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MoOving In: A Detailed Preview of Master of Orion III
PART 5: NOT ALL QUIET ON THE GALACTIC FRONT (Page 4)
By Daniel Quick | Apolyton CS Co-Owner/Administrator

This ability is admittedly not groundbreaking. It has already been executed in other gaming environments such as in CivIII. However, do not take it for granted. It is invaluable in maintaining clarity and your sanity in trying to absorb the condition of the varying numbers and types of relationships your empire holds. As the game progresses, you will certainly want a way to block out the noise to be able to make any meaning of the data that would otherwise be too cumbersome to work with.

Just as important to acknowledge is the fact that the empire in the center of the screen – i.e. you – need not be a constant. You can select other known civilizations to examine from this vantage point from the 'Select Empire' pull-down menu conveniently located above the 'Show Empires That' heading. The portrait of the ambassador of your new race selection will then appear where yours once did along with lines indicating their relationships with other races.

To summarize this segment, from what I have seen and by extension what I have described you need not worry about your computer opponents being more or less clones of one another. There are still odds and ends to be worked out but, again, keep in mind that I am previewing an advanced beta of MoO3 and not a final copy. Both race actions and attitudes are consistent with their official profiles with the occasionally deviation thrown in, adding to the realistic mix of unpredictability at times… such as when I lost a scout ship at Taben. After being forced into a battle with opponents I didn't even know where there let alone prepared to engage. But I'm not bitter. At all. Honest.

APPENDIX I: TECHNOLOGY SCREEN
Tech, tech, tech. Innovations in this field have not only made it possible for your race to be exploring the stars in Master of Orion III, but have also enabled you to be able to play a civilization that is able to explore the stars in the first place. It can be complicated to follow and get used to new and modified technologies at the start, so it is understandable that the “Technology Screen” in MoO3 may come across as somewhat daunting as well at first glance. With this in mind, the following addendum runs through what you can expect as described in the game's manual.

In short, the 'Technology Matrix' is a summary report from your scientists in various disciplines as to their current level of progress. Not only can you match one of your schools' progress with another, you can look at similar charts for other empires as well. The schools are (in alphabetical order): 'Biology Sciences', 'Economics', 'Energy', 'Mathematics', 'Physical Sciences' and 'Social Sciences'. 'Technology Research' meanwhile, which is addressed first below, gives you the nitty gritty behind your scientists' studies. The reason for the presence of this level of detail is not only to inform but also to persuade in a sense. It is here that you set funding levels for each of your research traditions. It could go without saying that your scientific community watches for any alteration in these levels quite closely.