MoO vs MoO 2

[Urban Ranger]

After playing both for a bit I definitely prefer MoO much better:

• I love to have enromous fleets roaming around in the galaxy
• the tech tree in MoO is much better, and I can research multiple tech at the same time
• less micromanagement to deal with
• a much bigger galaxy
• tough planetary defenses

Some of the things that MoO 2 has over MoO

• the ability to build outposts
multiple planets per system (but not as many as 5, maybe 3)
• the ability to upgrade ships
• the ability to rule various species

So, which one do you prefer?

[vmxa1]

Every thing you mentioned is correct and add in custom species. I have always said Moo was the best game of all, but I am waviering on this lately with the increased play of Moo2. The micromanagement is the one big edge for MOO. It is a lot easier to deal with and the tech tree is not the same all of the time, so you have that variable.

[Skanky Burns]

I prefer MoO over MoO2 too.

Although MoO 2 is a good, albeit different game.

[Spaced Cowboy]

I give the edge to Moo over Moo2 just because of the micromanagement. I was very disappointed in Moo2 because of this. Something tells me that things will not change in Moo3. Also liked building as many ships as I wanted. However, it was always quite scary to see the AI show up in your system with 1000's of ships when you barely had any.
I also never could beat the hardest level on Moo1, never have tried it yet in 2. But from the comments on this board, perhaps Moo2 is easier to beat?

R:PM

[moomin]

Yup. Moo is great for micromanagement reduction. Also, the tech model is better. But fleet management and race picks make Moo2 the overall better game, I think.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Moo(M),

You may be right considering that most of the comments on this board deal with Moo2; also that is what I am playing lately.

R:PM

[Garth Vader]

Very close. I like the tech tree and quick simplicity of Moo. But I like the race picks, better combat, and more depth of Moo2.

Probably Moo2, but I picked both

[vmxa1]

I had a harder time beating Moo2 on a small universe at impossible level than Moo. The big reason was stealing. I never had much luck stealing in Moo2, but no problem in Moo. That allowed me to catchup. The other aspect is the ability to determine a good start in Moo. In Moo2, it is harder to tell if I have a good start or not. With a good location and decent player layouts you should always win at hard in Moo. In Moo2, I just can't tell soon enough if I have a chance or not. In other words I never lose in Moo, but can in Moo2.

[Father Beast]

I vote for MOO.

UR, you had a good summary in your post. I just LOVE the idea of having multiple planets to deal with and being able to build outposts to extend my reach when there's no useful worlds. I kind of liked the STARLORDS thing where you could send a fuel ship to extend your reach.

the combat was better in moo2, too. much bigger battlefield and more options.

But GAK! the micromanagement, the ship limitations, and where the heck did my tech tree go?

In short, I loved some of the innovations, but couldn't stand the package they came in.

there was just the something that keeps you going.... MOO was my first allnighter. my first 20 hour game when I had kids (don't tell my wife, she was out of town). when it came time to hit the next turn button in moo2, it didn't have the same pull.

Ahhhh..., but MOO!! seeing a fleet of a thousand little ships headed for your upstart colony and thinking how your 2 titan class ships in orbit are going to defend. a bevy of graviton beams on those ships would solve the problem, unless the attackers are alkari, in which case I'm in for a fight anyway.

I could send a nearby fleet to handle them, but they might devestate my colony and fly away. at which point I would really get teed off.

I would really get irate when I send my fleet to flatten them (remember to send enough to handle the 40+missile bases they will certainly have), and they declare war and complain of MY unprovoked aggressiveness!!!!

the somebody else gets elected master of orion and I go down in flames trying to hold the rest of them off.

WOW! what a game!

[vmxa1]

Ah, the picture is good. fleets to large to show the number, stacks of thousands...
Beast, you may like Stars, it has a concept where you can run out of fuel. You can have tankers come along to allow you to go full speed or go slower to extend the range, even have engines that can extract fuel as they go.

[moomin]

One of the things I really liked about Moo2 was the lack of tankers. That always bored me to death. Probably single greatest reason I gave up on SE IV - too much fuel management, too little game.

[Father Beast]

Originally posted by vmxa1
Ah, the picture is good. fleets to large to show the number, stacks of thousands...
Beast, you may like Stars, it has a concept where you can run out of fuel. You can have tankers come along to allow you to go full speed or go slower to extend the range, even have engines that can extract fuel as they go.

Yes, I think I would, at that. I'll make a search to see if it's downloadable somewhere.

I liked all the references that were made to it in the gaming mags durin previews of Supernova Genesis.

I think they said it was an old shareware program.

I'm off to go hunt!

[vmxa1]

www.crisium.com for Stars! They have a great downloadable guide. The manual was well done. I am still hoping for SuperNova.
Space Empires can get tedious. I like to pick the extra range trait as running out of fuel is deadly. Ships getting crippled and can't move is deadly too. I usually make a few repair cruisers to send with any fleet to fix any broken items.

[Cptn. Proton]

It's a hard question :P
Well, I love both MoO and MoO 2
Starlord rocks too, of course ;-)

I also played SE4 and well... it's great! Everything I ever wanted in a 4x game is there... well... but it makes no fun :|
If I want to lead an empire I don't want to make that stupid micromanagement ( and I don't trust those ministers ).
That's what I hate in MoO2. It's very nice to move the people from farmers to workers to scientists at the beginning to optimize your production but it SUCKS when you have more than 10 planets... And those building queues... omg :P

I hope MoO3 will be a bit more intelligent... That command point allocation sounds like you don't have to do much micromanagement and can concentrate for example on the important battles. And that's we want :P

Mmmh... does anyone know whether it is planned that you can play one single empire with other (human) players? Could be interesting, too...

All in all I would say moo is better in bigger galaxies, while moo2 makes way more fun in a small galaxy.

[moomin]

I wish for bigger galaxies too. But the MM tools have to be there - I seldom use more than 10 colonies in Moo2, even in huge universes...