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MoOving In: A Detailed Preview of Master of Orion III
PART 2: FOR CUSTOMIZATION'S SAKE (Page 6)
By Daniel Quick | Apolyton CS Co-Owner/Administrator

Those who favour Despotism and Monarchy are regarded as Absolutionists. They require that one's primary loyalty be to the state where in a situation requiring a choice between group and individual rights, the former always prevails. These governments grant their Leaders a relatively free hand to guide their governments as they see fit. Leaders can merely be a symbol of the state. The other options are to view them as state servants or even the state personified. Note that the capitalization of "Leader" above is done intentionally, and not a typographic error: a "Leader" is a defined concept in MoO3 and will re-surface in our discussion at a later date. Moving along, a Collectivist government is of a different beast entirely. Including the Hive and Unification in MoO3, it is comparable to socialist regimes in "real-life" human history that incorporate communism and fascism. These governments demand that one's primary loyalty be to society as a whole. They are premised on there being a fundamental harmony between the government and the governed. When this condition is met, Collectivist governments are extremely effective. However, many populations are simply unable to achieve the kind of social consensus necessary to make these governments workable, especially as a race's culture becomes less and less homogenous.

Last but not least, we come to the banner that Democratic, Parliamentary and Republican governments are grouped under: Representative. The overarching purpose of these types is to promote the good of individual citizens. Accordingly, governments generally side with individual concerns when it clashes with the good of society as a whole. For this reason, ordinary members of society are much more likely to be enfranchised than they would under most other regimes. As you may or may not have already guessed, the Human race by default follow the principles of Representative government. On an aside, in my Moo3 game I was a Starting Member of The Orion Senate by random chance. I highly recommend that if you cannot afford the 'Race Picks' points to secure this fact that you seriously consider consider re-starting your games as many times as needed to become an inaugural member of the Senate yourself. It opens up tremendous trade and diplomatic opportunties at the start of the game that, depending upon your difficulty level, may be an uphill battle to otherwise obtain. I can hopefully convey, at least in part, the benefits of this membership in parts of this feature to come.

This second-to-last paragraph serves as a general introduction to MoO3's Special Attributes. Natural Engineers are as the name implies. Practically, this option leads to a +.5 value in manufacturing production on planets under control of races who have it. Fantastic Traders are those that can line their treasury with profit with relative ease, leading to a 15% boost in trade agreements in their favour. Although Tolerant by itself my sound somewhat bland as compared to other abilities, this negates pollution effects by a whopping 50%! Being Empathic, understanding what other races are thinking, this increases all areas of diplomacy for such races although there is no quantifiable value associated with this advantage. Humans cannot have an Antaran Background, the last of the Special Attributes present. As such, they cannot have their chances of discovering an Antaran technology increased by 20%. Speaking of what kinds of 'Rack Picks' particular races cannot have, the table below sets it out for all civilizations organized alphabetically by name.

In the previous edition of this preview have looked at the background story to Master of Orion III, similar in style to that of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and its subsequent expansion pack Alien Crossfire. This time around, we entered the melee of pre-game options in all its glory. In Part 3, we step it up a notch by analyzing the various in-game screens at the outset of gameplay. Stay tuned.