Master of Orion 1+2

Interestingly fun game with differing play styles and outcomes of the game. (except for Psilons, the outcome always ends up the same with Psilons) Perfectly good game worth the price alone. I am sure the first game has some entertaining contnet aswell, I recomend highly.

I rate this 5 stars, I think Orion 2 is so much further than Orion 1 I personally don't play Orion 1 anymore. I'm not sure those who haven't played it before could get into it vs. the graphics, as for gameplay I still haven't seen another game like it. Think of anything you'd be interested in pursuing in a space game, this is the only one that has it. You can pick a customizeable race and focus on production, or stealing, or attack, etc. Some planets have bonuses to science or production or population. You choose what to build on each planet and the order (you can queue up to 5 structures/ships or choose auto), you can transport... so that planet that benefits population you can transport excess to less populated planets you own. You can design each ship (shields, engine, fuel distance, speed). Want one cruiser to have cloaking, auto-repair, 2 missile launchers, and 4 heavy lasers while the next cruiser you want it to have extra pods for transferring/capturing military ships and defensive lasers? Have at it. Then there's heroes that give bonuses to planets or ships and they level. Your ships level as well. You can refit your current ships with newer computers, weapons, and tech as you come across them. You can capture enemy ships, and salvage them to gain new tech or use them against the enemy. You can steal tech, build alliances, defend against stealing, invade planets. There's so much you can do I've yet come across another game with as much capability and I found the AI to be satisfying. There's a super race that periodically attacks random players as an option and I find few things more rewarding than sending in ships specifically designed for capture and capturing one of their advanced fleets it's like getting a tank in the age of knights, if you salvage it you can sometimes get some really good tech (like death ray) centuries before your opponents and cause havoc... so much fun. My favorite game of all time.

I have an original copy of Master of Orion that I bought and continue to play on an old G4 Mac I have. If you've played RTS games, many new ones have great graphics and nice effects, but I found MOO (Master Of Orion) I to be the best I've ever played. *Spoiler Alert reading beyond this point* There's a point in the game that enough planets are colonized that a voting for the leader takes place. If you're not the winner, well, let's just say everyone is against you from that point forward. All trade treaties gone, communications impossible, you're only answer is to attack, and if you're not Klackon, be ready to have 32000 itsy bitsy cloaked ships show up at a planet, you'll fire all you have at them, kill maybe 500, and they uncloak next to your planet dropping bio weapons, and instantly everything is dead. Yes this happens in Easy mode but it is guaranteed in Impossible mode. Now, a lucky possibility, that, again deviates from many games today, is that the research results, the items you can have, from colonization systems to weaponry, are well randomized. Basically (and this is a negative to MOO II and why it isn't as good of a game) you could end up having only neutronium bombs to get through class XX planetary shields of an enemy, or you may not be able to at all (rare but it happens) and your opponent may have every stinking weapon possible through the time it takes you to max out your research. And keep in mind, if there's a Darlok you've acquainted with, you likely will lose any research advantage, who an enemy of that Darlok will take as well, by taking over one of their planets through landing on it and a ground battle, nothing extensive but yeah you get to watch those too if you wish. MOO I is the quintessential Game Classic for RTS strategy, and yes, addicting. I still play it. Sure the graphics isn't all that great... But you're buying probably one of the best game strategy engines ever made, surpassing most today.

It's hard not to mention Master of Orion when talking about 4X games. This is it - the best there is. Worked in the tiniest detail it's one hell of a game with hours of enjoyment and a rather steep learning curve. It's a simply "Must-have" in every strategist collection - detailed diplomacy, espionage, macro and micro management, tactical battles and heroes/administrators to manage. Simply compelling.

In this games I killed untold billions... I guess that says it all...