Posted on: November 24, 2016

Hasenbraten

Games: 88 Reviews: 16

Like Civ, just faster and with Deathrays

MOO 2 scratches the same itch as Civilisation, but unlike those almost eternal Civ-sessions you can finish a game in one or two days. (You don't have to, by all means choose a cluster-type map, do lots of micromanagement, and play for a week or two). You can tailor your custom-race to your playing style. In the highest difficulty setting this is highly recommended. You can also tailor your research, and ultimately your ships towards your opponents weaknesses, with sometimes devastating results. Your opponents however could do the same. (Un)fortunately the AI doesn't make much use of that opportunity, but if you play against a skilled human player that has a potential for lots of fun - or frustration. MOO 1 is not bad either, but a lot of things got streamlined in 2, so I for one play almost exclusively MOO 2. To me, MOO2 is the best turn based deep strategy game to date, and a must buy for fans of that genre, especially on sale

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Posted on: August 20, 2022

Helvetica1957

Verified owner

Games: 470 Reviews: 14

Peak sci-fi empire building

These are two games that have really stood the test of time. I've come back to both games over the years and it's like meeting an old friend again, always a pleasure. Glad they are both here.

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Posted on: May 14, 2025

CharaxS

Games: 162 Reviews: 1

Legendary 4X games

While not the first 4X space game to launch (a nod to Reach for the Stars back in 1983), Master of Orion was the first game to solidly put that genre on the map. The first title was absolutely terrific. The game’s approach minimized the impact of micromanagement… something that most 4X games fail to achieve. The variety of races, with their unique strengths and weaknesses, including which technology fields they excel or struggle with, adds to the flavour of the game. No race can research every technology available in the game. Each game randomizes what technologies a particular race can research… which just adds to the replayability. Graphics in MoO1 are getting dated. A recent free remake of MoO1, Remnants of the Precursors, is fantastic. MoO2 added a lot of improvements. Complexity, graphics, terrific tactical combat. It also tried some things that weren’t so great. For example, planetary improvements followed the early Civilization games of building a variety of buildings that you have researched. It became a micromanagement bore whenever you try setting up new colonies in a game that’s advanced to mid/late game. The technology tree/approach is not as good as MoO1…there is no randomness in the three and the choices often fall into a cookie-cutter pattern. Overall, I still prefer MoO1 over MoO2 but both are great, legendary games.

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Posted on: November 5, 2013

segahead

Verified owner

Games: 439 Reviews: 12

I don't like 4X games but I love MOO2.

Unlike the first game Master of Orion 2 has aged extremely well. It's easy on the eyes, it's easy to understand, and it's easy to control. If you're playing it for the first time you'll be able to jump right in. The interface is so minimal and user friendly you can learn as you go. MOO2 doesn't try to be overly complex and it doesn't bog you down with too much micromanagement. MOO2 doesn't feel like some stale simulation it feels more like an awesome board game filled with lots of random chance and customization. Tweaking the preset alien races is still a lot of fun. I usually modify the Humans to behave more like the greedy Gnolams--which seems more appropriate if you ask me. If you don't like 4X games you should at least give Master of Orion 2 a try. It's fantastic. 20 years later and I'm still playing it.

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Posted on: October 3, 2018

techdefined

Games: 52 Reviews: 5

Master of Orion 2 an incredible Game

In 25 years of my pc gaming history there are only few games(most from Bioware before EA) that came close to MOO2! It is a Masterpiece which no newer 4x game has every surpassed. (I've played many, many games) You have not really played a 4x game without tried MOO2. The diplomacy system alone could teach all other (4x) games which came later some lessons. Neither Civilisation series or Galactic Civ could achieve the same depth. Master of Orion 2 although in todays standards a rather simple game it has so much atmosphere, so much details, everything is incredible well tought and designed. I've played 2500h on MOO2.

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