whats thr problem with Master of Orion III

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Hi!
MoO1 and MoO2 were clasics. MoO3 was intended to introduce the 5th X: eXperience, but failed to cover even the basic four. Game was overdesigned with way too many features, but as development costs and time grew, fatures were chopped off, dilluted, merged... until what was left was almost unplayable and not understandable by most of players.

BR, Iztok

I got rid of my copy a long time ago, but from what I remember it was the fact that you couldn't do much in the way of micromanagement. Now, don't get me wrong, I hate games with too much micromanagement, but I like to decide a few things for myself.

In MOO3, you set the goals for your empire (technology, planetary development) by assigning priorities, and then you hit end turn over and over again and see what you end up with. To a lot of people it just wasn't a very enjoyable experience.

The developers abandoned it without releasing a final patch, but from what I gather the few remaining fans managed to put together an unofficial one. I say play it, if that's what floats your boat, but personally I think its the worst game I've ever bought.

I think even the people that like it, pretty much agree that its too different from MOO and MOO2 to be considered a sequel. It's like a different game.

Trust me on this. Don't go near MOO3, u will regret it, its the worst sequel ever in gaming history. It was made all the more so, real crushing dissappointment, by the fact that MOO2 was brilliant, fantastic, great, marvelous, u get the picture.

Try hunting down MOO2, the only drawback today is its a bit dated graphics wise, but its still has loads of playability.

MoO3

Dude you do not want to get that pile of excretion!!

I think i can cover it quite nicely with: The Phantom Menace of video games.. They had all the time... all the money.... and all the talent they could ask for. and yet still delivered mediocre graphics and an obtuse interface. a host of minor yet annoying imperfections: no ship upgrade no fleet reconfigure no planet/system naming missing information that should be accessible with a click no varied time on fleet combat difficult or buggy counter offer in diplomacy. ..... there is more but that's enough for now.

Do not buy this game! Find some mug who bought it (and hasn't yet thrown it in the trash) and borrow it off them. Guarantee it will be back with them by the end of 2 days!!

If you like these kinds of games the various ones I can recommend are:

Space Empires 4 - great for playing in different ways such as using carriers and fighters, loads of options, almost no way you cant play the game. The limitations are that it revolves aroundwarp points so these become bottle necks for defending which is limiting in terms of gameplay, it is topdown view only and graphics are getting oldish, and although you can play the battles tactically these are quite boring after a while. But anew version is due out shortly which may take the crown.

Stars! - brilliant game especially playing via email but terrible graphics these days. But the gameplay beats all the rest of the genre in my opinion. Still you cant really get over the graphics these days. Minefields and fuel affects are particularly well done.

There are other such as a Star Trek one which was quite well reviewed when it came out, and of course MOO2 but I cant comment on these as I didnt get them.

Nats

MOO3 takes a completely different mindset. It is not really designed for those who want to micromanage their empire, but is tailored more toward someone who wants to be a galactic emperor and delegate duties out. Their are shortcomings but there is a very active community at: [link="http://www.ina-community.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=224"]http://www.ina-community.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=224">Link

There are some fan made fixes that make the game more playable (it was not patched as well as it could have been). All in all the game is enjoyable and one needs to learn it to enjoy it. The best sources to learn about the game are articles on the link I gave above.

If you try it, definitely patch it to 1.25 and I would also recommend the vanilla mod (check the link above). DO NOT bother with the stratgey guide from prima and do not dig too deeply into the manual. Check first a thread at the link above called "Mootorial project". I still have the game on my hard drive and still play it from time to time. I would say to give it a go.

The real problem was that it was so buggy that by the time you understood the complexity things didn't actually work the way they said it would.

Just saw the unofficial patches and may eventually give it another try but I am having to much fun now with GalCiv2.

GalCiv2 has that unique mojo of the I need to play "just one more turn" and has a great balance of strategy and about the right combination of available micro management and long term macro management.

Moo3 was weird in that it you didn't have control but set guidlines and eventually saw the result. Probably more realistic for the galactic emperor to give general guidance to local governers, but the lack of control bothered a lot of people.

What killed it for people was it was buggy and they gave up on it.

It might be worthwhile to play with the unofficial patch

It might be worthwhile to play with the unofficial patch

Indeed it is! Look on the forums for the "Vanilla" "Strawberry" or "Tropical" mods. These user created mods add to the game and add greatly to the game.

Remember though--MOO3 is NOT like GalCiv at all.... not even close. It is a completely different style of game.

Hey i actually managed to get through what everyone hated about the game and actually ehjoy it, then it took to long to finish of because all the bug and stuff meant the game got so bogged down it went at a snails pace.

The correct question would be, "What wasn't wrong with Moo III?"

As one reviewer wrote, "Your job is to press the [Turn] button."

As Blackadder IV said, "It's as much fun as getting an arrow through the neck and then discovering there's a gas bill tied to it."

The producer clearly spent way too much time on the barely comprehensible intro movie and way too little on making a game.

There are plenty of negative reviews floating around, and most of them are accurate, if not sufficiently negative. Check them out and save yourself a few dollars and a lot of pain.

I've seen stores like Farm & Fleet and Big Lots selling this for $4.99 or $5.99 on their clearance rack. It beats paying for shipping + bid on Ebay or hitting a Shopko/Target/GameStop/Best Buy store for a copy that's still higher priced.

It's a really slow game compared to GalCivII and isn't nearly as enjoyable. However, it does provide a slightly different experience & uses starlanes.

I don't recommend going out of your way to buy it, but, it does complete the collection.

I never brought the game but i understood a bad review and just never bothered with it and by looking at some of the feedback here im still glad i avoided it.

i paid a few bucks to download it rather recently. it is a waste of money compared to just about every other 4X game out there. the graphics are way sub-par. the aliens lack personality. the storyline is contrived. most importantly, the gameplay was horrible.

MoO1 and MoO2 were clasics. MoO3 was intended to introduce the 5th X: eXperience, but failed to cover even the basic four

this is very close to my impression of MoO3. i felt like it was trying to be a different genre all together. i guess that's where the "experience" aspect was coming in. i thought it would have done better if they'd thrown out the other 4 Xs and made a game where you essentially role-play an intergalactic leader and try to wheel and deal your empire to supremacy. but instead, the game just sucked.

Andrew, if you're interested in another game like GC2, I'd say you're better off getting MoO2. it really is a classic. if you're looking for something newer, you can try the new Star Wars game or wait for Space Empires V. you could also branch into fantasy; there are many similar turn-based games available in fantasy worlds.

I remember I bought MOO3 from Amazon for $5 plus shipping way back when. Thought it was a good deal. I should have held out a couple weeks though because the week after I bought the game for $5, Amazon put out a new rebate that make the game absolutely free ($30 plus $30 rebate). Then the week after that Amazon was actually GIVING you $5 to take the game! ($30 for the game, $35 rebate!).

That Star Trek space civilization game is Star Trek: The Next Generation - Birth of the Federation. It really is a great, little known game. I play it all the time still. Really wish they made a new one. It is an older game by the Microprose guys (Sid Meier's old company who did Civilization, Pirates!, X-Com and what not) so you probably will have to hunt around for it. But it is quality gaming. One of the few good Star Trek titles.

Then the week after that Amazon was actually GIVING you $5 to take the game! ($30 for the game, $35 rebate!).

Yep that sums up how completely crap that game was. I used my MOO3 as a dart board for a while...

That Star Trek space civilization game is Star Trek: The Next Generation - Birth of the Federation. It really is a great, little known game. I play it all the time still.

I second this, it was a cracking little game, it was like an early version of GC2, the combat was very similar.