#moo 2

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MOO 2 // THLMR (2020)

[globalcooldown]

Master of Orion 2 War Report 2: Things Get Dangerous

And so I continue my write-up of my adventures as Space Emperor Malik Blishtar, ruling the Trilarians from his palace on Egbertia Prime.

Things start out pretty smoothly. I hire a new leader (hey, they just come up to me and ask for jobs, ok?) I accumulate enough money to outright buy a military barracks for Beard III. I start building colony-establishing things and another freighter fleet. Hydroponics farms are buildings, so I build some of those too.

First Contact

My first hint that I may be fucking up more than I thought is when the GNN decides to air a report on how the Klackons (bug people) have four systems colonized. Four. Despite this, I have neither first contact with Klackons, nor any idea how there's a galaxy-wide news network if none of the alien races have contacted each other.

That's only true for a few turns, however. Out of nowhere, I am contacted by the Mrrshan. Oh, cool, aliens! Let's see what they have to say--

"The glorious Mrrshan Empire is here to dethrone you, Malik Blishtar. But don't worry, Emperor Harrava Ril will let you live on as a personal slave."

Charming. Anyway, I apparently got in contact with them because they colonized the other end of that wormhole, in the Tyr system. Specifically, they colonized a Desert planet with a max population of 1.

Speaking of colonies, that colony base is finished. Colony bases can only colonize other planets in the system of their construction, so I set up a small industrial base on Egbertia II. It's Rich in minerals, so even just three units of population can get a lot done.

Oh, and the Klackons and Mrrshan suddenly decide to go to war. That's cool, bros?

More turns pass. Sensei and the wookiee both randomly level up, and I finish research on a research lab. Let me repeat that: I researched a research lab.

First contact with the Klackons comes a few turns later. They apparently want my race extinct. Since everyone wants me to die horribly, I decide to design a ship.

The Pirahna IV (default name, no idea about the previous three Pirahnas) has two laser cannons, one in the front and one in the back. They both have 270 degree arcs, so the ship actually has the most firepower shooting from the side. I also remove the one nuclear bomb it's carrying, that's a stupid thing to have for such a tiny ship.

The new Stingray model (sadly, mine is the old model still) has two laser cannons in front, and one in back. These cannons also have 270 degree arcs. I like my sides covered.

Diplomacy In Space

I check my Races screen (not the Leaders screen, which is confusing), to get a sense of how fucked I am. Actually, the Mrrshan are "Relaxed" and the Klackons are "Amiable". So much for all those threats earlier.

In the spirit of striking a deal while I still appear credible, I request an audience with the Klackons and propose a trade treaty. It's turned down, and suddenly the music turns ominous. I hastily back out to the Races screen, and notice that the Klackons don't like me any less. Huh.

On the industrial end of things, Egbertia II is all set up. It is indeed building shit quick, as expected. How cool, I thought to myself. I am actually learning this game--

The Mrrshan want to talk. I take a deep breath, steel myself for the inevitable declaration of war, and blink a few times when they are, in fact, offering a Non-Aggression Pact. Probably so they can kill off the Klackons easily. Sure, kitty, let's talk peace. I accept the pact. Shouldn't take long for you to get at those pesky bugs! They just colonized Phantos IV, but it's a toxic planet and isn't even that great for industry!

A period of boredom settles in. Save for Egbertia II, colonies are all working on large projects that take a while to complete. Captain Sparky levels for no reason, and Director Khunagg the Ruthless is hired. Khunagg the Ruthless is also giving bonuses to farming. His farming techniques must be something to be feared.

Meanwhile, the Silicoids apparently discover new tech, according to the GTN. Fuck the Silicoids. And fuck the first contact, with their fucking stupid song-and-wardance about annihilating my race. They're Neutral, so I ignore them for now.

The Klackons Are Assholes

Scientific breakthrough! I discover the Fusion Drive, which will let my ships go that much farther and faster. Hurrah! Back to scouting!

My scout stops off in the Phantos system, which is technically Klackon territory, but I don't attack them. I'm just exploring! I mean well! The Klackons decide to try to shoot down my scout like total assholes. Luckily, because I've invented shields and they haven't, I am able to retreat successfully to Egbertia.

Fine, dickbags. I'll send MY Stingray to harass YOUR scout. We'll call it my combat tutorial. I save my game and prepare to send the Stingray over....

And then I remember that the manual mentioned refitting ships. My one current Stingray hasn't exactly been updated since I discovered the ship building system. Sure, let's refit that ship.

First, I have to send Captain Sparky back to the leader pool. Okay, I can just reassign him later, I guess. The refit is put on the bottom of the build queue. What, no, I don't want it on the queue! If that's how refits work, then just forget it for now! Wait, what do you mean, the ship will be scrapped if I take it out of the queue?!

Luckily, I have that save.

I reload that save I just made. Screw refits, we're just going to trash that scouting vessel. The Stingray is sent to Orbis, and one turn later, the clueless Klackon scout arrives--

Oh, the Mrrshan want to trade technology. They're interested in my Advanced Damage Control, and are letting me pick a tech I don't have in exchange for it. Including Automated Factories, a tech I wanted, but skipped in favor of better ship armor. I decided to take the factories in exchange for the damage control.

Now, as a brief aside, research in Master of Orion 2 is a bit weird. Unless you have a race specifically designed for it, you can only research one or two things on each branch of the research tree. You get tech you bypassed through reverse-engineering enemy ships, having spies steal it, or trading tech like I just did.

Anyway, the Klackon scout arrive in Orbis. I attack, and am delighted to learn that attackers move first. A quick scan of the scout shows that it still has starting...well, starting-grade everything. And no shields. Turn one, I shoot at it and close some distance. It shoots back with its one pitiful gun and my shields soak it up. Turn 2, I'm up in the thing's face and blasting away at it. It manages to retreat.

Understandably, the Klackons are pissed enough to declare war. Really? I thought that was what you did to me when you shot at MY scout. I sic my one spy on them, to sabotage them.

A Very Short War

The Klackons respond by sending their two Destroyers to my closest system. Which is Egbertia, my most heavily defended system, due to it being MY SPECIES' HOME SYSTEM. My Stingray makes it back before the invasion force arrives, and I sit around and guffaw slightly.

I have no idea how combat in this game really works, and I'm in for an unpleasant surprise when they attack tiny, sparsely-defended Egbertia II.

The Klackons apparently passed up on shields in favor of researching missiles. The missiles tear through my Stingray's shields, and blow it out of the sky. Captain Sparky is slain with the rest of the crew.

...Shit.

Well, Piranhas are small, cheap, and quick to train. I start churning out Piranhas like my life depended on it, because right now, it kind of does. I was so close to finishing that colony ship, too. The shit icing on the ass cake is that my spy is killed.

Desperate, I call up the Mrrshan and offer an alliance. Hey, we're friendly, we're both at war with the Klackon, what's there to lose? They're not interested in an alliance, though.

A few turns pass. Beard III is scrambling its own defenses, as a blockade sets in over Egbertia and brings starvation with it. The Piranhas are blown up as soon as they are trained. And finally, Egbertia II is captured by the Klackons.

Luckily, I have that save.

The End?

I'm not sure I want to load it right away, though. Maybe I need to look up how to play. Maybe I need to pick a race that's more suited to my usual style of "sit back, build up quickly". Both couldn't hurt.

Then, once I know what I'm doing, perhaps I will be able to save Egbertia.

[globalcooldown]

Master of Orion 2 War Report 1: Cthulhumanoids

So like I mentioned, I'm going to do a series of "after action" reports on Master of Orion 2. Here you'll get a synopsis of my various triumphs and blunders IN SPACE, as well as reactions. Maybe it's enough to decide whether you want to try the game, who knows?

(In other words, this is like a text-based Let's Play. Woo.)

I boot up the game for the first time, and proceed to be totally unimpressed by the intro sequence. It's pretty basic: a ship docks at a space station, then is immediately scrambled because the "Antarans" are attacking. The ship is one-shotted, then we see some fighters zap at the space station in a very unimpressive manner for a bit. I know the 3-D technology wasn't great at the time this game was made, but the graphics in the intro look about on par with the cinematics in Diablo II and the intro of Baldur's Gate II, both of which are actually pretty cinematic and awesome.

Then again, MoO2 is a turn-based strategy game. Can't have everything, right?

Game Setup 101

Anyway, I quickly set about getting into my first game. It's pretty basic fare:

Tutor difficulty. This is like super-easy mode. I always play a game at the easiest setting first, in order to actually learn it.

Average galaxy age. This means there's no overabundance of blue and white stars, nor orange and red stars. Many stars are comfortably in the main sequence.

Average tech level. The options to select from are Pre-Warp, Average, and Advanced. The selection defaulted to Average, so I just kind of...stuck with it for now.

4 players. I'm not sure if this counts me or not, so I'll be dealing with either three or four other civilizations.

Tactical combat turned on. So when fights break out, I can control my units.

Random events turned on. Self-explanatory.

Antarans turned off. Antarans are these super-advanced aliens with a homeworld in a nigh unreachable pocket dimension. These beings subsist on a diet of pillage, rape, and destruction. So for learning the game, I think I'm fully justified with turning these douchebags off.

And then we get to the races. Oh man, are there a lot of races:

Alkari - Pterodactyl people. They can allegedly fly, so that makes them way awesome at defensive piloting.

Meklars - Cybernetic-dependent aliens that look kind of..."bubbly". Their gimmick is repairing ships mid-combat without having to research things first.

Bulrathi - The manual says they're like bears, but the guy on the screen looks like a bulldog. Either way, they're great at ground combat.

Mrrshan - Warrior cat people. In the late 90s and early 2000s, anthromorphic cat people were pretty popular in games, I gather.

Darlocks - CLOAKS. THAT'S IT. THEY'RE JUST FLOATING CLOAKS that can also shapeshift at will oh okay they're the spy faction.

Psilons - Closest thing to your "Roswell" style aliens, though they're actually more elegant than that.

Elerians - Space amazon elves with a space feudal system and a penchant for mindraping entire undefended colonies.

Sakkra - Lizardfolk that breed like WOAH.

Gnolams - The moneymaking faction. Also they look like gremlins.

Silicoids - Silicon-based lithovores that are tolerant of hostile environments. They suck at diplomacy because they're p much giant rocks with sphincter mouths.

Humans - Are apparently the diplomacy faction. And the only faction that has Democracy as a government style.

Trilarians - Paradoxically the most straightforward and most "gimmicky". No flat stat adjustments, but they're cthulhu-people, being both aquatic and trans-dimensional.

Klackons - Hive mind insect people or some shit idk their big thing seems to be hive mind unification government.

Custom - OH SHIT SON WE CAN MAKE A CUSTOM RACE

I decided to go with the Trilarians for this first game.

The game then asks me to name my ruler. This is obviously a very important decision, being what people will call me and such. I need a name. A name for someone...incompetent. Incompetent, but likeable, who may just maybe blunder his, her, or its way into total galactic conquest.

Malik Blishtar. Excellent.

I'm also asked to name my homeworld. After much deliberation, I decide "fuck it" and fall back on Egbertia.

Looking Around

Finally, we're in the game proper, able to look at my empire of one planet. The Egbertia system consists of two planets orbiting a modest yellow sun. Egbertia Prime, the Trilarian homeworld, is a medium-sized ocean planet. It comes with the bare minimum: a few houses, a capitol building, a star base satellite, and a military barracks. Egbertia II is a small, barren rock, with great mineral wealth.

It's at this point that I discover right-clicking on lots of things tells you more information about them. That's fucking awesome.

I poke my head into Egbertia Prime's production screen to discover that I don't have any buildings available to build (I apparently start with all two of them?) and that all my space ships are named after fish. I queue up a Stingray (large ship) for defense early on, then two Spies, then two Freighter Fleets (which are just kind of things that operate in the background and transport food and goods and such).

Finally, research. I decide to research Mk 1 shields first. So I actually have shields.

Now it's time to explore. I start with two tiny scouting vessels and one colony ship. I send each scout to a different planet and leave the colony ship in the safety of my home system for now.

The first system I discover is Orbis. It's a red giant with three asteroid belts and one gas giant. The second system, Trifid, has a nice barren planet with Ultra Rich minerals--in other words, an industrial powerhouse waiting to happen. Also in the system is a stable wormhole to a blue star a fair distance away.

On the other side of the wormhole is a very unimpressive system and my first alien contact--Mrrshan. We don't hail each other. I'm not even sure if the Mrrshan know I exist. But I saw their scouting vessel.

Meanwhile, my other scout discovers the Rishka system. In particular, Rishka III, a Large swamp planet with Rich minerals. It's a high-gravity planet, but it's otherwise very nice and habitable.

Especially for Trilarians. Let me explain the "Aquatic" perk a bit here (because I actually read the manual, shock of shocks). Normally, the best habitable worlds are Terran, which are, as the name suggests, very earthlike. There's a class of planet above that, Gaia, which is pretty much a paradise. Swamp worlds are somewhere below Terran, maybe one or two steps down--except if you're Aquatic. Aquatic races can make use of Swamp planets (and Tundra for some reason) as if they were Terran. And Ocean planets, normally very tricky for races to colonize and build up, are half a step below Gaia-class planets for Aquatic races.

So Rishka III looks VERY good. I send my colony ship over and claim it ASAP. Upon colonizing Rishka III, I discover that I can now rename the system. I decide to go whole-hog into the silly department and rename the system "Beard".

Meanwhile meanwhile, going back to the first scout, they apparently discover Orion. Which is a system, not a constellation. I don't even know okay. Orion is guarded by a nasty ship called, well, The Guardian. The Guardian one-shots my scout. I take a look at the system to see just what this Guardian is guarding, and it's a Huge Gaia-class Ultra-Rich planet. In other words, the best planet that can possibly be created in the GAME. I'm probably not going to be able to claim it for a while.

Oh, and the Galactic News Network pops up for the first time. The report is pretty much "you found Orion". No shit, Space Sherlock.

Welcome to Beard III

Back to colony management. I have exactly one person on Beard III. Er, one unit of population. I hope it's not just one person. Anyway, I assign that one unit to produce food to feed itself, and queue up some Housing. I'm not sure if anything will happen without anyone as an industrial worker, but it doesn't hurt, right? Long story short here, I need housing so I get more units of population. I need more units of population so I can build a marine barracks at some point in this lifetime. I need a marine barracks because unless you have some special, spiffy government system, your people are going to be unhappy without a marine barracks. Not to mention the marines are pretty much your ground defense.

Turns pass, my ships continue exploring (one rescues Director Nimraaz, a marooned wookiee knockoff who joins my empire as a colony manager). I reassign my lonely unit of population to industry, in hopes of housing.

More turns pass. I find another wormhole between two rather "eh" systems. I also see a Silicoid scout ship. Mrrshan and Silicoid, two out of four. I also happen upon the Delta system, which has two very nice worlds. Delta Prime is Tiny, but Terran, which means it's going to be great for farming, for any race. Delta III is a medium-sized Swamp world, which is a great planet for me in particular.

Then there's the Jataka system. One Large, Rich, Barren, Heavy-G world, and two Terran-class worlds. Very desirable. And then the Echidna system...yes really, the Echidna system, which has a valuable (to me) Ocean planet.

Meanwhile, Beard III is still struggling to build housing. Egbertia Prime finishes its big ol' Stingray, takes the Spies out of its queue (the race relations window thinks I haven't met anyone yet, even though I just saw a Klackon scout over yonder) and churns out some freighters, so I can speed up the housing process on Beard III by taking Egbertian colonists and just putting them over there. It strikes me that I'm using the phrase Egbertian in total seriousness for the first time.

I then hire this one colony manager named...Administrator Yota the Elder Sensei. After much deliberation over his gnomelike appearance and why he's a sensei, I decide to hire him and send him to Beard III.

And then, miraculously, Beard III has two colonists. It happens around the same time as my shield research is completed. Woo shields! Woo colonists!

It's rather uneventful until a few turns later, when I finish researching hydroponic farms (yay more food). Then I'm given the chance to hire "Commander Sparky, the Meklar Cybernaut". After silently shaking my head, I hire the guy. Unlike my previous two hirees, Sparky is a ship officer, and so he goes on a ship. Specifically, my Stingray.

I decide to call it a day at that point. So, thus ends installment 1.