Master of Orion

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Master of Orion ( MOO for short ) is a series of turn-based global strategy games for DOS , Windows and macOS or Mac OS Classic . The original Master of Orion was developed by Simtex and published by MicroProse in 1993 . This was followed in 1996 Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares (also published by MicroProse) and 2003 Master of Orion III , published by Infogrames . Together with Civilization, it is considered to be one of the pioneers of the 4X strategy game genre.

Chronology of the Master of Orion series

Published:

  • 1993: Master of Orion I - for DOS, 1995 for Mac OS Classic
  • 1996: Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares - for DOS, Windows, 1997 for Mac OS Classic
  • 2003: Master of Orion III - for Windows and macOS
  • 2016: Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars - a reboot of the series for Windows and macOS

In addition, there is a forerunner to Master of Orion called Star Lords (sometimes called "Master of Orion 0" or "MoO 0" ). According to Quicksilver, this game is free to download.

Master of Orion

Master of Orion
Moo-logo.svg
Studio Simtex
Publisher MicroProse
Erstveröffent-
lichung
September 6, 1993
platform IBM PC / DOS , Mac OS
genre Turn-based strategy game
Game mode Single player
control Keyboard , mouse
system advantages
preconditions
DOS
medium Floppy disk , download ( GOG )
language English
Current version 1.31, 1.4m ( Community Patch , English)

Master of Orion (MOO1) is a DOS-based single player strategy game developed by Simtex and published by Microprose in 1993.

Gameplay

The game belongs to the genre of 4X strategy (English: e x plore, e x pand, e x ploit, e x terminate), which means something like: scout out, expand, exploit, exterminate. The playing environment are planetary systems in a fictional, randomly generated galaxy. It can be compared to the Civilization series.

In the game you lead the civilization of a species (English: race, humans or extraterrestrials), starting with the development of the faster than light flight, up to the rule of the galaxy. So it is possible to build spaceships, to explore the galaxy, to colonize new planets, to build up the economy and to research, as well as to improve its ships and planetary structures. In contact with other species, diplomacy, trade and even combat can be used. Compared to the successors, the diplomacy aspect is already largely developed. In addition to war and peace, there are various contracts for technology and economic exchange.

There are several ways to get to victory:

  • diplomatic: through successful election in the Galactic Council as head
  • Conquest of all other species

construction

Many aspects of the game, such as production planning, are represented as simple numbers with bar controls as setting options. Each sun on the map represents a habitable object, so planets do not actually exist. The research is divided into several research areas in parallel. The player can create a maximum of 6 types of ships, which can be manufactured in huge numbers. In space combat, all ships of one type are combined into one unit.

Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares

Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares
Moo2-logo.png
Studio Simtex
Publisher MicroProse
Erstveröffent-
lichung
November 22, 1996
platform DOS , Mac OS , Windows
genre Turn-based strategy game
Game mode Single player + multiplayer
control Keyboard , mouse
system advantages
preconditions
DOS / Windows 95
medium CD-ROM , download ( GOG )
language English German
Current version 1.31, 1.50.18.1 ( unofficial patch for all language versions)

In Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares (Master of Orion 2, MOO2) the basic gameplay of Master of Orion (I) is retained. The successor is characterized above all by a greater depth of detail, higher-resolution graphics and a multiplayer mode.

Extensions to the game concept

  • There are now solar systems with individual planets that can all be colonized individually.
  • The population is no longer represented as a number, but per million population there is a population unit that can be assigned to research, production or supply. This population is no longer necessarily killed in an invasion, as was the case in the first part. So the emergence of mixed populations is possible.
  • The planets can now also be expanded with buildings that improve or enable various things.
  • The research tree is no longer randomized and it is only possible to research in one technology field from which usually only one technology is available. The rest can be acquired by other players through diplomacy, conquest (from colonies and ships) or espionage. It is also possible for creative races to research all three technologies in a field.
  • You can now have more than six types of spaceships, which means that very old ships are often still used (which can be retrofitted), which brings the advantage of an experienced crew. In the battles, all ships are now displayed individually and also simulated in a two-dimensional game board environment. There are no longer huge fleets like in MOO1, as a command point system severely limits the number of ships and, moreover, only a maximum of one ship can be produced per game round in a colony.
  • Three more races were introduced with the Trilarians, Gnolams, and Elerians. In addition, the player in MOO2 can alternatively put together his race to measure at the start of the game.
  • In addition, the race of the Antarans was introduced in MOO2, but it is trapped in a different dimension. As a random effect that can be switched off before the game starts, they invade the player's galaxy from time to time and try to destroy a random colony. They have very advanced ships, but only attack with a few. Each subsequent attack comes with more and larger ships than the previous one. In order to be able to reach and beat the Antarans in their dimension, you need very advanced technology. The victory over Antares also leads to the victory of the player.

Technical characteristics

The game was in the retail version as DOS, Windows 95 and Mac OS version and offers a multiplayer mode , which is not interoperable between the game versions. Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares was playable on the Internet via the Total Entertainment Network (TEN). After only a short existence of TEN, multiplayer search engines with IPX emulators such as Kahn and Kali ( shareware ) served as a new multiplayer platform. Later, Kahn lost its importance because it was not compatible with Windows XP, but two further alternatives appeared with VPN solutions and the DOS emulator DOSBox .

Version 1.31 is the last official patch , there is also a fan patch in version 1.50.18.1

Master of Orion III

Master of Orion 3
Studio Quicksilver software
Publisher Infogrames
Erstveröffent-
lichung
February 25, 2003
platform Windows , Mac OS
genre Turn-based strategy game
Game mode Single player + multiplayer
control Keyboard , mouse
system advantages
preconditions
Windows 98
medium CD-ROM , download ( GOG )
language English German
Current version 1.25

In 2003 the Master of Orion III (Master of Orion 3) developed by Quicksilver Software was published. The gameplay of Master of Orion has been completely changed and made essentially more complex.

action

In revenge for the lost so-called Battle of Antares (it turns out that Antares itself was not destroyed, but only an outpost of the Antarans), the Antarans launched a retaliatory campaign in the Orion sector and enslaved all peoples there. A thousand years later, an Antaran bioweapons experiment failed, wiping out 98% of their population and collapsing their empire. Their civilization was only able to hold up on Antares itself and on the planet Orion. However, the contact between both worlds broke off and so the strongly weakened Antarans on Orion decided to call themselves the "New Orions" from now on and to bring the Galactic Council back to life in order to be able to keep the Orionic peoples under control. As a result, the Mrrshan, the Bulrathi, the Elerians, the Gnolam, the Alkari and the Darlok rose against their oppressors, whereupon these, still very powerful, destroyed the homeworlds of the insurgents and almost completely exterminated their peoples. The other Orion peoples have since been very careful when dealing with the "New Orions", but secretly they strive to rebuild and develop in order to be able to defeat the hated enemy one day.

Successors and alternatives

Screenshot of the FreeOrion project

Stardock , the developer of Galactic Civilizations , was planning to license Master of Orion. Stardock CEO Brad Wardell: "We want to do a Master of Orion 4" and "It would be an improved Master of Orion 2". An indication of the interest on the part of Stardock is that the MOO series can be purchased on Stardock's software distribution platform "Impulse". Furthermore, the game has already been updated to run on modern Windows OS (Vista / 7). Previously, it was only possible to run it using MS-DOS emulators.

Perry Rhodan: Operation Eastside comes from Spellbound Entertainment , a 4X game that was released in 1998 and can even be played under Windows XP with restrictions. As the name suggests, it is located in the Perry-Rhodan universe - but has hardly anything to do with the novel. The races alone are named after peoples in the novels. The game principle is based heavily on Master of Orion . However, you can no longer win by choosing, but only by defining settlement successes or defeating all opponents.

Star Trek: Birth of the Federation (short: BOTF ) was developed by MicroProse and appeared in 1999. BOTF is located in the Star Trek universe and has a similar gameplay to Master of Orion 2 .

In 2006, with Galactic Civilizations 2 (GalCiv2), Sword of the Stars (SOTS) and Space Empires V, three titles were released that are assigned to the turn-based 4X strategy genre.

In autumn 2011 a game called Starbase Orion for iOS was released, which is very similar to MOO2 and was developed by a fan.

There is an active open source project team that has been developing a Master of Orion- inspired, but by no means cloned, turn-based space conquest game under the GPL and Creative Commons , which is not only playable under Windows . This project has called itself FreeOrion as a developer of non-commercial “free software” . The game has been downloaded more than 500,000 times. The most important information can be found in the project's own FreeOrion Wiki. The short version is a FAQ . According to ChangeLog, the "FreeOrion v0.4.2 Stable Version" published in February 2013 has numerous new features and improvements compared to version 0.4.1 from July 2012.

Another modern offshoot is Stellaris from 2016.

Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars

Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars
Studio NGD Studios
Publisher Wargaming Labs
Erstveröffent-
lichung
August 25, 2016
platform Windows , Mac OS , Linux
genre Turn-based strategy game
Game mode Single player + multiplayer
control Keyboard , mouse
system advantages
preconditions
Windows 7
medium Download ( GOG )
language English German

On June 9, 2015, Wargaming.net announced a reboot of the series with the subtitle Conquer the Stars , after the company had already sold itself in an auction in 2013 following the bankruptcy of Atari Inc. , a US- based subsidiary of Atari SA (up to 2009 Infogrames SA ), which had secured trademark rights to Master of Orion . The development of the new game was carried out by NGD Studios from Argentina . In addition, important people could be won who had already worked on the original.

An Early Access version of Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars was available on February 26, 2016 on Steam and GOG.com . The game was released on August 25, 2016. On December 1, 2016, the free DLC The Revenge of Antares was released , which contains the NPC people of the Antarans and a new victory condition related to them. Other new features of this update are small NPC minor races that can be won as allies and bring bonuses, as well as, as already available in the second part of the game series, recruitable heroes and leaders. At the same time, another paid DLC called Revenge of Antares Race Pack was released, which contains the three playable races Elerian, Gnolam and Trilarian.

Races in the Master of Orion Universe

The following races are used in the games of the MoO series:

  • Species marked with 3 * are not playable in the third part. However, they can be integrated into their own people if a colony is established on a planet inhabited (but not controlled) by these races.
  • Species marked with CtS * are not playable in Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars , but can be integrated into the Empire.
  • In Star Lords , the predecessor of the Master of Orion series, the Humans, the Avians (Alkari), the Felines (Mrrshan), the Klackons (Klackons), the Meklars (Meklar), the Mentats (Psilonen) , the Nazguuls (Darlok), the Saurians (Sakkra), the Silicoids (Silicoids) and the Ursoids (Bulrathi) playable.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alan Emrich: MicroProse 'Strategic Space Opera is Rated XXXX . (Article scan) In: Computer Gaming World . No. 110, September 1993, pp. 92-93. Retrieved May 21, 2008.
  2. Master of Orion: The History of a Game Series - Star Lords on quicksilver.com (English)
  3. kyrub: Master of Orion 1 unofficial patch v1.40m . realmsbeyond.net. September 29, 2010. Retrieved October 28, 2017.
  4. Microprose: Technical Support: Master of Orion II update version 1.31 . microprose.com. Archived from the original on January 20, 1998. Retrieved September 30, 2010.
  5. a b ADR Team: Moo2 v1.50.18.1 patch . moo2mod.com. July 10, 2020. Accessed July 10, 2020.
  6. Infogrames tolerates fan translation for Master of Orion 3 . heise.de. September 9, 2003. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
  7. gamasutra.com
  8. Master of Orion II . impulsedriven.com. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  9. Perry Rhodan: Operation Eastside (PC) - test, download, system requirements, release date, demo - GameStar. In: www.gamestar.de. Retrieved July 24, 2016 .
  10. chimerasw.com ( Memento of the original from January 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.chimerasw.com
  11. a b Download statistics on sourceforge.net
  12. FreeOrion 0.3.1 RC6 German - Article at Chip Online
  13. FreeOrionWiki (English)
  14. FreeOrion FAQ (English)
  15. Change Log v0.4.2 Stable , (English)
  16. heise.de
  17. pcgames.de