Is MOO3 the right game?

[Paddy]

Ok, the question... Is Moo3 the right game?

The restrictions:

- Looking for a good trading development game

- Not looking for a shoot'em up or war based game

- Not impressed with Civ 3 as the AI always wants to war on
and the trade screens between nations is crap

----------------

so any advice?

[dojoboy]

You would probably prefer Victoria (Paradox Entertainment). It is heavily centered around economics; although, there is a military aspect as well.

[Paddy]

have you played Victoria?

can you get through the game without the military aspect? or with only a small component being military?

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by Paddy the Scot
have you played Victoria?

can you get through the game without the military aspect? or with only a small component being military?

Yes, you can get through the game without fighting. One of the important ways of finishing well is prestige, which is gained through researching cultural techs. Economically, you have a market of world goods to manage. Also, managing your budget is a really neat part of Victoria. And, depending on decisions you make, political parties begin to organize which leads to some pretty interesting events. I find myself rooting for one when election year rolls around.

You can resist the temptation to use your military; however, another country could declare war on you. Victoria is a empire management game where the player must focus on the economy and his workforce. A prolonged conflict will only upset the people.

It will take a little tiime to understand every aspect, but its a lot of fun, IMHO.

[Paddy]

Thank you for this

I will try and grab a copy this weekend

[Whoha]

Re: Is MOO3 the right game?

Originally posted by Paddy the Scot
Ok, the question... Is Moo3 the right game?

The restrictions:

- Looking for a good trading development game

- Not looking for a shoot'em up or war based game

- Not impressed with Civ 3 as the AI always wants to war on
and the trade screens between nations is crap

----------------

so any advice?

If you achieve any kind of dominance expect to be at war with everyone,even on the easiest difficulty, and even if you've rid the galaxy of the Ithkul menace.

[Paddy]

Re: Re: Is MOO3 the right game?

Originally posted by Whoha


If you achieve any kind of dominance expect to be at war with everyone,even on the easiest difficulty, and even if you've rid the galaxy of the Ithkul menace.

not quite sure what you mean here old chap?

[Whoha]

Well they added a chart that pretty much garuntees that wars will break out, now one of the major points of conflict will be the Ithkul,everyone hates them. Going to war with them and ethnically cleansing them wins you brownie points with everyone else diplomatically.

That said the ai will still readily declare war on you.

[dojoboy]

Re: Re: Re: Is MOO3 the right game?

Originally posted by Paddy the Scot


not quite sure what you mean here old chap?

He's talking about MOO3.

Btw, here is a link to the Paradox Forums for Victoria.

[Paddy]

cool

Whoha, thanks for this information

Dojoboy, thanks for your help and the link

[Monochromed]

Colonization

If you haven't played it, you may want to look into an old game called Colonization.

Not sure how well it would run on newer systems.

[muxec]

LOL they stilll try to sell Colonization. The greed of publishers is limitless. Anyway you can download it from abandonware sites, legality of abandonware is disputed....

[MrWhereItsAt]

Although I haven't had the amount of free time to properly try it yet, Europa Universalis II is fantastic. It's a Paradox game, and from what I can tell is the base upon which offshoots like Victoria were designed.

[Hydro]

PtS,

To directly answer your question, my take is Moo3 was intended to be both a development and war game.

Development: There are a mind boggling number of economic, production, and military improvements to be had based on level of technology, but most are done automatically by the AI. Your main control is focusing your research, which skews your available techs. So, if you are interested in a high development/builder game you need to have a research savvy race.

Shoot-em-up: the various races are set up to have natural hatreds/likes of other races. Some races like the Eoladi are fairly well liked by most everyone, while others like the Ithkul (a race that acts as a parasite on other intelligent races, thinking of them as cattle) are universally hated. All races, however, have at least one other race that at least dislikes them. What is nice about Moo3 is that this natural like/dislike can change, and that is directly related to your actions. If you attack someone the other races hate you get brownie points. I’ve had many games as the Eoladi where everyone is at least at peace with me, even my racial enemy the Meklar, because of my actions – attacking and exterminating the Ithkul, who are hated by everyone. In fact, these other races even voted me to be president of the Orion Senate, even though I voted against myself. Hmph. That ended that game. The point is that diplomacy does matter, and you can win without being at war with everyone. But, you are likely to be at war with a few folks, and if you choose a generally disliked race are likely to be at war all the time.

Trading: In Moo3 you can trade or gift just about anything to anyone: technology, planets, and diplomatic status (eg – I’ll declare war on the Meklar if you give me technology XXX). If you have a good trading relationship and they are favorably disposed to you they may accept your trade, or offer to trade with you. I like this part of the game and think it was well done.

Hydro

[Paddy]

Thank you for this