Master of Orion 3

aka: MOO 3, Master of Orion 3: The Fifth X
Moby ID: 8464
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

The long-awaited follow up to the "spaceploitation" strategy classics Master of Orion and Master of Orion 2, MOO 3 attempts to combine unprecedented depth with user-friendliness in one ultimate "4X" gaming eXperience. The basic game formula is the same, though: start out with one planet, eXplore the galaxy, eXpand by founding new colonies and bases, eXploit resources, and then eXterminate your opponents--or at least show them who is boss!

Many years in the MOO timeline have passed since the last installment of the series. The Antarans have triumphed and imposed their rule on the Orion sector, even dubbing themselves the "New Orions" in their pretentiousness. Most of the old alien species have been defeated and nearly exterminated by the New Orions, but a few remnants of their civilizations still remain as non-playable races, so you will occasionally come across the odd colony of the Darlok, Bulrathi, Alkari, Mrrshan, Elerian, or Gnolam variety. The 16 playable races that have survived the wrath of the Antarans include the insectoid Klackons and Tachidi; the reptilian Raas, Sakkra, and Grendarl; the fishlike Trilarian and Nommo; the robotic Cynoid and Meklar; the humanoid Human, Evon, and Psilon; the crystalline Silicoids; the ethereal Imsaeis and Eoladi; and the genetically-engineered harvesters, the Ithkul.

Management is handled primarily at the imperial level through general plans and policy decrees, with a system of AI viceroys assigned to doing most of the grunt work in managing the various regions of your colonized planets. Up to four great leaders at a time may come forward and join your empire, adding bonuses (and perhaps also penalties) to your base racial abilities. Research is divided into six schools: economics, energy, biological sciences, social sciences, physical sciences, and mathematics; some 380 technological advances are available overall, and not all will be available to your chosen race.

Ship and ground combat have both changed from previous MOO games. Naval battles are played out in real time, with orders being given to ships assigned to the various task forces you organize before any battles take place. The player now has more tactical options in commanding ground forces in planetary assaults. Espionage is still available for implementing a variety of dirty tricks on opposing empires, and diplomacy is expanded so that you can now negotiate not only on an inter-empire basis, but also through the Orion Senate. With enough votes, laws can be passed by the Senate which have galaxy-wide effects, thus making it possible for the clever diplomat to change the rules of the game to his own advantage.

Victory is yours if you can accomplish one of three things: eliminate all opponents and become Sole Survivor, garner enough votes through diplomacy to become President of the Senate, or recover the five mysterious alien artifacts--the "Antaran Xs"--scattered across the galaxy. Just be prepared for a tough fight, because powerful Guardians will once again stand between you and total mastery of Orion.

Spellings

  • Master of Orion 3: Престол Галактики - Russian spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Windows version)

137 People (115 developers, 22 thanks) · View all

Senior Producer
Executive Producer
Director of Technology
V.P. of Product Development
Director of Marketing
Director of Creative Services
Director of Editorial & Documentation Servicess
Graphic Designers
Documentation Specialist
Copywriter
Additional Game Design
Special Thanks
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 64% (based on 33 ratings)

Players

Average score: 2.4 out of 5 (based on 44 ratings with 6 reviews)

A total makeover for a great strategy classic!

The Good
This game is so addicting that I couldn't stop playing! The learning curve isn't too steep, but a newbie to the series might have a bit of trouble getting the hang of it. The new movies and sounds are a really nice touch. The graphics during combat have also been improved. Indeed if anyone liked Civ3 than this is a super choice for them. Master of Orion 3 lets you choose between tons of different races to start colonizing with. Personally, I think the new menu system is a great feature, and its a thrill to customize your own starship. Colonizing is a sinch, but keeping the colony under control and safe is what you the player must do.

The Bad
There's not much a true strategy fan would dislike about this game. The Foreign Affairs system isn't flawless and you might find yourself sending the same offers to the same representatives. The game is still challenging even on easy settings. The combat system has its moments, but overall this game is an excellent addition to any fan!

The Bottom Line
This game takes patience and time. Learning through all the features is tiring, but there are hints along the way. The AI pretty much does its own thing for you, but you have to be careful on how the AI runs your planet. The long wait is finally over...grab a copy of Master of Orion 3 and start conquering galaxies today!

Windows · by Josh Miller (6) · 2003

Disappointing as a MoO game, but unique and arguably good if taken on its own

The Good
This game is an amazingly complex simulation of a star-spanning empire, with details down to the planetary region level in all sorts of things. This is not a game about micromanaging a shallow simulation, but one about managing a complex one.

One particularly interesting change is the introduction of task forces into naval operations. Although you can still design your own ships, that is done with regard to their designed role in a TF; it is the TF that must be carefully crafted for a specific mission. Although the combat module is generally less interactive than in previous games, the effects of TF composition and layout can be very substantial.

The Bad
Sadly, most of the simulation is simply invisible to the player, and even some of what is visible can't be influenced directly.

Back in the early 90s, Sid Meier gave a talk at a CGDC entitled "How I almost ruined Civilization". He discussed several key elements and decisions in the design of that classic in terms of analyzing "who was having all the fun". If the value of a given feature was something you could point proudly to in front of other game designers, but that a player would not notice, that was letting the designer have all the fun. If the simulation was extremely detailed and beyond the ken of the human player, that was letting the computer have all the fun.

Sadly, in the form that it finally shipped, MoO3 is a game where too often the computer has all the fun. During the first couple of years of development, the plan was to have a deep simulation that the player could see all the way down to the bottom in, but a limited pool of "Imperial Attention" points which were needed to actually manipulate things. If you wanted to micromanage the production on one planet you could, but it would reduce how much attention you could give to other things that turn. Unfortunately, in playtesting this idea didn't work out. The Imperial Attention points were dropped, and the UI was simplified to get rid of immense levels of detail that would bog down a player for days per turn. But on the whole, those detailed calculations were still there - you just couldn't see or manipulate them.

The result was that all too often your simulated planetary governors would make a decision based on priorities and information that you simply could not see, and it looked like they were just arbitrarily doing stupid things. Even worse, there were some bugs in the data, and some stupid decisions were effectively forced by the bad data entries.

After 3 patches, most of the cases where this happens are no longer visible, but there's still a frustration that you can't see the details behind some of the numbers.

The Bottom Line
On the whole, it doesn't come close to displacing MoO2 because it's really not the same sort of game at all. Taken on its own, it's an interesting game about empire management, but it's really going to appeal only to those gamers who like both military simulations like the (earlier) MoOs and serious management games like 1830.

Windows · by weregamer (155) · 2003

Why exactly did they do with the extra year of production?

The Good
Well MOO3 did have a really interesting story in the manual, it was a little hard to follow sometimes but overall not too bad. Oh. wait you wanted to know about the game.... well I guess nothing.

The Bad
Seriously there is next to nothing good about MOO3. The interface is one of the most difficult un-editied pieces of crap to ever hit the PC world. It took nearly 300 turns of gameplay to figure out half of the controls. Oh, and the controls there really isnt any. Basicly MOO3 is the first game in the history of PC gaming that doesnt require a person to play it. I'am not kiddding folks! This game basicly holds back many of the normal controls that a person is used to doing on their own. And with no off button to be found, its a big pain in the butt. About the only functions you control in this game is the "general" and I do mean general direction of the game. You tell the computer in what range you like someting and the PC decides what to do. The only real control you do have is with two buttons, the next turn button and the exit button. The graphics are not just bad they are a disgrace. I have read many a review where a person will use that word to decribe a game, but never have I thought it really true. However for MOO3 the title sticks. The main control screen graphics are ok but not flashy. But where MOO3 really lets down the game buyer, is in the ship combat screen. No joke MOO2 has at least 3 generations of advancement of ship graphics on MOO3. My wife who has only played a few PC games (Sim city 3000, Rollercoaster Tycoon) described the look of the Ship combat screen as very similar to Atari, and she is right. They really are just like the old Atari 2600 games.

Now I just love the Master of Orion series, so when I was confronted with this game I would not accept that it was crap. I played I think around 500 turns on my first game. And was starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnell, when the game declared another race the winner because they controled the council. Now that civ was the only member of the council so it was a no brainer that they would head it up. On my next 3 games I tried all I could to find out what I was doing wrong. I was sure if I just changed this or tried that, the game would work. I even wondered if there was a missing menu of options that I simply had not found that would save the day. Sadly no menu was found nor tatic work. I felt like Ponce De Leon searching for the fountain of youth. Or the other spaniards looking for the 7 cities of gold. Lots of labor and love for squat.

The Bottom Line
Sadly, the wost game I have ever played in the 15+ years of my gaming history. Not did it just fail to live up to my hopes, it didnt even come close to being a bad game. Collect it for its place in gaming history, cause I doubt they can make another one this bad anytime soon. I seriously wonder if that was their intention all along

Windows · by William Shawn McDonie (1131) · 2004

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Trivia

False demo version

The Australian magazine PC Powerplay claimed to be the first to get an exclusive "demo" of Master of Orion III. In reality, what it got given was a pre-alpha release of the game from the publisher Infogrames. This build of the game would be dubbed KangaMOO by fans. Here is the press release Quicksilver Software released after the incident:

As many of you know, the Australian magazine PC PowerPlay has recently released what they thought was a demo of Master of Orion III. Obviously this has caused a big stir around the Quicksilver offices since we've never made a MOOIII demo. Apparently what they got their hands on was a pre-alpha version of MOOIII that was delivered as one of our normal milestone deliveries to Infogrames and was never meant for public consumption. I spoke to our producer at Infogrames this morning and what I've been told is that one of the Infogrames employees at the Australian office gave the CD out without authority and that led to its release. At this point Infogrames is dealing the problem but obviously there's only a certain amount that can be done after the fact.

So, for those that have seen the version, please realize that what you have is NOT an official demo. It's a pre-alpha build that is buggy, incomplete and needs a lot of tuning/adjustment of screens. Moreover, while we'll be leaving any screenshots up on the forums that have been posted we will be removing any links to actual copies of the version since we don't feel it's representative of the game. Thanks for everyone's support.

It is to be hoped that gamers who get their hands on the alpha won't assume it's representative of the final game.

Online servers

The game's online servers (which were hosted on GameSpy) were scheduled to shut down on 30 June 2014, like for Electronic Arts titles in the wake of GameSpy's total closure.

Awards

  • Computer Games Magazine
    • March 2004 – Worst Game of the Year 2003
  • GameStar (Germany)
    • Issue 04/2009 – One of the "10 Most Terrible Sequels" (The best parts of Master of Orion II are the logical game mechanics and the easy to learn menu structure. All that got improved for the worst by complicating everything and focusing on macro management. Also the exciting turn-based combat got replaced by ugly real-time battles.)

Information also contributed by PCGamer77.

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Related Sites +

  • Build Galactic Empires
    An Apple Games article (archived on the author's webpage) about the Macintosh version of Master of Orion 3, with commentary being provided by Quicksilver Software President Bill Fisher (January, 2003).
  • Master of Orion III - The Official Web Site
    The official home page for Master of Orion 3, created and maintained by its developer, Quicksilver.
  • NZMac
    A (largely) unscored review of the Macintosh version of the game by NZMac, a New Zealand Apple site. The review is ultimately positive, though with some qualifiers (Jul. 01, 2003).
  • The Master of Orion 3 Guardian
    Fan site offering various information on MOO 3, including modifications ("Mods") of the original game. Has sections for MOO 1 and 2, too.
  • The Orion Sector
    A site run by MOO fans devoted to the latest news, previews, reviews, info, downloads, and more for Master of Orion 3.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 8464
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by PCGamer77.

Macintosh added by Terok Nor.

Additional contributors: Rebound Boy, Rambutaan, Zeppin, Klaster_1, Patrick Bregger, Plok.

Game added February 25, 2003. Last modified March 5, 2024.