Master of Orion

aka: MOO, Master of Orion 1, Master of Orion Classic
Moby ID: 212
DOS Specs
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 3/23 11:32 AM )
Included in See Also

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.

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (DOS version)

43 People (29 developers, 14 thanks) · View all

Designer
Programmers
Sound Software
Artists
Music Producer
Music Composer
Lead Testers
Manual Art
Package Design
Manual Writer
Manual Design & Layout
Producer
Director of Publications
Product Manager
[ 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

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

Space Conquest just got much better

The Good
I loved the motivation to stay up past 5 AM trying for that last turn that would bring my victory! Then having to keep playing because there was just too much to this game! The balance between all the technologies and races. The ability to randomly generate new galaxies that may or may not give me a starting advantage.

The Bad
The only problem I can see is with the AI. They all use basicly the same system of building up massive fleets and going at it. There really isn't anything missing without comparing it to the improvements in the sequel.

The Bottom Line
The 4X space strategy title that built the genre. Even though this game has been beefed up with the release of the 2 sequels, it is still worth playing to see where it all started. I still play it today.

DOS · by MaiZure (59) · 2003

[ 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

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

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
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

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.