Master of Orion III Beginner's Guide - Part One March 31, 2003 After years in development, MacSoft's Master of Orion III (Moo3) for the Macintosh is finally here. Whether you're a novice or a hard-core gamer, we've put together a few hints and tips for those who need a little help getting started with this unique, complex, and in-depth game. Make sure you can finish what you start: Initial game settings Why would anyone need hints about setting up a game? Isn't that the stuff you randomly click through to get to the start button? It may be that way for twitching, instant-gratification games. I know that's how I get when it comes to playing any kind of shooter. But with most strategy games you need to carefully consider your initial options, pick the right advantages, and decide what kind of game you are going to play. Such is certainly the case with Master of Orion III. All of the choices you will make when setting up your game revolve around the overall strategy you will use as you play. To determine what that strategy should be, let's start at the end of the setup process with Victory Conditions. You can always win by becoming the sole power in the galaxy. That's the classically militant "crush all of your enemies beneath your heel" kind of game. You can also win by being elected leader of the galactic senate (the diplomatic approach) or by discovering the five X's (the exploratory approach). I recommend turning off the victory conditions in which you aren't interested. That way you can focus on your own strategy and not be bothered by the fact that "so and so has just discovered another X." Now that you have figured out what you are trying to achieve, it is time to go back and select the race you will lead to victory. Unlike Moo2, races in Moo3 have built-in attitudes toward each other. Depending on which race you pick, you will find you get along better with some races than with others. Read the race descriptions! I didn't when I first started playing. I picked the Harvesters because they looked cool, and then I wondered why no one wanted to make any treaties with me. You have the option to either play the race you have selected or customize their advantages and disadvantages to match your objective. I vote for customization, but if you prefer the challenge of playing a standard race, then more power to you! I find myself increasing the research prowess of most races I play. If you are out to conquer, research helps you get the best technology fast. If you are into diplomacy it gives you a lot with which to bargain. If you are trying to find the X's you will need the fastest warp drives and the best research facilities you can get. Any way you look at it, technology is key. Pick what makes the most sense for you and don't be shy about taking disadvantages in areas that aren't important. Note: the Reset button does not set all of your scores to Average. It puts your race back to its default settings. The last few things to decide are actually some of the most important -- what size and shape of galaxy, and what type of star lanes you will pick. A huge galaxy is Huge. No, it is really HUGE!! Unless you are the direct descendent of some great explorer, it will be a hundred turns before you've seen part of one. A game of Sole Survivor in a huge galaxy could potentially run into thousands of turns. If you have a day job, you could be playing the same Moo3 game this time next year! You get the idea, but what does shape have to do with anything? Spiral galaxies have arms that can be isolated and conquered. Cluster galaxies are largely a free-for-all. Star lanes determine how fast you can get from Point A to Point B. Their placement also causes converging points on the map that become strategically important. Lots of star lanes will tend to open up borders and make it easier to explore, attack, and be attacked. Fewer lanes simplify defense, but may complicate attack and exploration. Let's sum up what we have covered so far: Decide the type of game you are playing up front and plan accordingly Race relations matter, so be sure to read the race descriptions Pick advantages that match your victory condition More technology never hurts ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Get ahead and stay ahead: Colonization and early game strategy It is time to expand your fledgling empire. How do I know? Because no matter who you are or what kind of Moo3 game you are playing, it is always time to expand your empire! Now, where to begin? First, take a good look at your home system. If there are any planets that have decent mineral or fertility ratings, build a System Colony ship. A decent second colony in your home system is easier to defend and take care of than an ideal colony anywhere else in the galaxy. Building System Colonies early on in the game gives you production and population advantages, so do it if it makes sense. When you have determined that further colonizing your Home System isn't an option, it is time to build a Colony ship and start looking for a nice place to land it. Hopefully, you have used the Scout Ships you started the game with to visit several different systems. That will increase the number of planets you can choose from and give you a much better chance of finding someplace good. Once your Colony ship is built don't worry about putting it into a Detachment Fleet and sending it out by itself. Yes, it's weak and defenseless, but you aren't sending it into battle either. Exploring with a Colony ship can be dangerous though, so try to avoid systems your scouts haven't visited. Use the primary and secondary sorting on your Planets screen to pick the best world for your new colony. If you think you might be hurting for food soon, then finding a planet with an average fertility of at least "Arable" would be ideal. You can do that by sorting on "Fertility" first and "Terraform Zone" second. That should put the best places right near the top of the list. If food isn't a problem, you'll want to find the best possible mineral rating on the most habitable planet. Set your sorting to "Minerals" and "Terraform Zone". Try not to colonize any Red Terraform Zone planets and only take the exceptionally good Yellow planets. When choosing a colony site in the Planets screen, make sure that "View By" is set to your race; otherwise you may wind up colonizing a planet that is absolutely ideal. . . for someone else. You will typically find yourself building colonies in one of two places: safely within your own borders or on the frontier. Build on your frontier only after you have generally secured the region. If you are landing a colony on someone's front door (or even within a hostile system) the opposition should be 1) very inferior technologically or 2) heavily subdued militarily. Remember, the system you choose to colonize can help or hinder your empire's internal security. Look for systems that are at the "bottleneck" of star lanes. Try to control systems that are close to your opponents, effectively cutting them off from further expansion. That keeps more of the good planets within your borders for you to colonize later. It can even prevent your opponent from coming into contact with other races, forming alliances, and really making your life difficult. If there are no decent planets in a strategically critical system, build an Outpost. That way you will be able to see enemy ships as they try to cross your borders. It is also a good idea to keep a decent ship or two parked in a system while your colony is young and defenseless. Once a colony has built up some defenses you can decide just how far away the cavalry can wander. A big part of this decision will depend on the colony's food production and population. If your colony has a small population and there is any danger of an enemy blockade in the near future, you are better off leaving some space-based protection in the system. Yes, it ties up some of your forces, but it beats having your colony downgraded to an outpost because you couldn't lift a blockade in time. On the other hand, if your colony doesn't need to import any food and you can stand to lose some production while your fleets are coming to the rescue, then you can afford to leave a colony on its own. Here is a list of our colony-building strategies: Look for good planets in your home system to colonize first Make sure your scout ships are always on the move Keep your planets mostly Green with some Yellows and very few Reds Pick systems to colonize that will define your territory and cut off your opponents Control those star lane bottlenecks Keep some forces close by until your colony can stand a lengthy blockade That wraps up our look at colonies. On the next page we will marvel at the miracles of advanced technology. The layout of the galaxy strongly influences gameplay ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Get and keep power: Technology and keeping it safe Now it's time to look at the turn-by-turn business of procuring and safeguarding your technology. There are two primary rules for handling technology in Moo3: 1) get it and 2) keep everyone else from getting it. You get it through exploration, aggression, diplomacy (in several forms), and lots of research. You keep others from getting it by blocking their diplomatic channels, undermining their research programs, and of course squishing them before they've built up decent defenses. Exploration is the least reliable way to get technology. You may run across systems where you discover something once in a while, but don't count on it ever being the right technology at the right time. Aggression has similar problems. You may get technology by invading colonies, but it's hard work with unfortunately random results. The biggest problem with diplomacy is you usually have to exchange some technology to get what you want -- bad idea (see rule 2). Yes, there are spies, but they seem to be more efficient at crippling other players' research than stealing new technological wonders for you. Remember, any technology you can steal or bargain for is technology that your opponent has already exchanged with several other players. Stealing and exchanging technology will never get you ahead. It will only help you keep up. You need advanced technology that no one else has to dominate the game and that leaves us with do-it-yourself research. It's not quick or glamorous, but it is dependable. That is the reason I strongly recommended boosting your race's research capability in an earlier hint. Give your research program an extra boost by pouring in a little money every so often in the Finances screen and by focusing on the types of research that matter most to you in the Technology screen. If you are trying to win by diplomacy, increase the percentages of Biology and Social Sciences. If you are out to conquer, then crank up Energy, Math, and Physical Sciences. Keep playing with those percentages to get the technologies you want faster. Now that you are winning the research race, how do you keep your competitors from helping themselves to your hard-earned technology? They almost certainly have spies poking around your empire at any given moment. Remember the research spies who don't always steal the goods? Well, it turns out that they are excellent at protecting them. Create several technology spies and leave them at home. Increase the Oppressometer in your Empire screen, particularly if other types of spies are running rampant in your systems. You will find a few counterspies will go a long way toward keeping your technology out of the wrong hands. Having firmly established our technology rules, we can move onto discussing the reasons you will eventually choose to break them. You don't always get the technologies you want. It isn't fair, but that's the way it goes. That means through no fault of your own, you will be tempted to trade. When that happens try to give away the kind of technologies that really boost your enemy's farming or some other harmless pursuit. Never give anyone anything "good" to shoot at you. Trading outdated energy weapons that barely scratch your shields for some colony improvement technology is fine. Once or twice I have given some poor player fantastically fatal missile technology just before my archrival was about to attack him. I thought it might be nice to give his planetary missile batteries a bit more punch. What usually happens next is he makes peace with my enemy by. . . giving him MY missile technology. Now those missiles are waiting to greet me every time I attack one of his planets. Ouch! Talk about a self-inflicted injury! When you finally exchange a piece of precious technology, be sure to make a deal with anyone who will talk to you. That may sound counter-intuitive, but it actually makes a lot of sense. What is the point of giving a decent piece of technology to only one player? They will turn around and trade it to three other people and get three different technologies for it. So, if you are going to trade, see what kind of deal you can make with everybody. If someone is going to benefit from the great technology swap it might as well be you. Ok, so what is the best way to find out what technology your opponents have? There are two ways really. The first and most obvious is to go to the Technology screen and select another race from the "View By" menu. This will show you the technology matrix from their perspective. It is very useful for noting what technologies they are about to get. The second is to use the Foreign Office screen and initiate some diplomacy. Set your offer to Gift, Exchange, or Demand, and then click the triangle to get the Planets out of the way. What you will see is a short list of what you have that they don't (Gift), what they have that you don't (Demand), or both (Exchange). Just make sure you hit the Cancel button unless you intend to make an offer. So, our short list of technology hints looks like this: Get technology however you can, but don't neglect research Boost and focus your research in the Finance and Technology screens If you are ahead, protect your technology from spies by using counter spies Don't exchange it and when you do, exchange it with everyone Keep tabs on everyone else's progress How do you translate this technobabble into winning Moo3? Join us next tomorrow when we will delve into the art of Shipbuilding! SOURCE: http://www.insidemacgames.com/features/view.php?ID=225&Page=1 (Spelling & Grammar corrected by Leon Baradat)