Master of Orion

aka: MOO, Master of Orion 1, Master of Orion Classic
Moby ID: 212
DOS Specs
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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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[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 76% (based on 16 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 111 ratings with 10 reviews)

A great game.

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

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

Strategy players looking for a challenge will love it.

The Good
This is a challenging strategy game and the challenge was the best part about it for me. At first, the impossible level really did seem impossible. So figuring out how to beat the game using the right combination of planetary resource allocation, research strategy, ship design, diplomacy, and trade was major fun.

Reading game guides and tips beforehand will spoil the challenge. Eventually, you'll figure out many ways to beat the game, but that was also when the game lost its appeal for me.

The Bad
I like to play a "huge" galaxy, but after taking over 40-50 plants or so, it becomes tedious to micro manage. The program could have been better written so that a human player could more easily handle all the planets at once.

The Bottom Line
Awesome player vs computer strategy game.

Good game interface. Passable graphics. Minimal sound effects (but at least it's not annoying). Play this game for the challenge, not for the bells and whistles.

DOS · by Yeah Right (50) · 2000

[ View all 10 player reviews ]

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

Star Lords was a sort-of prototype game for Master of Orion. It was released as freeware in 2001.

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 Games

Master of Orion 3
Released 2003 on Windows, Macintosh
Orion: Prelude
Released 2013 on Windows
Orion Quest
Released 1984 on Commodore 64
Orion Burger
Released 1996 on DOS, Macintosh
Star Wraith 3: Shadows of Orion
Released 2002 on Windows
Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares
Released 1996 on DOS, Windows, 1997 on Macintosh
Invasion Orion
Released 1979 on Apple II, TRS-80, Atari 8-bit
Master of Magic
Released 1985 on Commodore 64, 1986 on ZX Spectrum

Related Sites +

  • 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).

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 212
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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.