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An analysis of the first Master of Orion in retrospect

A masterpiece of the video game strategy genre, Master of Orion was created by SimTex Software and first released by MicroProse. In fact, it was this game that inspired the term “4X” to be used to describe the subgenre of turn-based strategy empire-building games where the objectives are to eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. Apart from being a good game for its era, it’s still fun to play (if you don’t expect state-of-the-art visuals) and has some sophisticated mechanics that have been abandoned (I think to the disadvantage of the games).

It’s a 1993 game.

Even though Master of Orion was amazing when it was first released, players today might find it archaic. Its copy protection was based on actual manuals, which presented a challenge because it was simpler to copy floppy discs than paper manuals. Updates including a PDF guide have been added in recent rereleases. The musical themes for the various races and screens are still captivating, the pixel graphics are endearing, and the weapon sound effects are powerful even with their age.

Hurry Up To Space

You select one of ten species to build your space empire for each game. I’ll talk about the various species as I talk about the various subsystems, to provide context for what their advantages do. Each one has a slight advantage in a certain area of the game rules that gives them a distinct flavour. You begin on your homeworld, which resembles Earth, with two scout ships, a colony ship, and a galaxy to explore. Of course, AI-controlled empires with their fleets and homeworlds are out there somewhere. Your objective is to become the galactic leader and either eliminate all other players or win the election to do so.

Management of Colonies

A panel for managing the colony orbiting the star of your choice and a map of the stars make up the game’s main user interface. The simplicity of treating each system as a single component of your empire is a significant advantage, even though it could be more “realistic” to have many planets surrounding each star (especially when terraforming technology is included in the game). The majority of remakes and sequels have chosen to use many worlds, however it’s unclear if the added complexity is worthwhile.

The sliders on each planet are how you manage your colonies. They can be compared to assigning distinct economic sectors: Does your planet only build spacecraft? bases for defensive missiles? Factories? Eliminating contaminants? conducting research? It’s common to find that you want a combination, in which case you can adjust the sliders to achieve the ideal blend.

A planet’s population and factories both have an impact on its industrial production, which is what is dispersed via the sliders. There is a natural rate of population expansion on every planet as long as there is space for people to live. With this, the lizard-like Sakkra have an advantage over the other species since they procreate more quickly, making it simpler to populate your worlds with a large number of residents. Every population group directly contributes to some industrial output through manual labour.The ant-like Klackons are ahead in this regard because their labour force is twice as productive as average, which can help them get things going faster without needing to make infrastructural investments first. A specific number of factories can also run in each unit of population; the multiplier is your degree of “Robotic Controls,” which you can raise through advancements in technology. The masters of robotic controls are the cyborg Meklars—my particular favorite—who receive bonuses to their robotic controls that go above and beyond their technological capabilities. Once their infrastructure is completed, they will be able to produce a lot.

In this sense, the ant-like Klackons have an advantage because their work force is twice as productive as the norm, allowing them to start operations more quickly without having to invest in infrastructure up front. Each population unit can also support a certain number of factories; the multiplier is your level of “Robotic Controls,” which you can increase through technological developments. The cyborg Meklars, my personal favourite, are the masters of robotic controls; they have benefits to their robotic controls that beyond their technological prowess. When their infrastructure is finished, they will have a large capacity for production.

Disturbances

One of the effects of building things in factories is the production of industrial trash, which might vary depending on the technological advancements you make in the construction industry. The environment on your planet may deteriorate if you don’t continue to clear up the rubbish. In the beginning of the game, a significant portion of your industrial output must be dedicated to cleaning up your own pollution; however, with enough research in the Construction and Ecology areas, it can become almost negligible. Your productivity at cleaning up the waste can also advance via technology. In actuality, you essentially just leave the environment slider at its default setting of maintaining a pristine planet.

Investigating and Growing

Naturally, no respectable star empire would have just one planet; you have to venture out and begin colonising. Until you visit the other stars with your spacecraft or later in the game, build some space scanner technology, you have no idea at the start of the game whether they are planetary habitable. You will discover what kind of planet it is when you do that. Default habitats for your people are Terran, Jungle, Ocean, Arid, Steppe, Desert, or Minimal.After you do the necessary tech research, you can also live in the following environments: barren, tundra, dead, inferno, toxic, or radiated. Occasionally, stars with no planets at all will also be encountered. Possibly the most expansive special ability in the game belongs to the silicon-based Silicoids, who can colonise any habitat from the start (and they don’t care about pollution either).

Fuel and Range

The game’s range subsystem regulates your movement on the map. The game employs another clever abstraction in place of tracking fuel supply for every fleet: your ships can travel to any system that is “within range” of a system you control. Naturally, your technology advancements dictate that spectrum. Your initial range in the game is three, which is normally sufficient to colonise one or two planets. However, if you wish to expand your empire, you need usually investigate some of the Propulsion area’s range-increasing technologies.

Science and Technology

You may use research to improve a number of facets of your empire, like your Robotic Controls level and the speed at which you can clean up industrial waste. I’ve already highlighted a few of them. That is all under the jurisdiction of the Research system. The industrial production of your colonies that is channelled towards research through their colony sliders goes into a large pool that is divided (with other sliders) among the six research categories: computers, construction, force fields, planetaryology, propulsion, and weapons. You can find a number of specific innovations in each of those domains, such as Robotic Controls V and Reduced Industrial Waste 40%. Or, maybe even more thrilling, anti-matter torpedoes, impulse engines, or neutron blasters.

The fact that not every development will be open for research is an intriguing feature of the game. For example, even if you devote all of your empire’s resources to researching propulsion, you might not be able to research hydrogen fuel cells, which would give your ships a range of four parsecs (although you might be able to research the more sophisticated deuterium fuel cells, which would give you a range of five). If you are unable to conduct the necessary research, there is a potential that you could obtain the technology through espionage, diplomatic trade, or a military ground attack; but, there is no certainty that anyone else will possess the specific technology you require.This implies that your plan must be flexible enough to adjust to your current circumstances and not become overly reliant on any one technology advancement. Rather than depending on defensive missile facilities situated on land, you might have to field a more formidable space fleet if you are unable to conduct any productive research on missile technology. Rather than trying to create a lot of small, fast ships, you’re probably better off trying to build massive, slow ships if you can’t develop good engines and small weaponry.Replayability is greatly enhanced by the “tech tree’s” lack of predictability since it is more difficult to become committed to any one of the “best” techniques when you don’t always have access to all the components you need to execute them. For a historical game like Civilisation, being able to steer through scientific and technological advancements might be appropriate, but in a sci-fi game, in particular, I think it’s much more evocative to genuinely explore the possibilities of science.

The greatest researchers in the game are the Psilons. They will be more likely to be able to investigate every advancement in addition to receiving a 50% increase to their research point generation. The Psilons are typically among the most powerful empires in any game they play because higher tech items are typically far superior to lower tech ones. However, it can occasionally be difficult for the Psilons to keep their infrastructure up to date with their technological edge; after all, having the ability to construct ships with incredible weapons is useless if it takes so long for them to finish that they are still in spacedock when your enemies attack.

Ship Design

As previously noted, the ship design subsystem is where you would use items like impulse engines and neutron blasters, which you may explore. This is arguably the game’s most intricate subsystem, which makes sense given that a sci-fi setting is enhanced by the presence of interesting spacecraft.Each ship can feature a targeting computer, shields, electronic countermeasures, armour, engines, manoeuvring thrusters, slots for four different types of weaponry, and three different kinds of special systems. Ships range in size from tiny to enormous. There is still some abstraction involved here; all you have to think about is the number of weapons on board; there is no need for additional complexity such as firing arcs or physically positioning the systems within the ship.A targeting computer, armour, shields, electronic countermeasures, engines, manoeuvring thrusters, slots for four different kinds of weapons, and three different kinds of special systems are all possible features for each ship. Ships come in all shapes and sizes. This still involves some abstraction; all you need to consider is the total number of guns on board; no more intricacies like firing arcs or physically arranging the systems on the ship are necessary.

Making important selections with your ship designs is often necessary. Although you may be tempted to always employ your best equipment, the newest innovations are typically the biggest and priciest, so if you select wisely when to invest, your ship may end up being more effective overall. Additionally, as you advance down the tech tree, the game’s “miniaturisation” mechanic causes older technology to occupy less space. This can allow you to employ older weaponry later on in the game; the weapons you used in your mid-game battleships may end up being small enough to fit in late-game fighters.

You use the space fleet you have, not the one you wish you had, to wage war.

The ship design subsystem has an intriguing feature: once a design is locked in, it cannot be changed or refitted. You can only have six designs “active” at once. This means you have to make some difficult choices about whether to start employing new designs and when to trash old ones, as well as when to build up a new fleet and when to retire older ships that are no longer needed.The ship design subsystem has an intriguing feature: once a design is locked in, it cannot be changed or refitted. You can only have six designs “active” at once. This means you have to make some difficult choices about whether to start employing new designs and when to trash old ones, as well as when to build up a new fleet and when to retire older ships that are no longer needed.

Combat Tactics

When your ships do come into contact with hostile fleets, a “tactical combat” screen appears. Although there are several simplifying abstractions, this is another pretty involved component. Most notably, ships are unable to move around on their own. Rather, your fleet’s six ship kinds move in “stacks” of the number of each type that you have engaged in combat. Additionally, there is no firing arc or velocity, and the only restriction on a ship’s ability to move or fire is its weapon’s range.The system is quite sophisticated and effectively combines the best aspects of both worlds. It allows for tactical manoeuvring without becoming bogged down, and even incorporates sci-fi elements such as the ability to outrun slow-moving torpedoes. When large fleets are engaged, it is satisfying to witness the damage your massive stacks can inflict. Each sort of weapon has an own sound and visual effect, so instead of just being different numbers in a spreadsheet, the various techs register as feeling distinct from one another.In combat, several special systems can also have intriguing effects. For example, the Automated Repair System allows your ship to regain hitpoints in between turns, and the Repulsor Beam keeps other ships from approaching you within one square range.

Instead of using the ship stack concept, the majority of the sequels, remakes, and tributes depict individual ships engaged in tactical warfare. Even though it undoubtedly produces more visual spectacle, it frequently leads to a micromanagement nightmare or less interesting fighting. A game is only enjoyable when you mentally interact with it; just because a computer can simulate a large number of tiny spaceships does not mean your brain can keep track of all that detail. The tactical combat in the original MoO is kept at just the proper level to seem like a fun little minigame, not a chore to complete or a whole new game mode to master, but an interesting aspect of the whole MoO experience thanks to the abstractions used in the game.Combat bonuses are shared by the Alkari and the Mrrshans. The avian-shaped Alkari are the ideal empire to witness swarms (flocks?) of tiny fighters in action because they have an advantage in the manoeuvrability defence of their small and medium ships. Because they are skilled with beam weapons and are naturally hunters, the feline Mrrshan are generally more potent. Since they are adding adjustments to a formula that occurs somewhat “under the hood,” these combat-focused special skills regrettably tend to be the most “invisible” of all the special abilities in the game and lack the immediate effect of some of the other special powers.

Ground-level Boots

It’s one thing to blow up opposing ships, but you’ll also need to land troops and force them to engage in ground combat if you want to take control of a hostile colony. The game does not distinguish between military and civilian units; if your populace engages in conflict, they are all equipped with your most recent weaponry, armour, and handguns and are expected to engage in combat. Using the same interface you would use to transfer a group of colonists to a friendly colony, you simply send some of your forces to an enemy planet to launch an invasion. Prior to conflict, ships in orbit have the ability to bombard, which has the potential to damage both ground-based industrial and population centres.You will usually need to fight more defending troops if you want to seize the infrastructure intact because factories are typically more brittle than population centres. You can take advantage of your opponent’s technical advancements by capturing intact factories. This can be a useful strategy to obtain technology that you were unable to investigate on your own. The bear-like Bulrathi have an advantage over other players when it comes to occupying planets because of a benefit to their ground combat rating.

The art of diplomacy

There is another subsystem for dealing with other empires than war: diplomacy. You will establish diplomatic contact with an alien system when one of your systems is within range of its system, and vice versa. You can negotiate with them for things like non-aggression pacts, economic trade arrangements, or technological exchanges, and you’ll get a feeling of how they feel about you.If research isn’t able to yield essential technologies, trading can be a helpful strategy to obtain them. The fact that you can only trade one item at a time and cannot create “bundle” transactions tends to limit how much the diplomacy AI can be abused, even though the UI for diplomacy may appear a little dated in comparison to some contemporary 4X games. The unique ability of humans is advantageous in negotiations and business dealings.

It’s a privilege even to be considered.

Occasionally, a galaxy-wide election will take place in which the leaders of the two most populous empires will contest for the title of emperor of the galaxy. Each empire casts a vote according to the number of its population, and a two-thirds majority is required to win. You can win in this way by keeping your relations with other empires cordial enough that they will cast their votes for you, or you can win if your empire is simply so powerful that you can secure two thirds of the vote on your own (which can alleviate some of the monotony associated with an inevitable conquest victory).

I Surveillance

Additionally, you can manage your espionage program from the diplomacy panel. You can use the sliders here to direct a portion of the production from your empire towards assisting spies in other empires. Spies can try to steal technologies or sabotage the opponent by blowing up industries or missile depots or sparking planetary uprisings. Although spying on other civilisations can damage ties because, well, they don’t like it, sometimes you actually need that technology. The enigmatic Darloks have an advantage in this area of the game because to a bonus they receive for spies.

Orion

The name of the game is Master of Orion, and according to the game’s mythology, Orion was the home star system of a highly advanced species that is now extinct. Although their world is a paradise, The Guardian, an antiquated automated defence system, guards it. Even with a fleet of mid- to late-game ships, it’s difficult to defeat the Guardian as a single potent ship. But if you succeed in beating it, you’ll earn some great rewards: When you colonise the Orion system, you automatically find various additional advanced technologies, including Death Ray technology, and you also find a 400% more productive gaia habitat for study.

Micromanagement

Due to intense micromanagement, most 4X games may be overwhelming to manage the endgame in, and Master of Orion is no exception. Even with tools like planetary sliders that update automatically to make things easier, keeping track of everything and managing continuous warnings may still be difficult. But I do like that I can set colonies to automatically move newly constructed ships to specific systems; this allows me to better focus production and organise my attack plans.

It is still science fiction to have true artificial intelligence.

Though this is more about maintaining balance than genuine cleverness, the AI in Master of Orion may appear to cheat by having access to extra resources or advantages rather than managing its empire under the same restrictions as a player. Strategic patience is a worthwhile tactic since, although unusual, errors such as AI fleets reaching 32,000 ships sometimes arise, and the AI’s seemingly unpredictable behaviour is often a result of its programming to counter dominating players.

In summary

I have a soft spot in my heart for Master of Orion, and I recently played it again, so it’s not just nostalgia. The skill with which the game reduces complicated concepts to playable abstractions is what gives it its elegance. Even while most recent games aim for more complexity—such as letting players govern entire empires, see every ship, or unlock different ship hull sizes—Master of Orion’s straightforward architecture still has a lot of appeal. The game’s mechanisms are expertly designed to provide precisely the correct amount of complexity, enriching the player’s experience without becoming overbearing.

Master of Orion shows that elegance can be more fascinating than many modern games that try to create depth by adding layers of complexity. It matters more how a game presents information to the player than how much data it can handle. The game’s skill at turning difficult ideas into entertaining gameplay is indicative of a thorough comprehension of what makes games compelling. What makes a game enjoyable isn’t only how sophisticated the system is; it’s also how well it matches the player’s cognitive limitations.

Master of Orion offers a deep and approachable experience by striking a balance between complexity and simplicity. Even while a lot of contemporary remakes and adaptions aim to add complexity, they frequently fail to capture the allure of the original game. Because Master of Orion creates mechanics that both suit its cosmic empire theme and don’t overwhelm the player, it hits the ideal balance and continues to be a classic.

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