New Master of Orion Early Access on Steam

Danwar

Senior member
May 30, 2008
242
1
71
Anyone got this yet?

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

Can anyone shed some light on the combat system? i've read some reviews on steam that say that combat is now real time... turn based combat is the main reason i loved MoO, weapons felt unique when you could manually shoot them. all other real time combat 4X games always felt too hands off for my taste.

can you control ships? or is it like GalCiv combat where you only see the action without ordering stuff around?
 
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Newbian

Lifer
Aug 24, 2008
24,777
837
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MaterCars.jpg
 

drnickriviera

Platinum Member
Jan 30, 2001
2,414
199
116
The Mighty Jingles has a review on youtube. Looks like combat is real time, control movement of ships and not much else.
 

xantub

Senior member
Feb 12, 2014
717
1
46
Combat can be simulated or manual. If manual, you can pause, order your ships to attack something, move around, etc.
 

QuantumPion

Diamond Member
Jun 27, 2005
6,010
1
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I've been watching some youtubers play the new MOO. It looks quite promising actually. High production values in art and sound, same music themes as original, several famous voice actors (John DeLancie, Michael Dorn, Mark Hamill, Alan Tudyk, and more). Hopefully they didn't just blow all their money on that and forget about the game part. The combat looks like it is pretty simple but not automatic - you can still control ships, I haven't seen much strategy yet as the battles were small. Ship design looks simple but not dumbed down. In overall terms the game looks like it is closer to MOO 1 than MOO 2 as far as complexity and strategy go. The biggest change from the franchise was the use of star lanes with arrival/exit points which can be blockaded/defended, so no bee-lining for enemy homeworld.
 

Denithor

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2004
6,300
23
81
From player reviews on Steam, there are star lanes and no range constraints. First scout ship can cruise across entire galaxy right from beginning. That kills it utterly for me. I loved having the limited range that increased slowly as you researched better technology (fuel tanks), meaning that you were limited to very slow expansion, range really only increased as you planted new colonies. Screw this, it's more like GalCiv than MoO.
 

ramj70

Senior member
Aug 24, 2004
764
1
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I bought the game and so far I am really enjoying yet, even feel the "just one more turn" urge. In early access you can only play as the Humans, Bulrathi, Psylons, Mrrshan or Sakkra and there is no espionage at this time either.

I think they have tried to keep to the spirit of MOO and MOO 2. Planetary management and research are very much like MOO2. Shipbuilding is very similar to MOO 1 and 2. So far in early access you can choose between to different style ships for each class (Scout, Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, Battleship, Titan, Doomstar) and three different color schemes for the ships.

Right now you can't design your own colony, transport or scout ships. Not sure if they will change that in the future, hopefully they will. You can upgrade them though when you discover new engines and such.

Battles are RTS but you can pause, however you can only give directions to your ships and who to fire on. You have no control over what type of weapons to use or not use during battle. I prefer TBS combat but for me it's not that big of a deal. Others that really liked the TBS of MOO 1 and 2 will probably be disappointed though.

One thing I really do not like though are the star lanes. It's not like MOO 1 or 2 where you could strike deep into an enemy area to take or colonize a planet. If Orion was clear across the galaxy you could still take it before the empires closest to it. Now with star lanes though that is thrown out. To easy to set up choke points which I don't care for in space games.

I really do enjoy the game so far but the star lanes do bug me and I hope they change or remove it.
 

Sulaco

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2003
3,860
44
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From player reviews on Steam, there are star lanes and no range constraints. First scout ship can cruise across entire galaxy right from beginning. That kills it utterly for me. I loved having the limited range that increased slowly as you researched better technology (fuel tanks), meaning that you were limited to very slow expansion, range really only increased as you planted new colonies. Screw this, it's more like GalCiv than MoO.

Is this a planned feature? Or a bug at this time?
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,511
29,090
146
It's RTS with pause, so if you pause enough times, it's same as turn based.

not at all. With turn based, one player makes all their moves, finishes, then the next player makes their moves, and so on.

Pausing gametime while all players are making all of their moves at the same time is not the same as turn-based. It is wholly different as far as strategy is concerned.

(unless you were being facetious. :D)