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Hydro
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Winfield, IL, USA
Jun 1999
time: 05:36
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I recently got board with Birth of the Federation and Shogun and fired up a Moo3 game. It was a typical configuration for me: modified gas bags, with good mining and manufacturing, reduced terraforming and diplomacy, and average everything else. As usual, I chose a despotic government (to reduce spies due to high oppressometer tolerance). Research was 70% physical, 30% bio (to bump mining and manufacturing, then food) until about level 12 or so physical.
I found I was having fun. I was playing with the mod that makes the diplomatic messages intelligible, so diplomacy is worthwhile. The Senate was lively, with the Evil Meklar being kicked out early and the other Meklar suitably humbled and quiescent. Being in near the hub of a 3-armed huge galaxy available space quickly filled up, but that was OK since I had a NA treaty with almost everyone (lizards, sneaks (Evon), gas bags, and fishies). Slowly I gained contact with a few races not in the Senate.
Eventually I met the hated Ithkul, of course. They are busy beating the snot out of the AI (who are in between him and me). My objective now is to get a planet near them so they can have diplomatic relations, then have them declare war on me. That way my fleets of judgement will start pushing them back, and I can get lots of brownie points from the AI for fighting their enemy.
I have a decent lead in Planets, so my population will jump nicely since I like big planets. There’s not much room for expansion, though. Three pathways to the rest of the galaxy are blocked by Guardians.
My comments after a respite:
* Development plans seem useless. It’s better to build out a planet’s DEAs, then let the AI do its thing
* The revised diplomacy text mod makes the game MUCH more interesting. I’m shocked that Moo3 was released with the unintelligible gibberish the AI’s spouted.
* The game is still very slow, with real fleets not showing up for a very long time. This can get tedious between the time of staking out territory (which is a race, as in all empire games) and when real fleets are running around
* Building ships is fun, and I do like the fleet combat model. Most people don’t, I know
* The tech tree is filled with too much junk and needs to be pruned. I think the tech tree needs to look more like the Social and Economics area, with blank areas and fewer techs that actually mean something. Everything else is so much clutter.
* I LOVE the Ithkul as Bad Guys. They add so much flavor to the game for me. They are like the Believers or Hive in SMAC.
Moo3 will remain on my hard drive, but will probably only be fired up occasionally. Its mechanics are still overly ornate/complicated, making competitors (like BotF and SMAC) more interesting for games that won’t take days. Too bad there aren't more turn based games out there (I intensely dislike RT games).
Just a few thoughts.
Hydro
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Hydro
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Winfield, IL, USA
Jun 1999
time: 05:36
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I have SE4 gold, and it is kind of fun. The customization is fun, but it is a cakewalk. I haven't played in a while, so maybe I'll fire it up after I get Moo3 out of my system.
Stars! is pretty ancient, isn't it? I have a friend how has it, and the manual looks like it is DOS based and has an almost DOS interface. I always thought that SE and MOO were the stepchilderen of Stars!
I don't like Gal Civ. The early game is a colony pod race, and the interface unpleasant. For me the tech tree is even more obscure than Moo. I don't like their primative ship construction and combat system. I prefer Moo3.
All the feedback I got from CivIII could be summarized as "Run Away Screaming!" Even Vel (of SMAC fame) game to dislike it because it is linear, and that was enough for me. I prefer a flawed by interesting game like SMAC or Moo2/3.
I'm not familiar with the other games you mentioned. Are they SF or fantasy?
Thanks for the input!
Hydro
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ChristopherC
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Bwaaaa! You are all talking of Space Empires IV Gold and I can't get it except online and I just won't hazard buying things online! Too many worms and viruses around to snap your credit card details. Bwaaaa!
As an all-round space strategy game, I think BOTF one of the very best. I am currently looking for this mythical map extension for the game, its one fault is too small a map, but so far no luck. Some people in the Armada forum say a MOD is out there somewhere and others say it is impossible!
Live long and prosper.
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ChristopherC
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Good to hear from you, Vince. How are you doing? Well, I trust.
There are MODs out there for BOTF which the MODders claim enhance the playing experience but, as I said, it is doubtful if anyone has been able to do anything about the woefully small scale of the map. I don't know why it was left so small in the first place. Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain, quite an old game when BOTF came out, had a much grander scale. I enjoyed playing the game, however, for a while. I thought the interface did have a ST feel about it. However, the diplomacy didn't seem any more advanced than in MOO3! All the races starting hating the Federation after a while and we were the goodies!
What I do like about MOO3, and I am much happier with it now that I have a MOD which improves the hoo-mans' performance, is the tremendous scale of the galaxies in which you can play. I can see my present game, barring catastrophes, stretching out into a thousand plus turns. I like longgg games. 
Live long and prosper.
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24-06-2004 22:03
). If you are familiar with Star Fleet Battles and Federation & Empire then you know the scope I'm looking for.
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