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Two Master Of Orion 3 team members (producer Cory Nelson and art director Rantz Hoseley) were brought in to demo the game. Very slick interface, beautiful design and graphics. The game was restructured to contain fewer things for players to keep track of as well as showing the consequences of their actions in a more timely manner. There's been a complete screen/interface restructure as well, with 72 unit screens being reduced to under 20 for the game. The game consists of 16 races and 8 different species (each with their own predispositions and back-stories; players create the species' current history). Tons of options such as personality factors alter the game and each race interacts with others. Star lanes have been added to the game since Master of Orion 2, which adds the concept of terrain which act as roads and allow players to create barriers and defensible areas. Despite a few crashes from unresolved bugs, the game played beautifully on a new iMac. Master of Orion 3 includes better navigation tools to allow players to see what units they have on what planets, the system expanding and collapsing as needed almost as a root-tree structure. The AI is built on a modifier system which tracks what the player needs and takes steps to gather these resources (it's not guaranteed to pick the correct one, but will tend to pick the correct one and suggest that to the player). In Master of Orion and Master of Orion 2, each player had a perfect world and desired Earth, this time around the different species will have different preferences as to their home worlds. The Diplo-Matic (bad pun) is an AI that takes various factors such as needs, alliances and available resources into account in determining which races are hostile, friendly or neutral towards the player. Players have to decide where their research points will be directed and have an ability to distibute grants which generate different changes for the planet (such as funding unrest, etc.) Policies can be set via different control panels, allowing for a wide variety of governments.
Macromanagement is possible without having to check on each planet via high-level tools, thus removing a source of frustation from the first two games. Easy tools are available to filter out criteria (such as which planets the player controls within certain borders) which lends an entirely new feel to the game. The most major change, aside from a graphically robust new interface, is the presence of new tools that handle daily events on a larger scale without having to manage every little detail. This becomes especially useful as an empire grows to the point where it would take hours to manage every decision. The AI will preserve non-combat ships in battles, which can be zoomed in on and managed as they occur. Computer-controlled ships will use tactics like keeping their distance, flanking, etc., the real-time combat system having been developed to suit the multiplayer capability.
In order to win, players must achieve one of the following criteria:
-Sole Superpower
-Senate President
-Discover the Antaran Xs (an alien race that must be found and guides players towards playing every means of the game. If another power has discovered an Antaran X, the only choice is to take it from them).
Macromanagement is possible without having to check on each planet via high-level tools, thus removing a source of frustation from the first two games. Easy tools are available to filter out criteria (such as which planets the player controls within certain borders) which lends an entirely new feel to the game. The most major change, aside from a graphically robust new interface, is the presence of new tools that handle daily events on a larger scale without having to manage every little detail. This becomes especially useful as an empire grows to the point where it would take hours to manage every decision. The AI will preserve non-combat ships in battles, which can be zoomed in on and managed as they occur. Computer-controlled ships will use tactics like keeping their distance, flanking, etc., the real-time combat system having been developed to suit the multiplayer capability.
In order to win, players must achieve one of the following criteria:
-Sole Superpower
-Senate President
-Discover the Antaran Xs (an alien race that must be found and guides players towards playing every means of the game. If another power has discovered an Antaran X, the only choice is to take it from them).
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