Master of Orion 1+2

[Endemic]

Forget about default races, this is the best race ever. It even utilizes the worst shittiest traits by turning them into fertilizer.

Why not just Democracy-Lithovore? (refraining from suggesting Unification-Tolerant/Telepathic since that's boring)

 

[Jaedar]

Last time I tried to play MoO2 I ended up playing MoO1 instead.
Making a new try I was wondering how would people rank the default races in MoO2, from best to worst?

Forget about default races, this is the best race ever. It even utilizes the worst shittiest traits by turning them into fertilizer.

That's cute. I assume the gimmick here is to produce nothing, cash buy everything?

Pretty clever, but I doubt it stacks up to a proper unification build.

 

[Average Manatee]

You take huge penalties to the efficiency of rush-buying if you don't produce at least the first 50% of things normally IIRC. So it's certainly never optimal to "produce nothing".

 

[Destroid]

You could build a big population easily and probably take senate victory early.

 

[Average Manatee]

If you are going for early senate victory isn't it easiest enough just to take a research race and gift all alien races till they absolutely adore you? I remember the AI being pretty hyper responsive to tech gifts in both MoO1 and 2. Or is Charismatic alone enough to pretty much guarantee a victory so long as you are in the running?

 

[octavius]

I don't like the look of the humans in MoO2.

The leader reminds me of Fredrik "Bald Dickhead" Reinfeld, former Prime Idiot of Sweden

The head scientist looks like Jon Michelet, a Norwegian left wing extremist, who also wrote a novel called "Orion's Belt":

 

[octavius]

So how do you set up a colony on a Barren world where no Food Production is possible, and before you have the manpower to build Hydroponic Farms to make it self reliant? Will Freighters automatically carry surplus food from my home world even though the new colony is 4 parsecs away?

 

[Average Manatee]

Yeah, freighters work regardless of distance. 10 frieghters = 1 pop in transit or 1 transported food.

 

[Jaedar]

Yeah, freighters work regardless of distance. 10 frieghters = 1 pop in transit or 1 transported food.

1 pop or 10 food.

 

[octavius]

Damned what a slow game MoO2 is. 50 bloody turns to build a Colony Ship.
Definitely inspired by MoM which also was bloody slow.
Looks like buying stuff is the way to go - buy Colony Ship for 873 BC or wait 41 turns?
Even with 0 Tax rate and not producing Tradegoods and rarely excess food I make quite a bit of BCs.

I like the Leaders and the new multi planet solar systems.

 

[Endemic]

Anything that gives you a production bonus is vital early on. I would research automated factory and\or research lab to begin with.

Freighters come in groups of 5, they can transport 1 food each. So you'll need a unit of excess food per unit of colony population from your homeworld to begin with.

 

[Average Manatee]

Yeah, freighters work regardless of distance. 10 frieghters = 1 pop in transit or 1 transported food.

1 pop or 10 food.

Yeah, messed up when I intended to write "1 transported food each"

Anything that gives you a production bonus is vital early on. I would research automated factory and\or research lab to begin with.

This, MoO2 has a fairly specific build order/research order. There's a number of essential techs to hit that catapult you above the AI's random selection.

 

[octavius]

Colony Ships can't be attacked in MoO2?

 

[Endemic]

Colony Ships can't be attacked in MoO2?

Pretty sure you can click on them in the system view (when prompted by "select combat") and they're instantly destroyed if not escorted by a military ship. Not sure if the AI targets them though.

 

[octavius]

The "Engage Enemy Forces" option came up, I clicked on it, but nothing seemed to happen. No message, and the alien Colony Ship was still there afterwards. The manual says "they never engage in combat", but that is kind of ambigious.

 

[Endemic]

The "Engage Enemy Forces" option came up, I clicked on it, but nothing seemed to happen. No message, and the alien Colony Ship was still there afterwards. The manual says "they never engage in combat", but that is kind of ambigious.

Isn't that the standing order rather than "blow up this specific ship"? You need to end the turn first before you can order your fleet to attack a ship (if a space monster is there, it attacks first).

 

[octavius]

I guess the Colony Ship retreats automatically before fighting, then.
And I assume that's why they are fixed ships in MoO2 and can't be custom made.

 

[Endemic]

Possibly. I've never encountered lone colony ships before. They always have an escort and land somewhere on the next turn.

 

[Destroid]

Yeah, freighters work regardless of distance. 10 frieghters = 1 pop in transit or 1 transported food.

1 pop or 10 food.

Yeah, messed up when I intended to write "1 transported food each"

Anything that gives you a production bonus is vital early on. I would research automated factory and\or research lab to begin with.

This, MoO2 has a fairly specific build order/research order. There's a number of essential techs to hit that catapult you above the AI's random selection.

There's a tech rebalance mod that puts the vital techs on their own.

 

[octavius]

So how do people with Command Points in MoO2? Unless I'm missing something increasing CPs is extremely costy: 400 BC to build one Star Base which yields only one measly CP.
Or do you just pay the price in BCs?

 

[Darth Roxor]

You hire rear admiral Tellik

 

[Endemic]

So how do people with Command Points in MoO2? Unless I'm missing something increasing CPs is extremely costy: 400 BC to build one Star Base which yields only one measly CP.
Or do you just pay the price in BCs?

It's not that bad once you get better techs and planets. As mentioned, leaders can increase CP. You can also use the Warlord trait.

 

[Destroid]

Build more colonies. Also, bigger ships are more economical on command points.

 

[octavius]

Some observations about MoO2:

Purple is in fashion throughout the galaxy

The designers seems to have been fans of Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard judging by some of the planet names (Rlyeh and Valusia).

The time dimension is different.
Since it takes longer to build thing, the difference in ship engines are not that important.
Making trade deals is a no-brainer; it's almost guaranteed to swiftly pay off, despite each turn supposedly being 1/10 the time of a MoO1 turn. In MoO1 there was always the risk of war before you started making a profit, and deals with the Humans profited them most.

Research is dumbed down.

Everything feels much smaller and mundane than in MoO1. No Sakkra fleets of 32,000 fighters in this game.
No Repulsor Beams or Black Hole Generators. Instead there's Fighter Bays and such.

It'a harder to get a feel for how effective enemy ships are, and an overview of the "battlefield". The damage "bubbles" are tiny and if you blink your eyes you miss them. But maybe I just need more practice to adjust.

There's no need to spy on the other races to gain information. Instead you know everything about how much tech they have. So it would have been very convenient if you were told each time them made a tech breakthrough, instead of having to check them each turn.

It's lame that relocating leaders always take five turns, no matter the distance.

 

[Darth Roxor]

No Black Hole Generators.

orly