MoOving In: A Detailed Preview of Master of Orion III
PART 5: NOT ALL QUIET ON THE GALACTIC FRONT (Page 1)
By Daniel Quick | Apolyton CS Co-Owner/Administrator

Before I begin this, the second-to-last installment in my Master of Orion III preview series, I would like to draw your attention to yet another exclusive for you to feast upon. Fourteen pieces of concept art that are included alongside the in-game 'Credits' screen in MoO3 are available for viewing in the screenshot gallery. This is the first time that most if not all of them have been publicly disseminated individually let alone as a collection. From cybernetic armour to Saurian ship design, there is plenty of eye candy to browse through.

And now, on with our regularly scheduled discussion…

IT RUNS, BUT IT CANNOT HIDE
In Part 3 and again in Part 4 I promised to discuss my one far-from-glorious military engagement in MoO3. One of my scout ships was minding its own business – well, to be more specific charting, unknown systems – when it came across the Taben system. This would be its final, ill-fated mission in its service for the Apolyton empire. I was not aware when I set this ship on its latest in a series of scouting runs that it was being guarded by a foreign force let alone a hostile one. This includes up to and including the turn before the battle in question. I was frustrated to no end, cursing up a storm at having been blindsided by such a front. I blamed Quicksilver and Infogrames for not ensuring I was unambiguously informed that this system contained an offensive fleet on high alert. In the end, though, I realized that this was one of their measures to increase the game's feel of realism. As in life, expect the unexpected. Moreover, I had no one to blame but myself for not constructing let alone having another and armed ship escorting this scout on such an expedition.

Perhaps the most aggravating part of the whole encounter was running into one of those non-playable races I spoke about in Part 4. They were identified only by a rather cryptic designation: QW-314-LOEH. As such, they most likely had no knowledge of the peaceful, honourable reputation that I had established for myself and meant no harm or disrespect of their (at least occupied) space. This was pretty much all I could have going for me in these circumstances. If they did have such knowledge they chose not to ignore it or perhaps use it as apart of their reasoning to attack. Conjecture aside, the only aspect in my favour was that my opponent had only one ship on patrol in Taben. It occurred to me that I could perhaps elude the enemy unit before they spotted me: scouts move relatively fast, after all. With this in mind, I chose not to simply 'Cede Control' to the captain of the vessel to make it safely out of harm's way. Instead, as selected under 'Participation Mode' of the “Combat Schedule”, I chose to cede control and 'Watch' it all unfold as well. I figured it would be a most enjoyable exercise, foiling this antagonist for their arrogance.