Master of Orion 1+2

I worry that developers won't make a better game until I have kids...

I owned these games when they first came out for Windows and they are brilliant. Hours and hours of game time. You can custom build your fleet, face them against enemies in tactical battle screens, conquer worlds, and colonize new systems. Make alliances, trade agreements, spy, espionage, and research technology to get the edge over other races as you vie for power. There are a lot of interesting decisions to make. Do I colonize this planet or that one? Will I defend them with missile bases, battle stations or fleets? You'll have to decide what technologies are important to research. They will be the ones you will use to expand your empire. Focus too much on industry/science/population, sacrificing ship production, and you'll only make wonderful planets to be ransacked by your neighbors. Diplomacy and spy networks grant a significant edge to the cunning player. Trade agreements can bolster the treasury or give bonuses to research. Neutralizing an opponent by allying with them can be more effective than war, especially when it is solidified by annihilating a common enemy! Create spies to surveillance and carry out missions against them. Use sabotage to destroy industries or espionage to steal research, and even frame another race. Many interesting races to choose from, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. This with randomly generated galaxies and opponents makes the game playable over and over again. All in all, great games. Definitely worth having in any strategy buff's collection!

I'll be honest, I had actually never played MOO1 or MOO2 despite being a space 4x / strategy game nut all my life, digesting every space game i could find. I gave this a go, so many years after its release, and it still blows me away. It has such intricate well designed elements to it that even the great games of today (Galciv2 etc) failed to capture. I truly can not believe that I never played this game before, even after all this time it still gives one hell of a first impression! I'll be playing this more than Galciv2 this summer.

I came late to the party with this, only getting a hold of my own copy of Master of Orion 2 through GOG - but, I have to say, I've never played a 4x as well done as this, before or since. It has truly survived the test of time, and while the graphics have aged considerably, they retain their charm despite the years. This game is worth every penny. As a bonus, you get the first one too, but I can't really state my opinions on it. The original Master of Orion just couldn't grab me.

In a world of turn-based 4x games, none before it and none after it have delivered the amusement of Master of Orion 2. When newer versions of DirectX made the Windows 95 a pain to run on a modern machine, I kept some form of 9x laptop around until it was no longer practical. I'm thrilled to have a pre-configured DoxBox solution that just works after install on the newest hardware. Included in the download are the lastest unofficial patches that correct a few outstanding bugs Microprose never managed to squash. Now, I'm off to wipe out those pesky Silicoids with a stellar converter-equipped doomstar! Oh, and it comes with the original Master of Orion with is just as much of a treat to play, though ship design isn't quite as interesting, in my opinion.