Posted on: December 8, 2021

Magnitus

Games: Reviews: 95

I love it

Major fan of the original pre-2000 Master of Orion 1 & 2 from Microprose here (won both games at impossible difficulty regularly). I won't pretend to give a balanced new-comer review of this game because I can't, this game is obviously heavily influenced by those aging titles and I love them to death. Things are slightly easier to manage, the flow of the game is a little faster, ship design has been simplified slightly and democracy and interracial colony management is a little richer. The races are different and I'd say slightly more distinct (they all have special ships and specialized tech bonuses, more varied planet preferences and of course the classical bonuses to food, production & science and a couple of special game mechanics bending traits). But overall, the spirit is the same. With few adjustments, tactics that worked in MOOs (Master of Orion 1&2) will work here (a new tech tree and new races to familiarize yourself with might be the biggest adjustment). You won't have to rewire your brain too much. And yes, the computer will cheat just as badly at harder and impossible difficulty. Forget overtaking the top dog in the early game, it won't happen no matter how well you play. You'll have to hold on for dear life until you can exploit caveats in the AI in the late game once you are on more even ground. I'll mention also that there is no racial customization so you'll lose that edge at the impossible difficulty (no more creative subterranean unification master race to even the odds a little against the massive early game advantage the computer has). Overall, if you expect this game to be an obvious improvement on the original MOOs (is that even possible?), you might be disappointed. But if like me, you loved those games, but also played them to death, you might welcome that refreshing slightly different spin on those old familiar friends.

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Posted on: December 7, 2020

mrak999

Verified owner

Games: 567 Reviews: 48

More MOO game than MOO from Wargaming

At this state the game is not perfect but it is rock solid and worth every penny. Comparing Stars in Shadow and later Master of Orion from Wargaming: - MOO evokes nostalgia about good game from 1996 - Graphics in MOO is better and that's all about successor of the legendary MOO1&2 - Good turnbased tactical combat in SiS vs poorly made realtime with horrible controls in MOO - AI is slightly better in SiS (either tactical or strategical) - Balance is better in SiS - Late game in MOO consists of babysitting all planets because pollution management was developed by some brainless slug, in SiS late game is quite comfortable - Overall game design and gameplay is better in SiS - SiS has normal ship constructor, MOO has almost none - SiS has more thoughtful research tree - SiS has no star lanes like original MOO! - MOO was dumped like a trash, SiS devs continue to release patches SiS wins in all positions except graphics. I think when the developers of Stars in Shadow finish they work the game will be close to ideal.

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Posted on: April 8, 2021

Iskander1454

Verified owner

Games: 327 Reviews: 1

Wonderful little time devourer

I must admit, I am biased towards this game's graphics. I find them quite charming. Having never played MoO2 intensively, I was never turned off by the game essentially being a revamp of its mechanics. It's nice. Infuriating at times with the highly aggressive AI, but nice. You like micromanagement, there's plenty of that for you to find. You don't like micromanagement? Take your time. The game's intuitive enough to have an easy learning curve, with enough specialized mechanics that you feel like you're constantly gaining in skill. It's just a nice feeling the whole time through. Primary gripe? Loading times. Be warned. They are ridiculously long, and there does not seem to be a valid reason for them. Overall, I would recommend to any turn based strategy fan, unless they were raised on MOO2. Can't give a relevant opinion on that.

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Posted on: April 1, 2025

Ghoosty

Verified owner

Games: 21 Reviews: 2

Some weakness but enjoyable

It is a good 4x game. Pro: -tactical space battles -good tech tree -worth use many fleet, not just one superstrong -own setup ships Cons: -the UI is not intuitive, I played many battles, but still missclick -in larger maps the micromanagement is too much -not enough details in ship components

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Posted on: April 10, 2025

tamanous

Verified owner

Games: Reviews: 8

enjoyable, short, minor upsets

no linux support. last game update/fix/patch: 2022 Stars in Shadow is good enough to enjoy some playthroughs and short enough to finish one of these in free one day. The machanics are pretty straight forward if you know 4x mechanics. Sadly, the game manual does not offer any help while learning, and there's a huge deficit on available guides in the web. So you will have to figure out a quit large potion of the not too complex machanics on your own. The interface does not offer enough help. Important tooltips are simply missing and you are constantly faced to wild-guess a mechanic, but ignoring mechanics and boldly researching the next tech works good enough. The worst parts for me were caused by the bad UI design. It is so huge in design, that I can read it 2m away from the monitor, but at the cost of information depth and visibility. Sometimes, one information overlaps the other, and micromanaging your planets and their population is tedious and frustrating, when the UI makes it even more worse that then lack of proper hints like "max pop reached" or "highlight selected planet in a list of 15".

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