Master of Orion
Description official description
Master of Orion overlaps with Civilization insofar as you are the leader of one of several races. Technological advance, realm expansion and combat are all key elements. Where it differs is in being set in space.
The planet Orion itself is a lush, fertile planet with vast mineral resources. It is guarded by the Guardian - a powerful vessel which you have to defeat in order to plunder Orion's riches.
As you attempt to expand your empire, you will have to trade and steal technologies form rivals, again much like Civ. Your ships can be improved over the game, in terms of engine power, shields, cloaking devices and weapons, and different combinations of these can be integrated. Resource management is largely set using sliders, which reduces the amount of time spent on micro-management.
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Credits (DOS version)
43 People (29 developers, 14 thanks) · View all
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 76% (based on 16 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 111 ratings with 10 reviews)
The Good
Pretty much everything. Particularly the relatively simplistic implementation of controlling resources. Simple slider bars that you adjust to whatever you want your planets to do.
The Bad
Not much. Getting really picky, I could say that there weren't enough technologies, but good grief - there were dozens. Problem was that playing Psilons, you found all the technologies in a Medium game. Large or Huge games simply didn't have enough technologies to keep Psilons an interesting race (once you have everything, how much longer will you play?)
I suppose I could also say that the combat system (hex) was rather limited, and there were only so many ship designs.
The Bottom Line
Civ-like without the details of keeping every planet productive. Endless hours of entertainment.
DOS · by Cyric (50) · 2001
Most addicting turn based strategy ever
The Good
This game had me up wayyy pat my bedtime so many times it isn't even funny. I even played a game from the time I got up until early the next morning.
<ahem> on with the review.
The ability to custom build ships with all sorts of combinations gave your fleets a personal touch unequalled elsewhere (well, except in Master Of Orion II). the endless debates over small ships vs. large, more nukes or more lasers, what planets to turn into factories, etc. kept me going continuously.
the diplomatic system seemed a lot more realistic than in Civilization. instead of declaring wars seemingly at random, the other empires would watch to see if you were massing ships at their borders, would start to like you when you attacked their enemies, and would generally be nice if you weren't being threatening, depending on their attitudes.
the tech system gave you advantages with every advance, and often had me tearing my hair out wondering if I should devote more to weapons or construction techs (more armor). The advantages of warping across the galaxy fast enough to outrace an invading fleet were undeniable.
the planetary management, with its sliding bars of planetary resource management, had me tweaking my planets endlessly for best effect.
Oh, and lets not forget about getting ready for that showdown with the guardian of Orion.
oh, yeah. It also had the best manual I've seen in a computer game.
The Bad
The micromanagement of a lot of planets gets tedious, especially when the game settings don't do things the way you like, and you forget which planets you have set to special projects.
The Bottom Line
It's the most fun I've had with any space game, and will suck you into its depths if you let it. Building a space empire was never so much fun.
DOS · by Darryl White (9) · 2000
A great classic by all standards.
The Good
Seems like everyone with the exception of Tony Van like this one :-)
This is a really classic game. I accidentally got this from someone back in -- I think it was '94, checked it out and loved it ever since. It's a bit hard to get used to the interface (as in most MicroProse games), but once you got used to it you'll never let go. The graphics are but OK and the music is practically non-existant, but it didn't stop this game from presenting the gamer with AMAZINGLY addictive gameplay. It is one of the most addictive games I ever played, along with the classic Civilization and Master of Magic, I just couldn't let go of it.
The strategy is great and innovative (they fixed the lack of colony manipulation in Master of Orion 2), and the combat is really great by any standard. The Guardian is also a great gimmick and adds a lot of flavour to the game.
It is a classic game which should be played by everyone.
The Bad
Well, as I already mentioned, the colony manipulation/evolution is rather neglected (which was fixed in the sequel), and there is practically no music. The sound effects are cool though.
The Bottom Line
A classic game. Play it. Now. Or you'll go to hell.
DOS · by Tomer Gabel (4536) · 1999
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
---|---|---|
Help me get into this game | Mobygamesisreanimated (11069) | Apr 29, 2009 |
Trivia
Jerry Pournelle
Famous Sci-Fi novelist and long time technology columnist Jerry Pournelle frequently mention his appreciation for Master of Orion i his Chaos Manor columns. He's often stated its one of his all time favorite games.
References
When playing against the Meklars, one of the names for the leader (picked randomly from a pool in the NAMES.LBX file) is TX-1138. Likely a reference to George Lucas's movie THX-1138, which he himself has referred to in little in-jokes throughout the Star Wars movies.
Star Lords
Spaceward Ho!
Master of Orion borrows several game elements from Spaceward Ho!.
Awards
- Computer Gaming World
- June 1994 (Issue #119) – Strategy Game of the Year
- April 1996 (Issue #141) – Introduced into the Hall of Fame
- November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) - #33 in the “150 Best Games of All Time” list
- Game Bytes
- 1993 - Strategy Game of the Year
- GameStar (Germany)
- Issue 12/1999 - #64 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
- Gaming World
- 1993 - Premier Award Computing
- PC Gamer
- April 2000 - #37 in the "Readers All-Time Top 50" poll
- October 2001 - #31 in the "Top 60 Games of All Time" list (They go on to credit the game for the creation of the '4X' genre of strategy gaming ('explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate').)
- April 2005 - #44 in the "50 Best Games of All Time" list
- Pelit Magazine
- 1994 - Best PC Game
- Strategy Plus
- 1993 - Strategy Game of the Year
Information also contributed by Adam Baratz, Entorphane, Michael Palomino, PCGamer77, Scott Monster and Technocrat
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Related Sites +
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1oom
unofficial game engine recreation under GPLv2 - requires a copy of the Master of Orion (v1.3) LBX files. -
Fan-made Patch 1.40m
fan-made patch for Master of Orion (v1.3) -
Master of Orion on the Mac
An article on Low End Mac about the Macintosh version of the game. The writer describes his experiences originally running the game on his PCs when it was released and his attempts to enjoy the game on his Macs. The article effectively takes the form of a retrospective appreciation of the game, with an underlying point regarding the backwards compatibility of Apple's hardware (Jul. 1st, 2008).
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Tomer Gabel.
Macintosh added by Terok Nor.
Additional contributors: Kalirion, Zeppin, Patrick Bregger, Plok, J D.
Game added August 13, 1999. Last modified January 28, 2024.