WG Labs and NGD Studios are pleased to announce that the Master of Orion Collector's Edition is now available, and with it, Early Access for the next entry into this legendary franchise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhEBwknoe-Y
In addition to immediate access to the new Master of Orion through the Early Access program, you will also receive the legacy games (Master of Orion 1, 2 and 3) and the retro Pixel Ships feature. The remaining Collector's Edition bonuses will become available during Early Access and at the retail release of the game, as noted below.

• Immediately
  
  • Early Access to the development version of the new Master of Orion
    
  • Pixel Ships retro ship art feature
• During Early Access
  
  • Terran Khanate race (Coming Soon)
• At Retail Release (once Early Access has ended)
  
  • The full version of the new Master of Orion
    
  • Digital art book featuring artwork from the Master of Orion franchise
    
  • Orchestral sound track remastered from the original Master of Orion game

The following is a list of the content and features included in Early Access phase 1 for Master of Orion.

• Six races: Alkari, Bulrathi, Human, Psilon, Mrrshan and Sakkra
  
• Three victory conditions: Conquest, Diplomatic and Excellence
  
• Tactical Battles
  
• Ship Design
  
• Multiplayer
  
• Most of the core gameplay, allowing a full playthrough on all galaxy sizes
  
• Playable on 64-bit Windows 7/8/10
  
• Legacy games: Master of Orion 1, 2 and 3

Additional races, features, victory conditions, language support and operating systems will be rolled out during Early Access. We're incredibly excited to begin this journey with you, and can't wait to hear all of the feedback you'll no doubt have. Let's conquer the stars together and bring Master of Orion to a new generation of fans.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/298050/

WG Labs and NGD Studios are pleased to announce that the Master of Orion Collector's Edition is now available, and with it, Early Access for the next entry into this legendary franchise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhEBwknoe-Y
In addition to immediate access to the new Master of Orion through the Early Access program, you will also receive the legacy games (Master of Orion 1, 2 and 3) and the retro Pixel Ships feature. The remaining Collector's Edition bonuses will become available during Early Access and at the retail release of the game, as noted below.

• Immediately
  
  • Early Access to the development version of the new Master of Orion
    
  • Pixel Ships retro ship art feature
• During Early Access
  
  • Terran Khanate race (Coming Soon)
• At Retail Release (once Early Access has ended)
  
  • The full version of the new Master of Orion
    
  • Digital art book featuring artwork from the Master of Orion franchise
    
  • Orchestral sound track remastered from the original Master of Orion game

The following is a list of the content and features included in Early Access phase 1 for Master of Orion.

• Six races: Alkari, Bulrathi, Human, Psilon, Mrrshan and Sakkra
  
• Three victory conditions: Conquest, Diplomatic and Excellence
  
• Tactical Battles
  
• Ship Design
  
• Multiplayer
  
• Most of the core gameplay, allowing a full playthrough on all galaxy sizes
  
• Playable on 64-bit Windows 7/8/10
  
• Legacy games: Master of Orion 1, 2 and 3

Additional races, features, victory conditions, language support and operating systems will be rolled out during Early Access. We're incredibly excited to begin this journey with you, and can't wait to hear all of the feedback you'll no doubt have. Let's conquer the stars together and bring Master of Orion to a new generation of fans.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/298050/

Humanity has always been the shining example of excellence through diplomacy when it comes to intergalactic affairs. However, looking into their past shows the divisive and mixed reactions of Humanity when faced with their first encounter with an alien race.

Due to character limits we're not able to post the full story in this article, but we've created a discussion thread in the community hub with the tale of the First Contact in all its glory.

Click here to read the full story, and feel free to ask questions about Human lore. We'll pass them on to our loremaster for answers.

Humanity has always been the shining example of excellence through diplomacy when it comes to intergalactic affairs. However, looking into their past shows the divisive and mixed reactions of Humanity when faced with their first encounter with an alien race.

Due to character limits we're not able to post the full story in this article, but we've created a discussion thread in the community hub with the tale of the First Contact in all its glory.

Click here to read the full story, and feel free to ask questions about Human lore. We'll pass them on to our loremaster for answers.

Your grand invasion fleet warps in, engages the enemy—and gets wiped out as the Meklar swarm your basic ships with fighters and missiles! Licking your wounds, you order your engineers to design new ships to counter the unexpected tactics of your enemy.


This article will discuss how to modify your ships in the Ship Blueprint Editor. Within the editor you will be able to select different models, add on theme markings, and tailor your ships’ weapons and equipment to fit your tactics.



When a new technology is researched on the technology screen, you will be given the option of updating all or some of your ships with the latest tech. If you select the option, the AI will replace older weapons and equipment as appropriate, with build times and costs adjusted accordingly. This is a simple method for upgrading your base ships.


The Ship Blueprint Editor is located on the main screen task bar:



Clicking the Editor will take you to the Ship Blueprint Viewer. The viewer will have several features as follows:

• Quick Ship Overview: On the left side will be the Quick Ship Overview. This displays the current researched classes, the number of ships built of that class and the military power (displayed in purple). Slots marked “Empty” are available for custom ships. Ship classes not yet researched will not be displayed.
  
• Detailed Ship Overview: The right side displays the Detailed Ship Overview. This data box will display specifics of the ship class selected from the Quick Ship Overview. Construction cost; command points; space taken up by equipment, systems, and weapons; and other parameters are displayed here.
  
• Control Buttons: In the lower right corner are control buttons. The “Scrap” button gives you the option of scrapping one or more ships of the selected class and receiving some credits in return. “Done” will send you back to the main screen. “Edit” will drop you into the custom ship editor, explained below.

The “Edit” button will take you to the ship customization screen for the ship selected on Quick Ship Overview. If you click on an “Empty” box you will automatically be taken to the customization screen. Also note that you will have a maximum of eight “Empty” boxes for creation of custom ships.

There is a small difference between the actual ship class and the “Empty” box. Selecting the ship class will take you directly to that ship class where you will be restricted to that hull. Selecting an “Empty” box will allow you to cycle through the ship hulls. In both cases the base ship will appear to be modified.

For this example we will customize an Alkari Titan into a planet killer.



Hull Type: If you clicked on an “Empty” box you may cycle through all hull types you currently have researched. This option will be greyed out if you had clicked on a specific class to edit.

Ship Model: For every ship class except Doom Stars you may select one of two graphic models of that ship; Doom Stars only have a single configuration.

Themes: There are four options (Base Theme and Themes A, B, and C) to put graphics on your ship.


Ship Model


Ship Themes (Theme C not shown)



Each piece of equipment will display the base Production cost, space requirement, and, for weapons, the DPS (damage per second) it deals. The right side of the screen will also display a more detailed description of the system and its function.




A ship’s Core Systems are the armor, engine, drive, and computer. These systems may never be deleted, although they may be modified to accept any currently researched core system. You may opt to put a less advanced system on board to save production time and/or space, usually with a reduction in military power.

For our example Titan, we’ll replace the Anti-Matter Drive with the Interphased Drive, reducing the Production cost while also freeing up space for the ship.




The Special Systems block allows you to place most non-weapon and non-core system technology on your ship. Augmented drives Inertial Stabilizers, Anti-Missile Rockets, and so on may all be added on.

For our Titan, we’ll add a Stellar Converter, at the cost of 500 production and 500 space.




The Weapons block allows you to not only add weapons to your ship but also determine how many of each weapon to emplace, their facing, and any special abilities if available. With these options you could make a specialized ship for planetary bombardment, a carrier, a point defense escort, etc.

• Modifiers: Available modifiers for a weapon will be shown. Modifiers may be toggled on and off with your weapons; you can give a particular weapon almost any combination of modifiers. Modifiers add special abilities but also increase the Production cost of the weapon and the space it takes up. Weapons placed in a slot need to be identical in all ways to include which side(s) they face. . Example modifiers include Point Defense, ECCM, Enveloping, Heavy Mount, etc.
  
• Quantity: You may pick how many of a particular weapon system to install on the ship. There is no limitation to a weapon load except the space needed to install them.
  
• Facing: Direct-fire weapons require facings. You may face a weapon to the front, left, right, rear, left and right, or 360 degrees. The last two will slightly reduce the combat effectiveness of the weapon because it must cover multiple arcs and cannot concentrate to a particular arc. Missiles have no facing requirements.
  
• Information: The bottom of a weapon selection will display the DPS, total Production cost, and space used/space maximum of the ship as it relates to the weapon(s) being mounted.

Our example Titan, although primarily intended as a planet killer, still requires some form of minimal protection from enemy ships. Suppose we decide to mount two fighter bays to provide point defense and harassment, 3x 360-degree heavy mount Neutron Blasters (the heavy mount modifier adds 150% to damage but triples Production and space). We round out her weapons array with 2x heavy armor Nuclear Missiles (the armor can shrug off point defense for a while but adds space). NOTE: The modifier symbols for the Neutron Blasters and Nuclear Missiles are shown in the weapons block.




No ship is complete without its class name. In the upper right corner you may name your newly created ship. You are limited to 12 characters, which can be any combination of letters, numbers, and spaces.

Our planet-smashing Titan class has been christened “Star Scream.” For comparison, below is a standard Alkari Titan with advanced technology and our custom Titan:






Your brand-new ship will now appear as an available option in your production queue. To build it, select it as you would any other ship. Within a fleet, your custom ships will be displayed with the names you gave them.

Disclaimer: This article is based on a "work-in-progress" build of Master of Orion and the information and screenshots included are subject to change.

Your grand invasion fleet warps in, engages the enemy—and gets wiped out as the Meklar swarm your basic ships with fighters and missiles! Licking your wounds, you order your engineers to design new ships to counter the unexpected tactics of your enemy.


This article will discuss how to modify your ships in the Ship Blueprint Editor. Within the editor you will be able to select different models, add on theme markings, and tailor your ships’ weapons and equipment to fit your tactics.



When a new technology is researched on the technology screen, you will be given the option of updating all or some of your ships with the latest tech. If you select the option, the AI will replace older weapons and equipment as appropriate, with build times and costs adjusted accordingly. This is a simple method for upgrading your base ships.


The Ship Blueprint Editor is located on the main screen task bar:



Clicking the Editor will take you to the Ship Blueprint Viewer. The viewer will have several features as follows:

• Quick Ship Overview: On the left side will be the Quick Ship Overview. This displays the current researched classes, the number of ships built of that class and the military power (displayed in purple). Slots marked “Empty” are available for custom ships. Ship classes not yet researched will not be displayed.
  
• Detailed Ship Overview: The right side displays the Detailed Ship Overview. This data box will display specifics of the ship class selected from the Quick Ship Overview. Construction cost; command points; space taken up by equipment, systems, and weapons; and other parameters are displayed here.
  
• Control Buttons: In the lower right corner are control buttons. The “Scrap” button gives you the option of scrapping one or more ships of the selected class and receiving some credits in return. “Done” will send you back to the main screen. “Edit” will drop you into the custom ship editor, explained below.

The “Edit” button will take you to the ship customization screen for the ship selected on Quick Ship Overview. If you click on an “Empty” box you will automatically be taken to the customization screen. Also note that you will have a maximum of eight “Empty” boxes for creation of custom ships.

There is a small difference between the actual ship class and the “Empty” box. Selecting the ship class will take you directly to that ship class where you will be restricted to that hull. Selecting an “Empty” box will allow you to cycle through the ship hulls. In both cases the base ship will appear to be modified.

For this example we will customize an Alkari Titan into a planet killer.



Hull Type: If you clicked on an “Empty” box you may cycle through all hull types you currently have researched. This option will be greyed out if you had clicked on a specific class to edit.

Ship Model: For every ship class except Doom Stars you may select one of two graphic models of that ship; Doom Stars only have a single configuration.

Themes: There are four options (Base Theme and Themes A, B, and C) to put graphics on your ship.


Ship Model


Ship Themes (Theme C not shown)



Each piece of equipment will display the base Production cost, space requirement, and, for weapons, the DPS (damage per second) it deals. The right side of the screen will also display a more detailed description of the system and its function.




A ship’s Core Systems are the armor, engine, drive, and computer. These systems may never be deleted, although they may be modified to accept any currently researched core system. You may opt to put a less advanced system on board to save production time and/or space, usually with a reduction in military power.

For our example Titan, we’ll replace the Anti-Matter Drive with the Interphased Drive, reducing the Production cost while also freeing up space for the ship.




The Special Systems block allows you to place most non-weapon and non-core system technology on your ship. Augmented drives Inertial Stabilizers, Anti-Missile Rockets, and so on may all be added on.

For our Titan, we’ll add a Stellar Converter, at the cost of 500 production and 500 space.




The Weapons block allows you to not only add weapons to your ship but also determine how many of each weapon to emplace, their facing, and any special abilities if available. With these options you could make a specialized ship for planetary bombardment, a carrier, a point defense escort, etc.

• Modifiers: Available modifiers for a weapon will be shown. Modifiers may be toggled on and off with your weapons; you can give a particular weapon almost any combination of modifiers. Modifiers add special abilities but also increase the Production cost of the weapon and the space it takes up. Weapons placed in a slot need to be identical in all ways to include which side(s) they face. . Example modifiers include Point Defense, ECCM, Enveloping, Heavy Mount, etc.
  
• Quantity: You may pick how many of a particular weapon system to install on the ship. There is no limitation to a weapon load except the space needed to install them.
  
• Facing: Direct-fire weapons require facings. You may face a weapon to the front, left, right, rear, left and right, or 360 degrees. The last two will slightly reduce the combat effectiveness of the weapon because it must cover multiple arcs and cannot concentrate to a particular arc. Missiles have no facing requirements.
  
• Information: The bottom of a weapon selection will display the DPS, total Production cost, and space used/space maximum of the ship as it relates to the weapon(s) being mounted.

Our example Titan, although primarily intended as a planet killer, still requires some form of minimal protection from enemy ships. Suppose we decide to mount two fighter bays to provide point defense and harassment, 3x 360-degree heavy mount Neutron Blasters (the heavy mount modifier adds 150% to damage but triples Production and space). We round out her weapons array with 2x heavy armor Nuclear Missiles (the armor can shrug off point defense for a while but adds space). NOTE: The modifier symbols for the Neutron Blasters and Nuclear Missiles are shown in the weapons block.




No ship is complete without its class name. In the upper right corner you may name your newly created ship. You are limited to 12 characters, which can be any combination of letters, numbers, and spaces.

Our planet-smashing Titan class has been christened “Star Scream.” For comparison, below is a standard Alkari Titan with advanced technology and our custom Titan:






Your brand-new ship will now appear as an available option in your production queue. To build it, select it as you would any other ship. Within a fleet, your custom ships will be displayed with the names you gave them.

Disclaimer: This article is based on a "work-in-progress" build of Master of Orion and the information and screenshots included are subject to change.

We're only a few days away from Early Access, so we've put together a quick trailer to show off some of the gameplay you'll see once it's live on the 26th. Included in the trailer is the galaxy map, a closer look at star systems, the tech tree, a view of one of your potential colonies, and tactical battles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKP4niGewxo

The combat sequence you see is all in-engine and part of tactical battles using the cinematic camera option; this is not pre-rendered.

Now that you've taken a look at the video, here are the key features you can expect on the 26th:

• Six races: Alkari, Bulrathi, Human, Mrrshan, Psilon and Sakkra
  
• Three victory conditions: Conquest, Diplomatic and Excellence
  
• Tactical Battles
  
• Multiplayer
  
• Ship Design
  
• English and Russian language support for text and VO
  
• 64-bit Windows support

In addition to the key features, the core gameplay is implemented, which will allow for a full playthrough of the game.

We will unlock additional races, victory conditions, features, language support and operating systems as we progress through Early Access.

This is just the beginning, but we can't wait to open the doors on this edition to the Master of Orion franchise. We're incredibly excited to hear your impressions, and will be following your feedback closely. Expect constant interaction here on Steam, as well as almost anywhere else you're discussing the game. If we can post there, there's a good chance we will.

We're only a few days away from Early Access, so we've put together a quick trailer to show off some of the gameplay you'll see once it's live on the 26th. Included in the trailer is the galaxy map, a closer look at star systems, the tech tree, a view of one of your potential colonies, and tactical battles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKP4niGewxo

The combat sequence you see is all in-engine and part of tactical battles using the cinematic camera option; this is not pre-rendered.

Now that you've taken a look at the video, here are the key features you can expect on the 26th:

• Six races: Alkari, Bulrathi, Human, Mrrshan, Psilon and Sakkra
  
• Three victory conditions: Conquest, Diplomatic and Excellence
  
• Tactical Battles
  
• Multiplayer
  
• Ship Design
  
• English and Russian language support for text and VO
  
• 64-bit Windows support

In addition to the key features, the core gameplay is implemented, which will allow for a full playthrough of the game.

We will unlock additional races, victory conditions, features, language support and operating systems as we progress through Early Access.

This is just the beginning, but we can't wait to open the doors on this edition to the Master of Orion franchise. We're incredibly excited to hear your impressions, and will be following your feedback closely. Expect constant interaction here on Steam, as well as almost anywhere else you're discussing the game. If we can post there, there's a good chance we will.

Master of Orion's expertly-voiced characters transport you to the far reaches of space. WG Labs has assembled a veritable who's who of voice acting talent. "Having some of the most iconic science fiction, horror, and video game voice talent lending their skills to the game only helps us realize this amazing universe in even more exciting ways," says Chris Keeling, Director of Product Vision at WG Labs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhzlgohX2SM

In addition to announcing this star-studded voice cast, we're also excited to reveal the Early Access date and pricing information for the Master of Orion Collector's Edition. Beginning on February 26th, 2016, explorers will be able to purchase the Collector's Edition from Steam, retailing at $49.99 USD, and start playing in Early Access.

Full Cast in Alphabetical Order:

• Troy Baker (The Last of Us) - Klackon Advisor and Psilon Emperor
  
• JB Blanc (Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy TV Series) - Bulrathi Advisor, Meklar Advisor, and additional voices
  
• Sara Cravens (Halo 5: Guardians) - Additional voices
  
• Kat Cressida (Fallout 4) - Mrrshan Empress
  
• John de Lancie (Star Trek: The Next Generation) - Human Emperor
  
• Michael Dorn (Star Trek: The Next Generation)- Narrator
  
• Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Street) - Terran Emperor
  
• Nika Futterman (Star Craft II: Legacy of the Void) - Darlok Advisor and Mrrshan Advisor
  
• Jean Gilpin (Halo 5: Guardians) - Klackon Empress
  
• Mark Hamill (Star Wars saga) - Alkari Emperor
  
• John Kassir (Tales from the Crypt) - Alkari Advisor and additional voices
  
• Misty Lee (Star Wars: Battlefront) - Silicoid Advisor
  
• Sumalee Montano (Fallout 4) - Terran Advisor
  
• Nolan North (Uncharted Series) - Darlok Emperor and Sakkra Emperor
  
• Dwight Shultz (Star Trek: The Next Generation) - GNN Anchor
  
• Roger Craig Smith (Regular Show) - Sakkra Advisor
  
• Fred Tatasciore (Family Guy) - Bulrathi Emperor and Silicoid Emperor
  
• Alan Tudyk (Firefly) - Psilon Advisor
  
• Kari Wahlgren (Rick and Morty) - Human Advisor and GNN Anchor

Master of Orion's expertly-voiced characters transport you to the far reaches of space. WG Labs has assembled a veritable who's who of voice acting talent. "Having some of the most iconic science fiction, horror, and video game voice talent lending their skills to the game only helps us realize this amazing universe in even more exciting ways," says Chris Keeling, Director of Product Vision at WG Labs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhzlgohX2SM

In addition to announcing this star-studded voice cast, we're also excited to reveal the Early Access date and pricing information for the Master of Orion Collector's Edition. Beginning on February 26th, 2016, explorers will be able to purchase the Collector's Edition from Steam, retailing at $49.99 USD, and start playing in Early Access.

Full Cast in Alphabetical Order:

• Troy Baker (The Last of Us) - Klackon Advisor and Psilon Emperor
  
• JB Blanc (Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy TV Series) - Bulrathi Advisor, Meklar Advisor, and additional voices
  
• Sara Cravens (Halo 5: Guardians) - Additional voices
  
• Kat Cressida (Fallout 4) - Mrrshan Empress
  
• John de Lancie (Star Trek: The Next Generation) - Human Emperor
  
• Michael Dorn (Star Trek: The Next Generation)- Narrator
  
• Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Street) - Terran Emperor
  
• Nika Futterman (Star Craft II: Legacy of the Void) - Darlok Advisor and Mrrshan Advisor
  
• Jean Gilpin (Halo 5: Guardians) - Klackon Empress
  
• Mark Hamill (Star Wars saga) - Alkari Emperor
  
• John Kassir (Tales from the Crypt) - Alkari Advisor and additional voices
  
• Misty Lee (Star Wars: Battlefront) - Silicoid Advisor
  
• Sumalee Montano (Fallout 4) - Terran Advisor
  
• Nolan North (Uncharted Series) - Darlok Emperor and Sakkra Emperor
  
• Dwight Shultz (Star Trek: The Next Generation) - GNN Anchor
  
• Roger Craig Smith (Regular Show) - Sakkra Advisor
  
• Fred Tatasciore (Family Guy) - Bulrathi Emperor and Silicoid Emperor
  
• Alan Tudyk (Firefly) - Psilon Advisor
  
• Kari Wahlgren (Rick and Morty) - Human Advisor and GNN Anchor