MOO2 versus MOO3

[MKSheppard]

SPOILERS BELOW
































MOO2 Race Pick Screen. Simple, just had to move the cursor over
the button to pick a race to see their pic and specials...


MOO3 Race Pick Screen. Despite being at a higher resolution (800x600 vs 640 x 480), the MOO3 pick screen is a nightmarish mess of hidden tabs,
and clicking.

**************


MOO2 Custom Race Pick Screen. Simple, Showed effects of picking
specials, and was contained within 1 screen.


MOO3 custom race screen. Scroll bar/click hell. Also, there are only
4-5 "specials" left. They eliminated massive amounts of specials from
MOO2.

********


MOO2 Starmap, despite being a lower resolution than MOO3, the MOO2
starmap showed the ENTIRE galaxy in one screen, and pretty good, too.


By contrast, the MOO3 Starmap requires lots and lots of scrolling across
the map to see the galaxy. Ugh.

*****



The MOO2 Planet Screen was really cool. It showed a lot of information
and gave you a visceral feel that this was YOUR planet, and you could
see small colonies grow into bustling metropolises...



The MOO3 Planet screen by contrast looks like a orbital scan from a fucking
starship, rather than a planet itself.......

In short, MOO3 is a catastrophic trainwreck of a piss poor UI that
took them THREE years to make...

Oh yeah, remember MOO2's ingenious built-in help system, that allowed
you to see exactly what that special did simply by right clicking on it?

IT'S GONE. And the Manual is a piece of shit that doesn't tell
you what the specials do..

[Crazy_Vasey]

Heh, every review I've read has blasted the shitty user interface. That's why I'm getting Championship Manager 4 instead.

[jegs2]

Wow, nice review with visuals for visually-oriented people like myself! Looks like I can hold off on getting MOO3 for now.

[Sea Skimmer]

I'm very glad I decided to wait and see about this game. I'm not buying, an awful interface without good help files isn't worth learning.

[Spyder]

That planetside view looks quite impressive. It actually makes Moo2 seem a bit more high spech then Moo3.

[Typhonis 1]

are there any copies of MOO2 out there?

[weemadando]

are there any copies of MOO2 out there?

I got mine for free on a PCPP coverDVD recently.

[Shinova]

I've heard some people say it still was good, just a steep learning curve (that interface may have played a big role in that).

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

are there any copies of MOO2 out there?

I found several copies in the bargain bin at my local CompUSA.

[Shinova]

Anyways, what's the final verdict:

MOO2 or MOO3?


I've played neither, so which is better?

[Sokar]

Both have advantages and disadvanatges. I love them both equally at this point. MoO2 is far more stright forward and is a micro-managers dream game. MoO3 is more epemeral, you only manage the colonies that you choose to focus on and leave the rest to your trusted underlings(who often do quite well I might add) MoO3 is a much deeper game tan two, which after a few sessions tended to become repetitive, especially after you learned to customize a race. In MoO2 custom races were far superior to the pregenerated ones while in MoO3 your custom race is on an equal footing with the other pregenerated races. I prefer MoO3's combat model better than the ponderous turn based system from 2. 2's ship construction was easier, but lacked realisim, as did the space combat. 3 is VERY realisitc, you actually have to plan out your fleet compostion so that your Flotillas are balanced (No more fleets of Titans with plasma cannons pounding everything into atoms) or else you'll get ripped apart by missile platforms and fighters. I reccomend them both to any one who likes space strategy games.

Shep, keep playing a bit more , the interface gets easier, just has a massivily steep learning curve.

[Slartibartfast]

I like the original Master of Orion better. There was too much detail (not in the graphics but the colony management) in MOO2. I liked the bars where you chose if you wanted more resources used in the environment or in creating factories or building ships or science... in MOO2 you actually had to put people doing science, building things, etc.

Less micromanagement. MOO2 is too much like Civilization or Master of Magic (which isn't a bad thing FOR Master of Magic)

[Tragic]

I LOVE Moo3. There are bugs but they can be fixed.

And all i want is for them to do is make the AI more aggresive and add a refit button. and other things.

[Captain tycho]

Even though MoO3 has it's clunky interface and steep learning curve, I still love it.

[Raxmei]

The game is a lot slower than the original. I've been at a near-constant state of war with the Psilons for the past hundred turns or so, and I have yet to receive their first strike force. It takes forever even to pass between nearby systems. Fleet and task force creation is more complicated than I like. In the original it was possible to build a ship and then send it off right away. Now you have to form it into a task force first.

On the plus side, they added quite abit more variety. It's nice to see that you can add orbitals, beam bases and fighters to your system defenses in addition to the old missile bases. It also looks like they've added a more realistic space combat model. Having only fought battles against elder races, I haven't had much chance to test it out.

So far, I prefer the original. It was faster, easier, and more fun.

Edit: It was also more comprehensible. For instance, if a planet had a special feature, they told you was it fucking meant. I looked all over the manual and couldn't find an explanation for those planetary specials. So this planet has autochthonic residents? WTF does that mean?

[Tragic]

Your at war with someone. I'm at turn at like 150 and i destroyed a few races colonies and they have yet to declare war on me. and it on normal.and I've had it a few days now and still haven't figired out how to land troops on planets. and since i can't do that. i just destroy them from orbit.

[Raxmei]

Your at war with someone. I'm at turn at like 150 and i destroyed a few races colonies and they have yet to declare war on me. and it on normal.and I've had it a few days now and still haven't figired out how to land troops on planets. and since i can't do that. i just destroy them from orbit.

Landing troops is easy. First build groud troops on one of your planets. To do that:
Go to your planet's economics panel. Change the military production to your choice of ground unit. Your planetary viceroy has probably done this for you already, leading to a ludicrous buildup of ground forces that you never wanted in the first place.

Next, build troop transports. You might need to design one first if the one you started with is obsolete. If you already have a working design, the process of building them is the same as building ground forces.

Next, go to the 'Forces' tab at the bottom of the system screen. It will replace your economics panel with a forces panel. Click the "Build ground transport" button. Select a unit size and type. Add ground forces to the unit. Hit 'done'. You will then be asked to build a task force to transport them. This is where those troop transports come in handy. If you didnt have any, you just wasted several minutes of work. Add enough transports to accomodate all of your troops. If you have a large unit, you will be required to add escorts and pickets as well. No escorts and pickets? You've wasted several more minutes. Start over after you've built the required ships.


I had to do this to retake a rebellious colony. They didn't fight back and I still don't think it was worth the effort.

In contrast, in MoO1, all you had to do was click the button to send transports, slide the slider to the number of troops, and pick a destination.

[phongn]

Once upon a time there was a game called Outpost. A turn-based strategic where you colonised a far-off planet to save humanity. Many features were promised, including a comprehensive space program and transportation network.

The game was released: but lo! The manual was best described as a pamphlet, the transportation network and space program abstracted. Pre-release magazine articles showed screenshots of cavernous underground satellite launchers, monorail networks connecting cities. None of it was here.

Sierra On-Line realised their mistake: and remember, this was in the days before the Internet was widespread. They soon published a far superior manual (though no match for the giant strategy guide that I memorized at Electronics Boutique: their staff didn't care) and at least attempted to put the transportation features back in. And most importantly: they shipped every user the patches for free. No charge, no questions asked, they sent out a new manual, patch disk set.

In the end Outpost became at least playable; the game fixed.

Quicksilver may have to do something similarly as drastic (like, I dunno, implementing a complete context-help system) to fix things.

[Tragic]

Thanks Raxmei I'll try that when I start playing again.

[Vympel]

Moo3 still hasn't come out in Australia. I'm going to get it. I've heard what I like to hear- and I'm also sick to death of Moo2- it's boring and quaint. It used to be fun, but really, I'm tired of it. Especially the sad ass combat system.

I'm going to buy Moo3, and I'm going to like it.

Oh, and Freelancer comes out tommorow in the US and next week here. I will also buy that.

[EmperorMing]

I bought the game, have had some problems, and was able to browse some forums for tips.

It is a macro-management game, not a micromanagement one.

I have seen that the game is highly modable, and that is what some of the players are working on.

[Ren]

Looking through the readme I found a list of the specials, but they really should have included it in the manual, and in the games help system.

I do like the way you deploy task forces, in MOO2 I got frusterated waiting for the ships I built to get the rest of my ships fighting on the other side of the map, with the task force system it's easier to get the ships where you need them.

The interface is clunky and it buries information to deep, if they fixed that it would be a great game.

[Captain tycho]

Looking through the readme I found a list of the specials, but they really should have included it in the manual, and in the games help system.

I do like the way you deploy task forces, in MOO2 I got frusterated waiting for the ships I built to get the rest of my ships fighting on the other side of the map, with the task force system it's easier to get the ships where you need them.

The interface is clunky and it buries information to deep, if they fixed that it would be a great game.

Maybe we can look for a patch...

[EmperorMing]

Heh. I only recently found out how to stop the AI from making all those transports on my colonies.

Make them obsolete or redesign them.

[Captain tycho]

Heh. I only recently found out how to stop the AI from making all those transports on my colonies.

Make them obsolete or redesign them.

Just turn off the AI..that's what I do.