Master of Orion 4

Well I don't mean to aim high like this but I do mean to somehow acquire the copyrights to Master of Orion; seeing that Microprose let Quicksilver make MoO3 (in which I think they did a horrific job) My guess is that they won't be making any moo games for some time (possibly never).

So, as the suggests, me and a friend of mine are brain-storming ideas for a Master of Orion 4. He says that the 4x genre needs new breath and since the original moo was the one that started it (this is just my guess because I can't think of a 4x game older than moo) Master of Orion should be the series to give it a new edge.

We haven't even begun even the most primitive development other than scribbling our thoughts down on paper and finding ways to implement our ideas into game physics and programming. In short: we're still in planning phase which means we're open for ideas. We want to make Master of Orion 4 rise the series from the dead and, just in plain, be a kick-ass game. We need the community's opinion and ideas; anything is appreciated.

Sorry, sorry, I get long winded and brag on, a lot, but you can contact us by these addresses: mine is learkel@hotmail.com my friend's is jadkni@hotmail.com (He's at a programming school right now and won't be back for at least a weak though)

oh, i've got no shortage of ideas...

basic idea though is that moo3 failed because it was too big to all fit into a single game, at least not without sacrificing something somewhere.

really, there were 4 different games in there, trying to get out... if all four had been made sequentially, and made so that they could interact with each other, the market for the franchise could have been greatly expanded.

i'll send you some mail!

Also, one last thing to mention; MoO4 will pick up right where MoO2 left off, which means you'll be dealing with the Antaran Hegemony's Black Fleet.

We decided that the base story is that the wonders at Orion weren't enough so now the orion races must seek out the remaining lost Orion techs and use them against the Antarans. Not to mention the biggest treasure of all; the ancient Orion vessel that they all thought to have vanished along with the Antaran Sector. That's gonna be our base story setting for the game; didn't like moo3's setting very much.

Helo

Ok, but to most of the fans, itl be kinda pre determined kus we no wat to expect.. you would have to make changes to the already greatly impressive story

i no the game doesnt resolve around a story per say as it uses a random generator which is why the kurrent story will have to be changed (gud thing kus ya kant kill off the orions or antarans (or ascend them/move them away/devolve/breedout/etc/etc)

If you do, it could only be done if you do sum sort of agenda still missions, not just conquor the galaxy/senate or anythin kus the empires are already set up then... (i think that makes sense) so it would more like TOTAL WAR then with sertain races startin with advantages and diss~~~

Like the antarans could be the romans and the dubei (sorry i needa brush up on my MOO mythos) could be the sythians or sumthin ....

Sorry to be a dampener on spirits, but this is sumthin that really needs consideration

HELO:)

Hmm, still around. I've been working on other things lately, well okay school work; lots of it, so I've been absent for awhile. I know.

Yes I understand what you are saying and the 'background' of MoO4 will gradually change as we develop it over time. However, the "story" as I meant it would simply tie in new gameplay elements that we wanted to see, like the victory condition of finding the Trinity or all the Orion tech and then smashing the Antarans. And navigating the 'Dead Zone'. We just can't help but tie almost all aspects of play into a core story around which the game is centered.

...Am I ranting again? But yes, I hadn't truly spoiled it to the fans because most aspects and such may change overtime, but we do have a LOT of good ideas and we are documenting them for... future use.

i have been playing moo well since the 1st moo still play every night not bad for just turnig 50 if want my ideas leave the game alone add new techs mix it with 1 and 2
ang give us some real graphics and interaction with AI and real players would make on line game is a great on line game but you cant any one too play PS i bought moo3 three times and my play disk keeps breaking love my game does any one know a work around if you would or could help email me at thebargaincorner@hotmail,com thanks gil

Wow guess you all about sum it up I'll have to think awhile before adding to this list.

Our vision of MoO4 basically is a cross between 1 and 2 but with a few new elements and deeper graphics, combat systems, AI interaction and all out experience. This will be very tricky to accomplish but we'll do it... it may take a very long time, but we'll do it, eventually. I'd like MoO4 to be the best 4x strategy game ever devised, so don't expect to be disappointed... if you out live to wait.

Well I hope to live forever

Hmma duanting task none the less.... but some thoughts come to mind.

1st and foremost: The largest issue with MOO3 for me was that I no longer had control over individual ships. While fleet battles are fine at certain times, there are many times during the game when I found if only I had direct control over individual ships during the game play, I would have faired better.

Essentially I wound up making 3 seperate types of fleets to counter this, Fleet 1 would primarily be a gunner, with a few missles for the start of the engagement. Fleet 2 would be A short ranged group, I Point defense system for fleet 1, and fleet 3 would be a carrier/missle group.

MOO2 was perfect for me in that I could make individual ships in the fleet act as interceptors for missles, fighters. While the other ships would be Long range tactical gunner / Carriers.

2ndly: In MOO2 you had a chance factor to hit something, not just range, weapon type, ect, ect, ect.... You could still be using lasers, and the cpu using stellar converters, and still you may make an impact on his fleet.

in MOO3, it seems that everything was range based, if you were not in range, you would not only not fire, but you would certainly not hit. I am a tech freak, when it comes to almost all games. thus if I survive, chances are I will win, as I will work very hard to drop every spare cent into sciences... even so when I come out of my research phase, I do not want a sure victory, not against the CPU nor against a live person.... I want to play... having spent soo much time researching out things. So I want them to have some chance of killing off my fleet. Not me just showing up and BOOM!!! 1 second later thier fleets toast.

3rdly: As was said in this thread previously, MOO3 was like 4 games in one. A bit more micromanagement then a turn based game should really have. MOO2s more intergrated all in one menu system was alot more user freindly...

IE I want to build something so I would goto the build manager screen. Where not only can I build everything I can build, spys, ships, buildings, ect.... but I can also do all my ships design work right from this panel.

Not I want to build ships so I would go 1st design one, then goto the build manager screen, or the ever popular lets build a spy screen, Which is a whole other screen, you have to manage, review and constantly track, Because a the spy dies with in a few turns anyways.... so whats the point, cause they actually age.... although my old straight out of the box Tech 0, 1st set of ships is still flying around.

So to sum it up... mesh the stuff back together in a logical way. If you can build it or train it... it really should be all under one screen.

Also if its trainable, buildable or makable... in any way shape or form... it simply should exsist.... end of story. If a spy as an example dies of old age the game should automatically create one to replace him/her, Thats part of the upkeep pay for them, as thier always training replacements for them selves. Same with leaders, if they die of old age (In both spies and leaders cases, being killed and simply dieing are 2 seperate occurances.) A new leader with the same qualities should automatically takes his/her place as they had a long life and were able to train someone towards the end to take thier place.

That is of course provided they were not captured, or killed through some vial means.

Lastly: I truely believe they went way weird with the planetary build options this time around. Although I really liked the multiple zones of the planet deal they had going on... however.... Each zone should be fully capable of holding all the buildings avalible. Hell if Manhatan can have over 2 Million people just living in its 2 Mile wide by 3 Mile long space.... an entire planet can certainly support alot more buildings then just 6.

Before I end this though please take into consideration the following.

3D for this game would be futile. IE no up and down.... looking for my oppenents ships for 20 minutes just to kill him, would get to be annoying.
Planetary Combat Control would be nice. IE not just you land 50 troops and they have 10 you win.... maybe their ten measly troops have a much better commander then you are... and thus they pick your 50 off one by one.
Eliminate the warp lanes... If I wanna warp from XXY to XXZ, I should be able to do it with out following a specified path... just get there.

I agree with most of Admiral S3's ideas. I do have a few of my own though...

I would really love the ability to refit older ships. I hated the fact that once you designed and built a ship that was it, even though it took 20 turns in the que to complete it was already obsolete when finished and all you could do with it was either use it a cannon fodder, scrap it or leave it in a system as an extra gun (Not that lasers did any good against Level X shields!). Let me refit, refit, refit!! MOO2 did.

Oh yeah, and what ever happened to waiting for orders before firing all missles?! I wanted a lot more control over commanding my fleets. Didn't get it. As soon as my ships entered the combat screen all the missles launched! WTF?! I want more control!! And since I'm on the topic of combat, I want the ability to decide what planetary defenses are used and what is not. I loved plasma cannons for planetary defense but as soon as the next weapon was invented whether it was better or not my plasma cannons got replaced ALL of them!! I don't mind installing the new weapons in a slot or two but I want my plasma cannons ALWAYS!! It's a preference thing. That's what I want, to decide what my bases get and what they don't.

I'd also like some better graphics on the turn report section also. You know like when you research a new tech or steal one you might get a little cinematic or something. That would be nice. Like when you conquer a world it might have a little cinematic when you click the report of a victorious army rolling into the capital or something and when you get defeated it may show a battlefield of damage equipment and dead soldiers, you know stuff like that. For successful spy missions like sabotage we might get an image of a building on the city block that looks all peaceful then BOOM! or if success when stealing we may get a data stream transmission with tech readouts or something about what was stolen and an assassination mission we get to see a political figure get gacked in various ways. And if all these fail we may see a little cinematic of our spy being tortured and executed. You know lets get creative with this.

I'd also like more space in the build que. 3 slots wasn't nearly enough in the later game. Also, I wanted to be able to automate my govenors to build in the regions without them building ships and facilities in the build que that I didn't need or want for that world. I want to decide what they can automatically build and what they can't.

Next, I don't mind the jump lanes so much because it allows you to create choke points to secure your borders, but I'm not at all opposed to a late game technology or something that allows the owner of said tech to ignore jump lanes all together. I think that would make for a more interesting game especially if you don't have that tech yourself and your enemy does.

Well, enough ranting for now. These are just a few suggestions of my own that I would enjoy. I know there are a lot more ideas out there that didn't occur to me that I would enjoy.

Star Killer

This post has been edited by Unforeseen on Mar 15 2008, 12:36 AM

Haven't played MOO2 but here is some feed back on 3.

I agree here. Also your groups keep moving around and around and around. This breaks up my defesive fire.

Would building sys ships with plasma cannons work?

I have used the shift+right click (if I remember correctly) to bypass jump lanes. It takes more time to get to places. This works great for early col ship to get to a center system if you start on an arm. I haven't used it to "jump" into the heart of an enemy later in the game but I bet that would be one hell of a supprise.

I don't know if I used the quotes correctly but you get the idea. Max

shift+right click? I do know that neutrons and blackholes allow for the same tactic, never heard of a button combo to do it. I'll try it.

But if you think of the buttons as a cheat, the neutrons aint XD..tho the AI will never use em. I see it as, if its there its mine to use..the cpus simply choose not to because of programming. Sucks for them.

This post has been edited by Unforeseen on Mar 15 2008, 06:10 PM

Yeah, a straight line course from your starting system (point A.) to another system (point B.). Where ever you want. Like I said slow. I didn't know about the blackholes and neutrons. You go to one and what happens? Max