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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Screenshots

Promos

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 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 (4539) · 1999

An addictive and epic game

The Good
MoO is an excellant strategy game. You take on the role of leader of an entire race, that must rule the universe, by either eliminating the other races or being voted galactic leader. MoO is all about successfully setting up, andmanaging multiple colonies, while maintaining a fleet strong enough to defend yur planets. The ease at which you can control your colonies production is well thought out. The starship customization was also a factor that made this game the classic it is. The game has a good diplomat AI, as well as an excellent spy system, which I feel accurately portrays the intricies of covert operations. Each race has it's own feel to it and unique feelings and outlook on life and the other races, the galaxies are random making this game highly replayable

The Bad
The sound, this was a big disappointment for a galactic game, one would hope it came with a grand music score to get one in the mood, but alas, a musical score is sorely missing, the sound effects are also sparse and not mentionable. The game tried to capture the feel of galactic conquests without giving one very much control, basically colonies run themselves, with you only setting quotas. The game centers mainly on building new ships that implement newer technology. At points it feels like a galactic battleship game! I feel if more time was put into micromanagement of colonies as well as making the starship construction and battle scenario's less prevelant would have helped this game.

The Bottom Line
A great strategy game that only falls short in small areas, but is otherwise fun and surprisingly addictive!

DOS · by Jonathon Howard (114) · 1999

Fantastic

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

[ 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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Contribute

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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.