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)
Quite simply, the best TBS ever!
The Good
When I first played Master of Orion in 1993 it quickly became one of my favourite games. To this day not found a better TBS, including Civilization. The reason for Master of Orion's success is simple: a perfect mix of macro and micro managing, and very fast micromanaging. Because every planet can be controlled quickly from the main screen using a system of sliders, you can quickly tweak each of the systems under your control, even in late game. In later Master of Orion games and in pretty much every other TBS out there, micromanaging quickly becomes a chore which wears you down and disinterests you in the game. Whenever I play Civilization, I end up quiting around three quarters through the game as gameplay becomes bogged down, slow, and monotonous. In MOO, every control is carefully laid out so you have less screens to cycle through, and more time to strategize as opposed to micromanaging. Add on to MOO's strong foundation a solid tech tree, a very fast yet deep combat system, and an interesting array of races and random events, and you have a classic and the best TBS ever created.
The Bad
The only flaw in MOO is the building limit for ships. After you have made a certain amount of ship designs, you cannot create another without scraping an existing design and all the ships associated with it. This does streamline gameplay, but for me at least, it reminds me of an unrealistic technical limitation which takes my imagination out of the game world.
The Bottom Line
Overall Master of Orion is the best TBS game ever created, and perhaps the best overall strategy game as well.
DOS · by Jeffrey Graw (8) · 2006
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
The Good
First of I liked the gameplay, it is just wonderful. You can pick from about 9 different races, all with their various strenghs and weaknesses. You then pick your name and your homeworld's name, and a color for your flag and ships. You then go into the main gamescreen where you control the game. There you can colonize worlds and build ships and send fleets to do war on the other races. You win by being elected govener of the universe. If you like strategy games you'll like Master of Orion.
The Bad
At times it was irritating that the diplomacy was as limited as it is, but thats a small complaint.
The Bottom Line
Master of Orion is a great game, that is easy to learn, but hard to master, as the old maxim goes. Definently a game that any strategy gamer should own, and if you like sci-fi games, this should be in your game library.
DOS · by Wolfang (155) · 2001
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.