Early Access Game

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Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“Master of Orion is first and foremost a passion project for us, so it’s very important that we create a worthy successor. We feel Early Access is a critical step in engaging the Master of Orion fan base that will allow them to contribute to the continued development of this iconic 4X franchise.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We are anticipating Early Access to last a minimum of three months, with at least three phases that release additional races and features over time.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“The Early Access version of Master of Orion will initially only include six races, fewer victory conditions and some features will be disabled as we continue to polish them.

We will initially only support English and Russian text and voiceover, but will release additional language support as we progress through Early Access. Windows 64bit will be the only initial operating system supported, though we will be rolling out support for Mac OS, Linux and Steam OS over time.

Outside of that, the core gameplay experience will be available, allowing for a full playthrough of the game.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“As of February 26th, 2016 Master of Orion is in the first phase of its Early Access. We anticipate this phase to last at least one month.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“No, pricing will remain consistent during Early Access and after. There might be times where we participate in Steam sales, but the base price of the Collector's Edition will remain at $49.99. Pricing and availability for the Standard Edition will be shared at a later date.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“We plan to create dedicated forum sections for Early Access to gather feedback from the community. We will be participating in the forum discussions and following impressions very closely. This feedback will be incredibly valuable to us as we fine-tune the gameplay experience and balance, and consider changes to features.”

Buy Master of Orion, Collector's Edition

Includes: Master of Orion, Master of Orion 1, Master of Orion 2, and Master of Orion 3

45,99€

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Downloadable Content For This Game

Recent updates View all (62)

11 August

Master of Orion - v47.0.1 Hotfix

Greetings Explorers,

This is a small hotfix, but an important one.

- Fixed an issue that could prevent the game from loading based on the system language

For the full patch notes from today's version 47.0 update, click the link below!

http://steamcommunity.com/games/298050/announcements/detail/959650850589327501

0 comments Read more

11 August

Master of Orion - v47.0 Patch Notes

Greetings Explorers,

Today we’ve released an update for Master of Orion. This brings the official game version to 47.0. Due to character limits in Steam news articles, we were unable to include the bugfixes in this post.

Click here to read through the list of Bugfixes.

Master of Orion - Patch Notes v47.0

General

Updated algorithm to calculate victory chances before a battle
Added Random start conditions for the game if balanced starting conditions is unchecked
Added QuickSave shortcut (Ctrl+S)
Autosaved game is now available for loading from the save game list
Rotate planet on planet full view
Added navigation buttons handlers per screen, quick shortcuts, and mouse inertia on stop
Updated how jump gates work: now it is possible to use an ally jump gate to travel across. The condition is that both source and destination points should have a jump gate from the same owner
Now Random Breakthrough events unlock the whole node if it is a branched node
Updated auto turn logic to interrupt it if the player has fleets that need orders
Pausing now does not change the default camera
Homeworld Size added as an available trait in Custom Race

The AI is now better at managing the population of new colonies
The AI is now better at using Civil Transports
The AI is now better at dealing with races they have a grudge with
The AI is now better at choosing targets of opportunity
The AI is now better at judging when relationships are going sour
Distance to a planet is now a factor for a planet's rating consideration for the AI
The AI now considers War priorities on all its decisions
Revamped Local War logic, the AI is now much better at it
The AI considers Defensive War as a type of War for production considerations
Improved engagement algorithm for the AI
Expansionism trait is now taken into account to select which colonies should build a Colony Ship
Streamlined & Refactored Invasion Logic
Added Invasion Target heuristics
The AI production Manager now buys according to project priority

Balance

Changed default Game Pace to Quick
Rebalanced Sakkra traits (+50% population growth, repulsive trait added)
Extended Pirate spawning rate
Re-balanced the point cost of all traits in custom race creation
Diplomat trait morale reduced from 10% to 5%
Reduced Terran morale trait from 20% to 15%
Removed Militaristic trait from Alkari
Restored Improved Negotiation trait to Mrrshan as intended
Increased Robominers maintenance cost from 3 to 5
Increased Deep Core Mine maintenance cost from 5 to 10
Increased Star Fortress maintenance cost from 3 to 8
Increased Orbital Shipyard maintenance cost from 2 to 4
Increased Space Academy maintenance cost from 4 to 5
Increased Global DNA Scanner maintenance cost from 2 to 4
Increased Interplanetary Security Transmitter maintenance cost from 5 to 7
Increased Alien Management Center maintenance cost from 1 to 4
Increased Astro university maintenance cost from 4 to 5
Increased Holo Simulator maintenance cost from 2 to 4
Increased Pleasure Dome maintenance cost from 3 to 6
Increased Planetary Radiation Shield maintenance cost from 1 to 3
Increased Planetary Flux Shield maintenance cost from 3 to 6
Increased Planetary Barrier Shield maintenance cost from 5 to 10
Increased Space Academy production cost from 220 to 300
Increased Planetary Stock Exchange production cost from 220 to 300
Increased Holo Simulator production cost from 140 to 160
Increased Pleasure Dome production cost from 380 to 400
Reduced Planetary Radiation Shield production cost from 185 to 160
Reduced Robominers production cost from 185 to 180
Reduced Artemis System Network production cost from 700 to 500
Pleasure Dome now upgrades Holo Simulator
Space Port no longer gives +1 Credits per population
Government support facility morale value reduced to 10%
Klackon homeworld biome changed to Arid
Uber transformation modified: Cavernous project now can be applied on Desert and Arid biomes
Adjustments to Defense Rating formula to better reflect its usefulness
Reinforced Hull rebalance (Multiplier changed from x1.25 to x1.5, it now gives 50% of Base Hull as Bonus HP)
Rebalanced Eel to make it less overpowered
Rebalanced the Squid to make it less of a weakling
Rebalanced the Guardian of Orion so it can be taken on during mid-game:
- ORION GUARDIAN
  - Shield Class VII -> V
  - Armor Adamantium -> Xentronium
  - Base Hull 2000 -> 1500
  - Space 2500 -> 2000
  - Blueprint Tweak (PD 30->15, Adjusted Size Prio)

Cinematics

Added Turbine glow FX to colonization ships

Localization

General localization updates
Improved cinematics subtitles synchronization

Optimization

Fleet animations are skipped when they happen out of camera for faster turns
General texture optimization for faster loading times

SFX

Updated UI sounds
Updated sounds for Tactical mode
Updated sounds for Strategy mode
Updated volume levels

Tobii

Added zoom@gaze functionality to tactical battles

Tutorial

Added new tutorial steps including Tactical mode and pirates
Added a special advisor when the first colony ship visits a bad planet

Added style of play selection pop-up before the first Tactical Battle
General improvements: checkbox colliders now occupy all the text zones also, for easier, more intuitive clicking
TechApps icons are bigger now and rollover state has changed so they don't grow anymore (feedback is a light highlight now)
[Tactical] Improved Tactical mode selection for better feedback
[Tactical] Clearer feedback for the Move action
[Tactical] Camera can now be moved with keyboard arrows, and rotated with camera modifier key
[Tactical] Added cursors for camera pan and rotate
[Strategy] Added cursors for camera pan and rotate
[UX}[Advisor] Added checkbox on advisor popup to disable all advisors. Can be re-enabled from options.

Revised Uppercase/Lowercase use in titles
Abstain button moved below the other "vote for" buttons to avoid accidental click when trying to skip
Updated custom race selectors with the latest style
Made techapps descriptions larger
Tweaked ETA label positions in strategy view
[Pirates] Updated Pirate destroyed reward popup, added a header image
Updated ship buttons to be consistent with the new style.
Renamed "DONE" button to "SAVE" since it is an action button and "DONE" is not an action
Updated filters buttons graphics
Updated and added pop-up headers
Improved buttons and titles
Added autosave text to default Save
Custom Race UI improvements
Added new headers for monster pop-ups
Removed the horrible orange background of the current build in the colony row
New icons for Weapons Mods
Unified loading screens style
Dialogue box improvements in audiences
Added race traits to Diplomacy screen
New cleaner layout for battle results
Improved gravity feedback on planet tooltip
[Tooltips] Added tooltip to fleet tab showing fleet details, ship types and amount
[Tooltips] Command points cost for Ship Blueprints are now calculated to reflect bonuses from structures in Build Pop-Up and tooltips
[Tooltips] Updated Technology Node tooltip changing content order. Unlocks info is moved before Cost
[Tooltips] Balanced Starting Game tooltip update
[Tooltips] Added Match Setup Tooltips

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About This Game

Master of Orion – Conquer the Stars

The ascendant spacefaring 4X strategy game returns! A new chapter in the epic Master of Orion saga is poised to once again capture the imaginations of millions of gamers.

Diehard fans of the first games will be ecstatic to know that this revival is being built under the watchful eyes of members from the original development team, in conjunction with NGD Studios in Buenos Aires!

Discover Master of Orion as it was always meant to be: A fully orchestrated score, interstellar warfare and exploration against the backdrop of beautifully animated far flung galaxies. Confront hostile civilizations, negotiate with mysterious aliens, share knowledge with allies and uncover this newly imagined universe.

Just a sampling of the features you will find at launch:

All 10 original Master of Orion races, brought to life through compelling AI and award-winning voice acting talent
Over 75 researchable technological advancements
Vast galaxies featuring up to a 100 different solar systems, each composed of myriad planets and stars
Customizable ships with diverse styles for each race
Multiple ways to win – including conquest, technological, diplomatic, and more
Enthralling gameplay that will have you saying “just one more turn” again and again

System Requirements

Windows

Mac OS X

SteamOS + Linux

Minimum:

OS: Windows 7 / 8 / 10 (64bit)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 2.2 GHz
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: nVidia 240, ATI 4650, Intel Integrated HD 4000 or better
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Storage: 15 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 9 Compatible
Additional Notes: Minimum Video Memory: 512 MB

Recommended:

OS: Windows 7 / 8 / 10 (64bit)
Processor: Intel i5 2.8GHz or AMD Athlon X4 3.0GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: NVidia 560, ATI 5870 or better
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Storage: 15 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 9 Compatible
Additional Notes: Recommended Video Memory: 1 GB

Minimum:

OS: Mac 10.6 - 10.11 (Snow Leopard - El Capitan)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 2.2 GHz
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: nVidia 240, ATI 4650, Intel Integrated HD4000 or better
Storage: 15 GB available space
Additional Notes: Minimum Video Memory: 512 MB

Recommended:

OS: Mac 10.6 - 10.11 (Snow Leopard - El Capitan)
Processor: Intel i5 2.8GHz or AMD Athlon X4 3.0GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: NVidia 560, ATI 5870 or better
Storage: 15 GB available space
Additional Notes: Recommended Video Memory: 1 GB

Minimum:

OS: Ubuntu 14.04 64-bit or newer, SteamOS
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 2.2 GHz
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: NVidia 240, ATI 4650, Intel HD 4000 or better
Storage: 15 GB available space
Additional Notes: Minimum Video Memory: 512 MB

Recommended:

OS: Ubuntu 14.04 64-bit or newer, SteamOS
Processor: Intel i5 2.8GHz or AMD Athlon X4 3.0GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: NVidia 560, ATI 5870 or better
Storage: 15 GB available space
Additional Notes: Recommended Video Memory: 1 GB

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Recently Posted

Posted: 11 August

C.R.A.S.H.E.S constantly. Aside from that, it's probably a fine game. Was ok until latest update, now it's unplayable. Tried verifying files, full reinstall, even a different computer.

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Posted: 11 August

I was afraid to buy this when I saw all the negative reviews, but The Early Access version of this game is infinitely better than Stellaris. I can say this now that I've beaten both games. Don't get me wrong, MOO is still unpolished and there are some random crashes and it could be better. But Stellaris has way more "stupid clicking" and frustrating game mechanics than MOO. So if you're in the mood for a space sim and you're deciding between the two, then pick MOO.

MOO2 is still better in a lot of ways but I really love how the reboot did the graphics/voice acting for the diplomacy screen. Makes me feel like I'm dealing with real aliens.

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Posted: 11 August

Only spent a little bit of time in the game, but so far.. i like it. Feels close to the original but refreshed with modern graphics. User interface is simple and looks like it would work well with a touch screen.

As a big fan of the old game it was funny to see the news casters talking about space monsters :)

Hoping to spend many quiet evenings with this game.

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Posted: 8 August

This is a great game, and the first to give the Master of Orion feeling since Moo2.
There are some details that arent the best, like you could have some more control in tactical battles, and the AI isn't always the smartest, but In my opinion it is a very good game and with very few flaws to be an early access game.
I do hope they improve AI and diplomacy a bit, but I like this game.

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Posted: 6 August

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Posted: 6 August

The game is very pretty. It is polished visually, but that is about all it does better than previous games.

Early game is fun when turns are short. Turn time increases at an alarming rate as you grow, if you want to keep your empire as productive as possible. It's similar to MoO2 in that respect, but MoO CTS is even worse in this area. A few examples:

You must manage all your colonies one at a time; with a 5 long queue; which can only be accessed in each separate colony. Almost the same as MoO2 (which had a 7 slot queue).
Pollution works as in MoO2; reduces production. However, the system is different in that you need to manually manage the pollution with clean-up projects. Not fun with large empires.
Population movement between colonies is done 1 at a time by building tranports. A very time consuming process, but necessary as colonies don't grow unless supported by population influx. Fine in small empires; not in large.
Each colony must manage food separately (cannot send food to other colonies), and production output per worker is variable (more production for first worker), so population management is much more complex than in MoO2 where you simply set enough on food; all on production/research depending on richness.
It might sound fun, and it can be in small empires. It does however not scale for large empires; where you have multiple colonies growing every turn requiring you to check each and every one of them, if that colonist is doing what he should be doing.
Between turns, you must watch all visible enemy ships moving and fighting one at a time instead of all simultaneously, increasing turn time even more.

Diplomacy and Espionage are arguably not as important as in previous MoOs; largly because of the changed research system.
Research is linear much like in Civ 5 with a few techs where you must choose between 2-3 different options ('choice techs').
The only techs that can change hands (via diplomacy or espionage) are the 'choice techs'. This means you can never advance your research by spying, and you can also never catch up in research by trading.

The reason for this review is that it's becoming more and more apparent, that they are creating the game for those that like the game as is; pointing to steam reviews being mostly positive, so everything is fine in their eyes. The problems listed above are non-issues to them.

Only buy this game if you like it for what it is now. Don't expect it to change.

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Posted: 5 August

I know this game is still in early access but they have a long way to go.

The bad:
1) Tactical combat is real time
2) You can't conquer a planet; all you can do is bomb it.
3) No colony governors; No Heroes
4) Ship don't earn XP
5) Fleet management is very limited

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Posted: 4 August

I really like this game up until patches 46.4.X. This is when the game began to crash for me regularly, as in every 20 minutes or less. Before if I was playing a hugh game and was in it all days it might crash and I could understand that to a point. But now all the fun is gone as I have to contiunely redo truns as it blows up so fequently.

All I got from support was don't run Defrag, yeah let I would and check the game cache.

As I stated before I have been playing this game for some time, and yes I checked the game cache after the first support ticket. Since then I have also tried running the game on 2 other computer with the same results.

After all this I think this game is not worth anyones time as they have not even made and effort to discuss or fix for sometime.

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Posted: 4 August

too imbalanced to make it fun... Still glitchy, however, that's to be expected at this point. TONS of little complaints, and not many positives so far. Too much like MOO2, just prettier.

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Posted: 31 July

I've been waiting patiently to write this and I may revise this upon the game being completed, but I doubt it.

When I heard they were remaking this game I was so stoked. Michael Dorn and Mark Hamill are doing voices as well, that's awesome! Bought into the early access and played the game, thought it was good. Beautiful, great sound and all my favorite races were back. The problem is each time I play it I find I'm less and less interested. The game seems to forgo deeper strategy for a glossy polish that simply makes the replayability slip and fall on it's ♥♥♥.

The combat is kinda fun, but I found myself simming through battles more and more. The only time I can remember doing that in Moo 2 was near the end and I had a gross number of doom stars and didn't want to watch every stellar converter animation tear my opponent apart. My choices don't feel like they matter in combat, and you know who will win by the difficulty bar before it begins.

The colony managment is a little better, but growth based off food supply doesn't seem to make much sense. Does having an abundance of food make my population sexually agressive? No freighters either so forget about colonizing that terrible radiated world that happens to have gems on it using food farmed somewhere else...

Tech tree seems really streamlined. By that I mean it's pretty boring. Different weapons don't "feel" different. They get a little blastier as you go, a little more green or blue, but nothing substantial enough to make a mark on your memory like some of the weapons in Moo 2.

Maybe that's not fair, this is a good 4x game, but every person who has played Moo 2 will have their opinion colored by their previous experiences with that game. Maybe they shouldn't have called it Master of Orion. The biggest problem with this game is I've already forgotten I own it and likely won't pick it up again. In contrast, if I'm flipping through my old CD book looking at old titles and find my copy of Moo 2. I usually spend that evening ignoring my wife and conquering the galaxy. I just don't see the staying power that title enjoyed.

So congrats, you cashed in on my nostalgia and made a decent game, but I wouldn't expect people to be talking about in... wow has it really been 20 years? God I'm old.

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Most Helpful Reviews In the past 30 days

tom.rhyne

90 products in account

5 reviews

Posted: 21 July

Started off as an interesting, sparsely populated game that was easy, reasonably balanced, but lacked complex AI and dynamic content.

Since its inception, the AI has grown far more complex. There's a great deal more content, some good and some immediately repealed. There was progress, in the traditional two steps forward, one step back format. It had promise.

Now, it's so unbelievable variable and poorly organized that I can't really handle it or recommend the game or its future trajectory. Bugs that were "fixed" reappear in future patches. Completely oscillating design changes appear on a patch by patch basis that suggest there is not so much a plan as a "hope this works" mentality. I've spent many hours on this, and I can honestly say I enjoyed the first version far more than the last. A half year in, and the game feels less finished and polished than the beta started with.

Maybe they will recover and launch to acclaim and wide-eyed optimism. I no longer wait for that day.

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Lemonhead

68 products in account

1 review

Posted: 6 August

You must manage all your colonies one at a time; with a 5 long queue; which can only be accessed in each separate colony. Almost the same as MoO2 (which had a 7 slot queue).
Pollution works as in MoO2; reduces production. However, the system is different in that you need to manually manage the pollution with clean-up projects. Not fun with large empires.
Population movement between colonies is done 1 at a time by building tranports. A very time consuming process, but necessary as colonies don't grow unless supported by population influx. Fine in small empires; not in large.
Each colony must manage food separately (cannot send food to other colonies), and production output per worker is variable (more production for first worker), so population management is much more complex than in MoO2 where you simply set enough on food; all on production/research depending on richness.
It might sound fun, and it can be in small empires. It does however not scale for large empires; where you have multiple colonies growing every turn requiring you to check each and every one of them, if that colonist is doing what he should be doing.
Between turns, you must watch all visible enemy ships moving and fighting one at a time instead of all simultaneously, increasing turn time even more.

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shadow_annihilator

86 products in account

9 reviews

Posted: 31 July

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OlaOlaOla

287 products in account

6 reviews

Posted: 21 July

The more you played Master of Orion I and II, the more this game will disappoint you. It's basically a MoO 2 reskin with less features. And it has the feel and look of an iPad-game to boot.

If you never played the originals and you'd like a basic 4X-game, this could certainly be the game for you. Just don't expect a tactic-laden, deep experience. MoO 4 (this game is the fourth in the series) is the 4X version of a cup of noodles. Easily digested, decent enough but not something you'll remember for very long.

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Philippe Heroux

135 products in account

18 reviews

Posted: 5 August

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Blurry Visions

39 products in account

1 review

Posted: 30 July

I like the game from old.. and one thing I have had issues with is the AI Builds too fast gets
to advanced and at least for me creams me after a number of turn.. The cloning doesnt
increase fast enough for expand quickly and the doesnt matter what race... Plus you have
to keep balance in your colonies.. stavation, toxions, research.. so I do feel there isnt an
approprrate balance. I hope the developers do make some changes.

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potaeto

31 products in account

1 review

Posted: 11 August

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Most Helpful Reviews Overall

Sniper Fury

593 products in account

6 reviews

Posted: 28 February

I want to love this game, I really do, but it has some problems that need to be corrected or I see this going into my pile of 4x games that were only touched once or twice and never seen again. I am going to start off with that I do like and why followed by the big issues and what they need to do to correct this.

1. Sound! Omg, I was smiling from ear to ear when I realized the music for the colony ship landing was the same from the original.

2. Graphics are great and their attention to detail just amazes me, like having the ship’s path curve AROUND the star. The races are detailed and beautifully rendered.

3. The UI is clean and unobtrusive. This is great because you get the whole galaxy as your backdrop.

4. I love the colony manager and how they display your information, it is a great take on the MoO 2 mananger with a modern UI.

I have enjoyed playing, but I can say the same for the countless MoO clones. Sadly like them I see this getting played for a bit until the combat becomes so bland I don't pick it up ever again, usually two to three games.

1. Combat - The combat is real time and I have no direct fire control of my ships. Sure I can get into tactical mode where I tell them where to go and who to shoot but that does no good if I cannot control the weapons. I don’t want a real time combat, I wanted MoO turn based ship combat. Sure you could get bogged down in MoO 2 space combat if your fleets got really big at the end game but that is why you had AUTO. In MoO 2 you could make some really nuanced ships, and special variants, in this because of the ship combat AI you are forced to make brute force ships.

2. Research - I love MoO 1’s research, you could play multiple games and get different techs each time. I only ever saw Hand Phasers once out of countless games. This made research unique and you were always checking in on the other races to find out what they got that you didn’t. Here I find myself making strange and unintelligible choices. Why must I choose between fusion bombs and fusion beams? This doesn’t make any sense, all it does is make an optimal research path that min maxers will figure out and share, it does not add variety.

3. Range - There is no range mechanic. In the first MoO games you were limited by how far your fuel cells would let you go. A scout now however can go all over the galaxy and find everything and everyone. So instead of a gradual expansion moving forward and meeting aliens, you are thrust straight away into contact and have to start shoring up your solar systems at the Starlane warp points so you can at least hold on to some of your colonizable planets.

4. It has been brought to my attention the 500 turn limit can be turned off. It is the Excellence victory condition in the Advanced Options menu. These options need to be labeled better. I am testing a game with the turn limit turned off. (update) I got far too bored and just stopped playing.

5. Star lanes - These don't belong in a MoO game at all! Part of the tactics were worrying if commiting your fleet was going to leave you open at home. You could pick where and when to attack, now you just walk right into bottleneck after bottleneck after bottleneck. These need to go NOW. I had an anomoly pop up near my homeworld in my first game and I thought, ok without a star lane it must take a while to get to it right? Nope, one turn, one turn for a distance the same distance as the star lane going to the next star system. That star lane took FOUR turns. This makes no sense. These need to go.

If you haven't purchased it already I suggest waiting. I would rather play MoO 1 or 2 before touching this one again.

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FourteenFour

24 products in account

1 review

Posted: 21 June

Currently not impressed. At this current time the developer refuses to tell buyers if there will be tactical combat for multiplayer games or even custom races allowed in multiplayer. Worse, if your friend buys the game off a different retailer they cannot play with you, both have to use the same source (Steam/GOG). Granted tactical combat is just pathetic, you have very limited control and the maps will have nebulae and asteroids at random times with no relation to the system you are fighting in.

For a game out of beta and into its fourth Early Access it is dreadfully buggy to the point the developers had to remove features they could not get to work. Their AI skills are so pathetic that the pirate faction in this game whose tech never improves will completely befuddle the AI opponents.

The Technology tree is very unimaginative with a number of higher tier technologies that cost more to use than lower tier with similar or actually lower reward. The ship customization is so constrained as to remove much of the flavor long time players of MOO2 associate with the title. Then to top it off with a tactical combat engine that makes it near impossible to determine what you are fighting and how well your designs really are. Oh, may of the weapon modifications still don't work but the developer will never tell you which as even they don't know.

However the worst feature of the game is galaxy generation. While you can set your own random seed you will find a galaxy generator that cannot even offer real balanced starting conditions when told to do so. Even in huge galaxies you are just as likely to start one star system away from an opponent or six. Worse, it is almost guaranteed that two or more opponents will share adjacent systems at start instantly eliminating those AI opponents as effective.

tl;dr This not WarGamings best effort, while better than World of Warplanes its evident the programming team they hired out of Argentina has neither skill nor discipline in bringing such a storied franchise to life properly

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Exultant

103 products in account

1 review

Posted: 23 April

Master of Orion is a shallow experience.

Here's the TL;DR of my lengthy review as of the latest patch (4/23/16):

Although it is in Early Access and most developers and fans will insist there's time for change, the game's core mechanics seem finalized, and it is those core mechanics that are deeply flawed, making for an unsatisfying, unoriginal, and poorly executed experience. Unless you are a casual player, I do not recommend this game.

If you're still reading, you're probably curious to know why I feel this way. Let's start with what I think those core mechanics are, and what makes them deeply flawed. There are three, and you've seen them before in other, better games:

Planetary management
Research
Combat

I don't believe diplomacy is a core mechanic, and I am fairly confident it will never become one, as spending just a few minutes in-game will show you how easy it is to abuse negotiations, and how illogical--and obnoxious--the AI is; in every match I've played (single/multiplayer) the AI demands credits from me, regardless of our relationship or my behavior, and if I fail to appease them, war is soon declared. If you've played even a handful of other 4x titles, this should sound quite familiar.

PLANETARY MANAGEMENT

Planetary management consists of dragging and dropping colonists across three lines of resources: research, food, and production. The resources earned every turn depend on the planet type and the planet's modifiers (mostly positive, and a few negative), mid/late-game research, and specialized buildings, but consecutive colonists in a line provide diminished returns on resources. At a glance, it might seem worth it to distribute your colonists in a balanced fashion, but as a resource, food is overwhelmingly powerful, and as the research tree is terrible (technologies impact your empire in a lopsided manner) there's almost no reason to ever assign colonists to research over food or production.

Food is overwhelmingly powerful.

The turns needed to produce new colonists from food are on a relatively linear curve, meaning that the sooner you start massing food, the sooner you cap out your colonists. There is no "soft" cap on your colonists, only a maximum that the planet can support; you'd think that certain buildings would be required to steadily increase how many colonists you can sustain and provide for--especially on inhospitable planets--but the developers opted instead to determine that "hard" cap from a planet's size, not from it's structures, and reduce the available food on those inhospitable planets. This means that it is still desirable to colonize small worlds; in other games, small worlds are undesirable, as many turns/credits are needed to build/buyout structures which increase the population cap.

Terraforming a world can increase the maximum colonists that it can support, and a handful of late-game technologies can be researched that also increase this maximum (it is important to note that these technologies apply to all of your worlds), but the turns needed for these two things are substantial, and typically the game is decisive by the time they're available to you.

The only reason a player might be inclined to not mass food is the dimishing return, but this penalty is minor, and unless it is tuned to become quite severe, it will remain irrelevant. Immediately prioritizing food will make your worlds much, much stronger in far fewer turns than opponents who do not. Some of you might be saying that I am mistaken, that prioritizing food means you're sacrificing something critical elsewhere, like system defenses or ships, but considering the poor design choice of star lanes and scanners (structures that reveal incoming ships), you have potentially dozens of turns to adjust your production in response to threats. And since you will be earning more credits per turn than otherwise, you can afford more and earlier buyouts.

If structures were required to increase the cap on your colonists and/or they tuned the diminishing return on food, it could allow for more diverse gameplay. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen, as the bulk of gameplay is tied to what you research, and as I said earlier, the research tree is terrible.

RESEARCH

The research tree is terrible.

The majority of it feels required, not optional, leaving little room for experimentation or alternate strategies. There's a clear meta. This problem is compounded by the incredible number of prerequisites required for each successive research.

You replace newly unlocked technologies--particularly for ships--with even newer ones before the effects of the former are even felt; it is possible to have your newest ships become nearly obsolete after only a handful of turns. Considering how long it can take ships to travel across your controlled systems, they're unlikely to even see combat before becoming obsolete. This happens constantly throughout all stages of the game, and keep in mind that I never prioritize research; I unlock technologies at a slower rate than was intended.

Few technologies feel satisfying. The developers had some technologies that were binary; you chose one or the other, and that was it. In the most recent patch, the developers changed a substantial number of technologies to binary. This would be an issue if not for the fact that you can get an upgraded version the technology you did not select in the very next research, making that previous choice completely pointless. This happens constantly throughout the research tree.

Outside of structures that modify your resources, the bulk of what you earn from the research tree feels underpowered. This is constrasted by extremely overpowered technologies scattered in the tree, like the battle pods, or an empire-wide reduction in the production needed for structures and ships. Some technologies should require a minimum number of research-oriented structures before they can be unlocked--at least then I'd be penalized for not focusing on it, and players who do feel satisfied when they're given those overpowered technologies.

COMBAT

Space battles are attrition-based and entirely unengaging, and the AI controling your ships (enabled by default) is atrocious.

This is how a battle begins: each fleet deploys on the far side of a randomly generated field. There is often debris, like asteroids, in the field. When you un-pause (battles are paused by default), your ships immediately move towards the enemy fleet, regardless of their equipped weaponry, and they immediately fire any weapons that are in range. I have watched so many battles (spectating combat is only available in singleplayer) where a salvo of missiles fly right into an asteroid. Fire that gunner, please. If that doesn't happen, the salvo destroys an enemy ship. Because missiles have the longest range of any weapon, the first salvo effectively determines the battle. Fully armed, every generation of ships I produce equipped with missiles is guaranteed to destroy at least two enemy ships. There is no reason to equip any other kind of weaponry, especially when you unlock a "special" for your ship that gives missiles secondary targets.

Point defenses and weapon modifiers that take up more space within your ships are either unimplemented or a waste; and even if they were neither of those two things, the AI that brings your ships into what is basically melee range completely removes any advantages they might offer. Why do my missiles need more speed or armor when they're being fired point-blank? Why does my ship move into melee range in the first place?

I don't have enough characters to further explain the other lacking aspects of this game.

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