Masters Of Orion III!

[Bkeela]

Here is another post from Sidgames you might be interested in. It seems alot of the original designers are getting onboard for the development of MoOIII. Here is the post of Alan Emrich:

"Want to hear something really, REALLY scary? If you're a "Master of" Series fan, you might recognize the names of Alan Emrich, Tom E. Hughes, Jr. and Petra Schlunk. Well... we're baaaaaaack.

Details to follow upon signed papers going back and forth, but Tom and I should be serving in a design capacity, with Petra and I writing, and Tom and Petra doing analysis.

Hopefully, we'll be hosting a little tea party here in Sunny California for Bill Levay and Jennifer (freezing out there back East) where we'll be kicking around ALL the design ideas we have (yours included; our eyes are upon you now).

CAUTION: Wish lists are nice. We all have them. Budgets and deadlines are not nice. We (who have to make this game) have those, too. Even if we didn't, it would be impossible to give everyone everything they wish for. You'd have a design that would have lost its "focus" and that won't go over well with anyone.

Bill Levay has got to stay the "big picture guy." That includes a lot of management, but (particularly at this stage) design as well. We're not afraid to make some departures in our thinking through this design. The first step will be to get concurrance (internally, and hopefully we'll bring you all on board) with such vital overarching philosophical concepts as scope, scale, focus, complexity, depth (those latter two are very different, folks), and story.

Well, let me just say "hello" to a lot of you "old timers" out there. Tom Holsinger, especially.

Saddle up, people. Looks like we've got quite a ride ahead of us!" - Alan Emrich

Looks like MoOIII is well and truly on its way!

Bkeela.

[shmily_dana]

I'd like to see one or more races with random characteristics.

I'd like to have a random number of ships get destroyed on the way to fight the Antareans.

I would like to see 'semi-creative' added. You would have a chance of getting the other tech in the category.

I would like to be able to have my small ships in front of my Titans. (think Aegis Cruisers defending Aircraft Carriers)

[Zaib]

I'm stunned that one thing is not included of all the people above me: THE AI !!
I'm sure that anyone who played the game somewhat throughly agrees with me that it stinks. What annoys me most is how the terrific diplomacy part of the game is ruined by irrational decision-making of the AI opponents.
I have not bought Birth o/t Fed because I heard the AI was bad and neither I will MoO3 (or any other game) when it's AI is bad.
Could someone please deliver this message at the Sidgames MoO3 forum or the designers of the game, because I seem to be unable to acces the site (and I'm having problems with my email as well), thank you.

[Zkribbler]

I also vote for better land combat. The earlier-mentioned idea of regions sounds like a good one.

I really like the idea of a x/y axis of terriforming. It makes sense that different races would develope in different environments, and so the terriforming goals of each race would be different.

[don Don]

Well, it isn't that I don't think AI is important, it's that I don't expect HasbroProse to invest in drastic AI improvement. Yes, if they did do so I would at least try it.

I do agree that the irrational diplomacy is the worst part. That"s why I don't play as Repulsive because it's too easy; you have no choice but to ignore diplomacy. It is a great challenge to coexist with anybody at "impossible" difficulty level.

[Seeker]

I also vote for a MOO section later on...

My big problems with MOO2:
-Antarans too easy. The Antaran Harbinger and Star Fortress should not be normal Titan and Star Fortress with some trimmings. I want't to fight the BIG DADDY! A huge, Death-Star like mega ship that will present more of a challenge to the mighty Psilon Doom Stars with their 3 Stellar Converters, structural analyzer and high energy focus.

I once played a game (at "hard") where I maintained the Trilarians and and carefully divided up the galaxy in half. Then I gave them all my tech and waited. I lost the most difficult game ever as our huge fleets of multiple Stellar Converter armed Doom Stars destroyed system after system until there weren't any left to generate command points. I must say that I was actually beaten, largely due to the Trilarian movement bonus, since the attacker always wins at that tech level.

[Keep Civin']

A MOO section would be great.

[Bridgeboy]

I have played 1000's of hours of moo2 via modem connect with a local friend. Think the ai is easy try beating another human. The only problem we had was the game became a race to orion and loknars ship. We eventually made a nobody takes orion pact to make the games last longer. I hope moo3 will eliminate this problem, either make the guardian alot meaner or weaken the advantage of loknars tech and ship. As for beating the AI it is so easy to be telepathic and conquer the entire map with 1 battleship and mind control. Simply get to the pollution processer/merc. missle level of technology and destroy the enemy with MIRV'ed nuclear missles. They are very powerful.
Apolyton may want to consider a moo site, after all the games are very similar, and there is a moo2 scenario for civ2.

[DanQ]

Sorry guys, but a MOO section is out of the question for Apolyton.

See http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum20/HTML/000502.html

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Dan; Apolyton CS

[don Don]

I am rather disappointed that login/password problems with my ID at SidGames have prevented me from participating in anything going on over there.