Master of Orion

Will not be purchasing due to multiplayer DRM, I'm here for DRM free games not services and other gotchas.

3.5/5 If you never played any Master of Orion, the game is just... fine. The strategy is... not overly shallow, but not particularly deep either. Tactical combat: Pretty, but not overly complex. The economics of the game: average fair. The customizability: good, but not as good as MOO2... The game just has average written all over it. But let me be a bit more specific: Economy is now like civilization instead of MOO, population growth based upon food production instead of population and Lithovore can't assign more workers to growth which creates a major balance problem. Espionage could be really interesting. You have individual agents that can go on specific missions which could theoretically have major consequences, such as a planetary rebellion or famine. In theory it looks great. But in practice, you can't build additional spies (you have to wait for them to spawn) so you can never get an edge over opponents. Moreover, only one spy works per planet, so you can't speed up missions, and getting to the important missions takes forever. You also have to have first explored a planet you want your spy to go to and then deploy the spy, which also takes a really long time to do. Essentially, espionage becomes an almost uselessto defeat an opponent because by the time you can really use it, the game is nearly over. Random events occur, but are plain. You found a derelict ship in space and found 50 credits or a free scout... Stock races are not well balanced at the moment, and if you played they old ones and care about cannon veterans of the series will find difficulty with changes (specifically thinking of the Mrrshan). Ship design is much more basic, and since combat is real time, it has a much reduced effect. Bottom line: This isn't a terrible game. But it isn't great either. It is simple and in some ways an elegant user friendly verion of MOO/MOO2. But for me, in its current state, there is just no reason to keep coming back. V erdict: 3.5/5

What's changed - Spies and Diplomacy work pretty similar to Civilization V - Research now has a tech tree, just as in Civilization V. - The "Next turn" button includes a (forceful) reminder to pick production, research and fleet commands, just as in Civilization V. - There's no maximum travel distance anymore (which depended on fuel cell technology in Master of Orion II). - A research victory has been introduced, again, very similar to the one present in the Civilization series. - Travel now only works across certain lanes, similar to the hyperspace lines in Stellaris. - Tactical combat is real time, but with a pause button. - Population growth is created directly by surplus food (as, again, in Civilization). - Taxation now affects happiness, not production. - Surveying a system requires to travel to each planet separately (until a technology is developed in mid game). - Space pirates populate some systems in the early game. They attack your civilian ships and planets. Sounds familiar? Yes, they are barbarians from the Civiliation series. What's missing - Leaders, ship experience, Antareans, videos for game defeat and victory have not been included. Interface - The interface is okay, but nothing more. It is much less annoying than in Stellaris, for example. - Some features lack documentation in the game, especially ship design. Opinion Overall: Meh. Okay, but not great. The game is better described as a dumbed down version of Civilization V, not as an update to Master of Orion II. Updating a revered classic is difficult task, and one has to decide wether to stick what was before or create something new. Sadly, Master of Orion IV fails in both aspects. Integral parts from the original game are missing. And slapping some direct copies of Civilization 5 features onto the game instead is neither creative nor an adequate replacement. The obvious omissions make one wonder if they're planning to sell them separately as DLC - currently, it's a job done half.

I've been a fan of the Master of Orion series since MOO 2 and I have to say overall the game is fairly enjoyable. That being said, I've noticed that there has been a boatload of internet activity that only seems to happen when I'm playing Master of Orion. This is happening in single player mode and I also blocked it via my firewall. What good is a game that accesses the internet even for local play? I, personally, see no reason for the game to connect to the internet or GOG in single player mode.