This game is clearly a MOO2 remake, from the race customization screen to the way science tree is organized. So what is different? 1) UI: more cluttered than in MOO2, but useable. Some workflows are improved, colonies need more micro. 2) New concepts: a) "infrastructure": the number of building is limited by "infr. level", which makes you waste more time on micro-ing colonies. New "infr. specialization" system is nice, but the absurd part is that because infr.level is the limit most of the time, often a player is forced to use first few specializations to gain extra building slots, thus kind of cancelling both new features b) "exploration": once a star system is visited you learn only the basics about it, you don't even know if a planet there is "rich" or "poor", you need to "explore" further. To me this introduces more micro and more randomness on top of random planet distribution - are you lucky to colonizee the best planet without exploration? or are you lucky to explore (which is slow, not just fly there) the right system? c) new science tree: I like many of the changes. But as a ship design fanatic, I find that in my ISG games I usually have less (than in MOO2) weapons and special systems to pick from d) new spy system: still learning, so far liked the MMO2 one more 3) Missed opportunities: a) Diplomacy is very similar to MOO2, only with more restrictions, e.g. you can't offer a research treaty until a certain level of relationship with another race, so - unlike MOO2 - you are forced to first have a trade treaty, and only then a research treaty and only then can trade techs b) I feel like even "strong" AIs are weak - AI ship designs often suck, AI tech selection is often non-optimal, AI may attack the same star base with the same type of ship 4 times in a row, each time losing a ship. MOO2 was about the same, but in 2020s one can expect to get a good AI in any game - This is still one of the better MOO2 clones, but with a lot of missed opportunities

Well, I last played a few hours of MOO2 during an in-between-games spell a few weeks ago, but this game has spoiled MOO2 forever for me, except as a very occasional nostalgia trip. There is amazing depth in this game. It's a true 4X in the sense that every X matters and rewards you for paying attention to it. For example, exploration, which is a feature I love in both TBS 4Xs and RPGs, has two separate elements which continue to throw up extra benefits for your persistence. I'm no lover of micromanagement, either, but it isn't a chore in this game because it's about managing a lot of factors a little bit, rather than building 100 granaries, 100 libraries, etc. The tech trees look overwhelming at first, but aren't really that difficult (but don't miss the stuff off the right side of the screen(!), and mostly fit very well with the rest of the game and enhance your empire-building strategy very nicely. It's true that there's a huge amount of detail in the GUI and you have to examine the GUI carefully. There's no manual or tutorial at the moment, so you'll find a learning curve where you're asking questions like: wait, how do I move population between colonies? But give it 20 hours or so to learn all that stuff and you've got a very rich experience ahead of you, and it's all actually very intuitive and satisfying to play Oh, performance: pleasant (but not quite full pro) graphics, occasional short signals from my powerful system that it's busy, but 100% stable and zero bugs that I've noticed so far. No music without the DLC, which I plan to buy, as I think the devs deserve it.

This to me has a lot of appeal as I love turn based. There are some things that hopefully are improved down the road. Expecially in the ship space field and planet build spots. While others here like the events, I found them somewhat annoying at times so I turned them down. I also purchased the DLC which seemed to provide a much needed balance to the game. The only other down I see to this game is the tech trees and social tree's are the same for every race. Everything else though is as great if not greater than Master of Orion so if you like turn based 4x I'd say give it a shot.

This is probably the best of these MOO successors/clones (not counting Stellaris as it's quite a different beast). This does pretty much everything well and what's important this has a good tactical space combat that many of these clones omit. Game has some flaws (eg. I would like to control the new game parameters a little bit more, what races to include and such) but nothing major. A hard recommend if you like these a little bit smaller 4x tittles.

The meat of the game, building, researching, exploring, is an enjoyable and compelling experience. I particularly like the 'remote exploring' system, which allows you to find hidden systems and resources quite deep into the game. Where the game falls short is with its combat. I don't know if it's based on Master of Orion (never played it), but the space battle system is incredibly clunky and ultimately unsatisfying in the early game, fiddling with rotation actions and weapon arcs and the seemingly non-existant AI. In the late game, battles simply come down to turn order, since there is no individual ship initiative. Whoever goes first can simply move up with every ship and decimate the opposition fleet, using engine or weapon overloading. Additionally, the combat 'Auto-resolve' feature is a joke, where a massively one-sided engagement can still result in ship losses (why is there no 'overrun' feature, like in Imperium Galactica 2?). If you care about inexplicable ship losses, you'll need to fight every battle yourself, which is a chore. Finally, ground combat is nothing but a percentage bar that begins based on relative attack strength, moves a couple of times, then reveals 'You won!' or 'You lost!'. I recommend closing your eyes to avoid the frustration of watching your 91% crumble to a crushing defeat... Oh and I would much rather autosaves be created at the *end* of a turn, rather than the start. And, although the developer has talked about introducing it for years, I'd be shocked to ever see modding support. So all in all, a very enjoyable game, but don't expect much enjoyment from the combat department. For comparison, it's a massive downgrade from Imperium Galactica 2 and I even find the simple combat system in Space Empires V more satisfying.