effective Special weapons edit Special weapons are a branch off of weapons which do not take up standard weapon slots rather special slots these cannot be stacked unlike standard weapons They have much more unique effects and some just make other weapons better rather than dealing damage themselves Biological weapons edit Biological weapons are weapons that when used will reduce the maximum population of a planet that is hit These cannot be used on ships and only enemy planets Use of these is generally not recommended because often people will want to colonize a planet after they destroy those defending it Note that biological weapons can be avoided by researching the Biotoxin antidote and Universal antidote these make them less effective by reducing their power by 1 million and 2 million respectively Bombs edit Bombs are weapons which are designed to attack planets rather than enemy ships They deal more damage than any other weapon type to colonies but cannot target ships and always have the minimum possible range Diplomacy edit Master of Orion provides a wide range of diplomatic negotiations gifts of money or technology one time technology trades trade pacts that boost industrial output non aggression and alliance treaties Players can also threaten each other declare war and arrange cease fires 19 Each AI player remembers others actions both positive and negative and will be unwilling to form alliances with a player who has broken previous treaties with it 7 Under AI control each race has a ruler personality and an objective such as Xenophobic Expansionist or Pacifistic Technologist These traits guide their politics and economic management for example militarists maintain large fleets and prioritize technologies which have military benefits while ecologists put a lot of effort into pollution control and terraforming 20 Traits vary from game to game 20 Each race has most probable traits and avoids their opposites 7 Races may occasionally revolt and change traits but players can force a revolt and turn the population against the leader using spies Hostile actions do not automatically cause war Clashes are even expected at the opening of the game when all sides are sending probes out into the unknown On the other extreme a ground assault must be knowingly targeted at an inhabited planet and is a massive provocation Colonies can be bombed from space or taken in ground invasions Ground invasions can be conducted through enemy defenses Present enemy ships or missile bases will fire on the approaching transports possibly destroying some or all of them 21 The invasion itself is fully automatic 22 Results depend on numbers technology and if one of the races involved is Bulrathi racial ground combat bonus 23 Invasion is expensive 24 In the first game there are no special soldier units colonial population itself is sent to fight exterminate the existing inhabitants and form a new planetary population 23 25 The production capacity of any remaining factories can be gleaned and plundering of technologies if enough factories survived the attack 23 Controlling a new system extends the range of the invader s ships Development editMaster of Orion is a significantly expanded and refined version of the prototype predecessor game Star Lords not to be confused with Starlord also released by MicroProse in 1993 Steve Barcia s game development company Simtex demonstrated Star Lords to MicroProse and gaming journalist Alan Emrich who along with Tom Hughes assisted Barcia in refining the design to produce Master of Orion 26 27 and the game s manual thanks them for their contributions 28 Emrich and Hughes later wrote the strategy guide for the finished product 29 MicroProse published the final version of the game in 1994 30 Star Lords often called Master of Orion 0 by fans 31 was a prototype and never commercially released its intro opens with SimTex Software and Your Company present The crude but fully playable prototype was made available as freeware in 2001 stripped of all documentation and copy protection in anticipation of the launch of Master of Orion III 31 Major differences between Star Lords and Master of Orion include inferior graphics and interface simpler trade and diplomacy undirected research a lack of safeguards to prevent players from building more factories than are usable and the use of transports rather than colony ships to colonize new planets One feature of Star Lords that Master of Orion lacks is a table of relations between the computer controlled races The game was eventually made available for download on FilePlanet 32 and the home page for Master of Orion III 31 Reception editReceptionReview scoresPublicationScoreAllGame nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 33 Computer Gaming World nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 34 Next Generation nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 35 Master of Orion sold over 100 000 copies 36 It also received strong reviews Emrich in a September 1993 Computer Gaming World preview described Master of Orion as the best that galactic conquest can offer and summarized its type of gameplay as 4X meaning eXplore eXpand eXploit eXterminate 24 37 He and later commentators noted earlier examples of this genre including Civilization 1991 38 and Reach for the Stars 1983 39 The magazine s full December 1993 review stated that Master of Orion is one of those games where one must actually put effort into finding something inadequate about the game design and that in itself is probably the highest praise this reviewer can give a product The magazine concluded that it was a definite Game of the Year candidate as well as Exhibit A in many divorce cases 40 A February 1994 survey of space war games gave Master of Orion a grade of A stating that it s still conquest but it s conquest that begins to have an interesting point to it The reviewer wished that the game supported multiple players but predicted that I think MOO will safely reign supreme well into the new year 41 A 1994 survey of strategic space games set in the year 2000 and later gave the game four plus stars out of five saying that it was a richly textured product Graphics coupled with high play yield a high recommendation 34 Next Generation reviewed the Macintosh version of the game rating it two stars out of five calling the game as strategy game of the year NOT 35 Master of Orion was named the best strategy game of 1993 by Computer Games Strategy Plus 42 It also won Computer Gaming World s Strategy Game of the Year award in June 1994 The editors called it a game that is worthy of being called Civilization in Space and wrote that it epitomizes and expands the Conquer the Galaxy motif in strategy gaming 43 Legacy editIn 1996 Computer Gaming World ranked Master of Orion as the 33rd best game of all time 44 In 1998 PC Gamer declared it the 45th best computer game ever released and the editors called it a great sci fi space epic 45 In 2003 IGN ranked it as the 98th top game 46 Master of Orion is a member of both GameSpy s Hall of Fame 2001 47 and GameSpot s list of the greatest games of all time 48 The Gamer included it in their list of top 10 games in the 4X genre 49 In retrospective reviews Allgame GameSpot and IGN regarded MoO as the standard by which turn based strategy games set in space are judged 50 51 52 Sequels edit Three commercial sequels to Master of Orion have been released Master of Orion II Battle at Antares Master of Orion III and Master of Orion Conquer the Stars The sequels are significantly more advanced in graphics and sound and feature large differences in gameplay with some players claiming the original game remains the best version of the series 53 54 In 1997 MicroProse released a Master of Orion Jr scenario as part of the Civ II Fantastic Worlds expansion for Civilization II In 2001 Star Lords developed as Master of Orion prototype was released as freeware as part of the promotion for Master of Orion III Also a potential future release of the MOO and MOO2 source code was indicated by the MOO3 developers in 2001 55 In 2011 a clone of MoO II titled Starbase Orion was published by Chimera Software LLC for the iPhone The game setting has been the influence of Russian writer Sergey Lukyanenko s trilogy the Line of Delirium In July 2013 Wargaming bought the Master of Orion franchise from the Atari bankruptcy proceedings 2 A reimagining subtitled Conquer the Stars 56 was released on August 25 2016 57 Influence edit Master of Orion became an influence on future space strategy games It was the first game to be described as a 4X game 58 and helped establish the conventions for the genre going forward 59 The team behind Stellaris based their game partially on the Master of Orion series 60 but also said it was important to try new things and leave the old formulas from the 90s behind 61 Writer George R R Martin mentioned it among the games he used to play most often 62 See also editMaster of MagicReferences edit Master of Orion PC GameSpy Gamespy IGN Entertainment Inc Retrieved 2009 10 06 a b Wargaming Takes Master of Orion Stardock Gets Star Control SpaceSector com 2013 07 23 Retrieved 2013 11 06 MOO Manual PC p iii MOO Manual PC p 2 MOO Manual PC p 4 MOO Manual PC pp 39 41 a b c MOO Manual PC pp 33 34 MOO Manual PC p 56 a b c MOO Manual PC pp 11 12 a b MOO Manual PC p viii MOO Manual PC pp 31 32 MOO Manual PC pp 23 24 a b MOO Manual PC pp 8 9 MOO Manual PC p 31 MOO Manual PC pp vi viii MOO Manual PC pp 27 28 a b MOO Manual PC pp 25 26 Thomas B Master of Orion Sirian s Perspective The Player Retrieved 2008 05 21 MOO Manual PC pp 21 22 a b MOO Manual PC pp 42 43 MOO Manual PC pp vi vii MOO Manual PC pp 51 54 a b c MOO Manual PC p 14 a b Emrich Alan September 1993 MicroProse Strategic Space Opera is Rated XXXX Computer Gaming World No 110 pp 92 93 Retrieved 2015 01 18 MOO Manual PC p vi Emrich Alan Master of Orion The History of a Game Series One Man s Telling of a Cosmic Tale Retrieved 2008 05 15 Star Lords MobyGames Retrieved 2008 05 15 MOO Manual PC Credits page Alan Emrich Recipient of Lifetime Achievement Award Archived from the original on 2008 06 07 Retrieved 2008 07 27 Sources differ on this Supporting 1994 June 1 1994 at Master of Orion PC GameSpy Gamespy IGN Entertainment Inc Retrieved 2009 10 06 Geryk B History of space empire games Master of Orion Gamespot CBS Interactive Inc Archived from the original on 2010 07 01 Retrieved 2014 08 08 Supporting 1993 Chick T 2001 PC Retroview Master of Orion II IGN Retrieved 2009 05 09 a b c Master of Orion The History of a Game Series Star Lords Quicksilver software 2001 Retrieved 2008 05 15 Star Lords Info fileplanet com 2002 06 06 Retrieved 2008 05 15 Osbourne Jason A Master of Orion Review Allgame Retrieved 2014 06 04 a b Brooks M Evan May 1994 Never Trust A Gazfluvian Flingschnogger Computer Gaming World pp 42 58 a b Finals Next Generation No 7 Imagine Media July 1995 pp 75 76 Hawkins Lori February 27 1995 Fun Games Big Profits Austin American Statesman p 21 Retrieved January 17 2022 via Newspapers com Quick D 2002 02 01 Master of Orion III Developer Chat GameSpy Archived from the original on 2008 04 21 Retrieved 2008 05 15 IGN Videogame Hall of Fame Civilization IGN Archived from the original on 2008 05 05 Retrieved 2008 05 21 Bruce Geryk 2001 08 08 History of Space Empire Games The Early Years 1980 1992 GameSpot Archived from the original on 2010 06 28 Retrieved 2014 08 08 Cirulis Martin E December 1993 Hanging From Orion s Belt Computer Gaming World pp 16 19 Retrieved 29 March 2016 Cirulis Martin E February 1994 The Year The Stars Fell Computer Gaming World pp 94 104 Bauman Steve November 2000 A Decade of Gaming Award Winners of 1993 Computer Games Magazine 120 58 Announcing The New Premier Awards Computer Gaming World June 1994 pp 51 58 150 Best Games of All Time Computer Gaming World November 1996 pp 64 80 Retrieved 25 March 2016 The 50 Best Games Ever PC Gamer US 5 10 86 87 89 90 92 98 101 102 109 110 113 114 117 118 125 126 129 130 October 1998 IGN s Top 100 Games of All Time Uk top100 ign com Archived from the original on 2013 11 04 Retrieved 2013 11 06 Fudge J 2001 01 01 Gamespy Master of Orion GameSpy Archived from the original on 2009 08 28 Retrieved 2008 05 15 Ocampo J Ridding the Galaxy of Klackons One Solar System at a Time Master of Orion GameSpot Archived from the original on 2005 11 13 Retrieved 2008 05 15 Timberlake Rebecca 2022 05 12 Best Classic 4X Games TheGamer Retrieved 2022 05 27 Osborne J A Master of Orion Allgame Macrovision Corporation Retrieved 2009 10 06 Chick T 2001 PC Retroview Master of Orion II IGN Retrieved 2009 05 09 Geryk B History of space empire games Master of Orion GameSpot CBS Interactive Inc Archived from the original on 2010 07 01 Retrieved 2014 08 08 Jon s MOO I Resources Archived from the original on 2007 10 14 Retrieved 2007 10 16 Sirian s Master of Orion Page Archived from the original on 2007 10 09 Retrieved 2008 05 15 MARCH 12 2001 on moo3 quicksilver com by Constantine Hantzopoulos Senior Producer MOO1 and 2 source code The official word on MOO I II source is we will not be releasing it any time soon That doesn t preclude us from releasing it at a later date and indeed we have secret plans for such things Master of Orion A Legend Reborn Archived from the original on 2015 06 09 Retrieved 2015 06 09 Master of Orion v48 3 1 Patch Notes 25 August 2016 Retrieved September 9 2018 Emrich Alan September 1993 MicroProse s Strategic Space Opera is Rated XXXX Computer Gaming World Issue 110 pp 92 93 Archived from the original on 2014 07 16 Retrieved 2014 07 30 Interview Master of Orion III A Chat with the Developers GameSpy com 14 January 2009 Archived from the original on 14 January 2009 Retrieved 8 February 2022 Thylin Atle 2016 04 22 Interview with Paradox Interactive on 4X space exploration game Stellaris GameZone Retrieved 2022 05 27 Hamilton Alex 2016 06 11 Stellaris Interview GameGrin Retrieved 2022 05 27 George R R Martin Reveals 3 Video Games He Used to Play a Lot The Escapist 2021 12 20 Retrieved 2022 05 27 Bibliography edit Barcia S 1993 Master of Orion Game manual PDF 1 2 ed MicroProse Archived from the original PDF on 2016 03 27 Retrieved 2009 10 08 External links editOfficial website Master of Orion at MobyGames The MS DOS version of Master of Orion can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive Sirian s Master of Orion Page includes resources and full game narrations for the first Master of Orion 1oom an open source recreation of Master of Orion with bug fixes and rule patches FreeOrion an open source 4X game inspired by the Master of Orion series Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Master of Orion amp oldid 1169819576, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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