0
Master of Orion II Guide/FAQ
Version 0.5 at Sunday March 25, 2001
By Boba Fett (B_Fett@angelfire.com)
...see "How to Contact Me"
Table of Contents
1. General Strategies
2. Stages of the Game
3. Picks
4. Basic Blitzing
5. Ship Design
6. Running Your Empire
7. Advanced Blitzing
8. Colonization - How To Get Started
9. Military Tactics
10. Guardian
11. FAQ's
12. Version History
13. Credits
14. Copyright Information / Disclamer
Before we begin:
Master of Orion II was recently released by The Underdogs web-site (yes
- the one we've heard so much about lately) as an abandon-ware title.
This basically means that you can go to The Underdogs web-site and
freely download the complete version. Legality of this is a gray area so
just to be on the safe side I'm not going to post the link to it here
(which you probably had tattooed on your arm by now anyway :) ). But it
did introduced whole new generation to this brilliant game. So here it
is - New FAQ for The New Millenium (please DO tell me if it was too
cheesy...).
How to Contact Me
Use the e-mail above for large submission. For the quick question you
have better chance of finding me on Zsnes board (which I recently
colonized) at http://www.zsnes.com/board/index.htm as I don't check my
e-mail regularly.
========================================================================
=1. GENERAL STRATEGIES =
========================================================================
Against computer players, you always want to develop good relations with
that race immediately. The turn you come in contact with a race,
audience the computer race and give it several useless technologies,
such as death spores, bio-spheres, scout labs, and such. Any tech that
does not directly improve industry, food, research, or a ship's weapon,
shields, or armor should be considered when giving tech to a computer
player. I have found bribes to be effective only when a computer race is
in a bad position. When that happens, usually they become instant
butt-kissers to you. After you give the tech to the race, leave. Don't
form any treaties with that race immediately, especially if the race's
personality is xenophobic or erratic, since they tend to get
diplomatically pissed-off easily. The only time you should try to make a
treaty with a computer race the turn you meet them is if that race has a
pacifist personality. After you leave diplomatic contact with that race,
wait about ten turns, then audience them again. This time, ask for a
non-aggression pact. Almost always, except on impossible, the race
accepts the proposal. If they do not accept - wait ten more turns and
try again. After they accept, keep repeating the ten-turn wait until you
have all three treaties. NEVER get into an alliance with a computer
race, even if the race asking is big and powerful. The reason being is
that you very often are asked to declare war on a race, and only you
should make that decision. Refusal usually results in an immediate
canceling in the alliance and a big decline in race relations
(eventually leading to a contemptuous idiot that starts demanding
systems). The only time you ever want to get into an alliance with a
computer player is if you are in a war that you think you might not win.
Make sure that you get in good relations with all races that are not
repulsive. Races that are repulsive should be attacked as soon as you
have pollution processor. The reasons being is that repulsive races tend
to have killer race picks, and over time will usually become a powerful
race. And unless you're an incompetent idiot, you should have noticed by
now that a repulsive race with a big empire is usually not a Mr. Rogers
kind of neighbor.
Playing against human opponents is very tricky, considering how that
player uses that race directly corresponds to how patient and how
aggressive that player is. Against a player that tends to be reclusive,
colonize as many worlds as you can and put only the minimal industry and
defensive building on it. Your more advanced colonies should be
advancing your tech as fast as possible. When your fledgling colonies
have built all the industry modifying buildings put them into housing to
build up population. After the population has reached 1 minus the
population limit, start building ships. Playing against an aggressive
opponent, you must take in account what tech you and that player has. If
your tech and your fleet are greater than that of an aggressive player,
kill that player immediately. If the aggressive player is bigger,
stronger, and has better tech (usually the scenario if you happen to be
a reclusive type), research better armor a quickly as possible, for your
best bet in winning a war with a stronger race will be in having lots of
missile ships.
========================================================================
=2. STAGES OF THE GAME =
========================================================================
The game will have four basic parts: beginning, middle (when all races
have pollution processor), end (then all races are known, and at least
one has been eliminated), and advanced (when two or more races have
maximized out their tech in physics, fields and chemistry).
The beginning of the game is the MOST important part of the game, but
hopefully you already know that. When picking your race, keep in mind of
the game settings. For small universes, you will most likely win with a
race that has a research bonus. For huge universes, races must have a
balance in industry and tech, or the computer will run over your ass
before you have a good fleet.
Picking a race is one of the most important things that you will do in
the game, because the race picks often determine how you can play. I
often custom my race, because I have specific ways of playing the game,
depending on galaxy size and number of opponents. For small galaxies,
races with quick research are the most dangerous opponents. For larger
galaxies, your most dangerous opponent will be the 'quick build' race, a
race design specifically for having an explosion of industry when
research is lacking.
========================================================================
=3. PICKS =
========================================================================
...coming soon
========================================================================
=4. BASIC BLITZING =
========================================================================
In the beginning, you have two basic directions to go, depending on if
the game is set to advanced civilization or not. If the game is set to
pre-warp or average, you can do one of two things: try to do a research
blitz or try to do a colonizing blitz.
You will probably want to do the following in this order for a research
blitz: research e. computer, r. lab, h. farm, f. bays, a. factory,
freighters, build the factory and the farm, adjust population, build one
freighter fleet and one colony base if you can, research cloning center,
build it, research neural scanner, planetary s. computer, build the
computer, and at that point you can decide to go for autolab or either
start researching better weapons or start colonizing planets. If your
going for autolab, make sure you colonize all the planets in the
beginning system first, so that you will get extra food and research
from the h. farms and r. labs.
You will probably want to do the following in this order for a
colonizing blitz: research f. bays, a. factory, n. drive, freighters,
colony ship, standard fuel cell, then build the factory, freighter, one
scout, and all the colony ships you can. While you are building the
ships, have some of your population in research, and get the r. lab.
After you have the r. lab, get a better fuel cell.
It is also recommended to research the following tech first in order for
a successful game:
1. Research Lab - Gives you the early research you need to stay on equal
terms with you opponents (the computer usually researches this first
too)
2. Reinforced Hull - Gives extra protection for your star bases in case
of an early attack, and provided some extra insurance when attacking
planets with missile bases or fighter garrisons.
3. Automated Factories - More than doubles existing production, need I
say more?
4. Hydroponics Farm - Frees up one farmer to put to
research(recommended) or production if you prefer.
5. Neural Scanner - Gives a +10 spy bonus that makes stealing tech lot
easier if you opponent does not have this and can help defensive spies.
6. Supercomputer - This is the most important. If you assign most of
your population to research the supercomputer will help you bury your
opponents.
After you have achieved these technologies you should be ahead of or at
the very least equal to your opponents accelerated research. Now you can
quickly and easily research the following technologies that will
significantly increase the power of you ships.
1. Mass Driver - Class I Shield is so weak it is practically worthless.
2.Tritanium Armor - You can always steal the fuel cells and ships with
reinforced tritanium armor kill puny enemy ships that have only
titanium.
3. Fusion Beams - Fusion beams make much better point defense than
lasers.
4. Tachyon Communications - Gives extra command points for more ships
(has to be researched to get to neutron blasters)
5. Neutron Blasters - Kills marines and causes moderate damage making
ships easier to take over or destroy whatever your personality. I prefer
destroy.
In advanced civilizations, the first thing you want to do is the
obvious: look at what your colonies don't have, and build it. If the
systems you control have extra habitable planets that haven't been
colonized, colonize them immediately after the planet in that system has
an a. factory up. If you don't have a. factory, research it. If you
can't research it, seriously think about starting a new game. By the
time you get a. factory from any of the other races, they will have a
definite advantage over you, because I guarantee that the computer
players will trade that tech around with other computer players
immediately after the game starts.
========================================================================
=5. SHIP DESIGN =
========================================================================
Such infinite possibilities... In the beginning and even in the middle
of the game, the missile ship is a formidable weapon. Cheap but
powerful, it is ideal for emergencies and support in a fleet. Basic
design is to take a destroyer with a battle pod and put 2x missile racks
of mired nuclear micelles. The miry nukes are more damaging that any
missile, up until the murculite and the nuclear missile start to cost
the same, but at that point you should have a fleet of titans or doom
stars. The missile boat becomes especially useful when you have the
following tech: zortium armor, fast missile racks, battle pods, and
structural analyzer. This is a ship that can do between 300 to 600
damage in one combat turn, and with a bunch of these, you can definitely
smack the hell out of a target.
Your basic attack ship will be of the largest size you can build, fitted
with noting but heavy beam weapons. Unless your beam weapons suck,
always fit your ship with heavy armor, battle pods, maybe an ecm jammer
or a battle scanner, and as many of the second best HV modified beam
weapon, without any bombs or missiles. Use your second best beam weapon,
because usually you can do more damage with the increased number (it
would be a good idea to put a battle scanner on the ship). That only
applies when you have graviton beam and beyond.
A defender ship is a ship that you get with more advanced tech. It is a
ship that is meant to be targeted, and it is for destroying missiles
that are targeting other ships. Usually you can build this ship if you
have the creative ability, and it is great for small fleets. You fit a
cruiser with either inertia stabilizer or nullifier, multi-phase
shields, shield capacitors, augmented engines, and a lightning field if
you have it. It is also a good idea to put a battle scanner, heavy
armor, automated repair unit, and reinforced hull if you have those too.
The rest of the space should be filled with point defense mass drivers.
A capture ship is a cruiser fitted with a battle pod and all the assault
shuttles it can carry.
========================================================================
=6. RUNNING YOUR EMPIRE =
========================================================================
Try to centralize everything. Make a few planets do nothing but
research, make a few do nothing but farming, and make a few do nothing
but build ships. Even though your empire might get hit hard if it losses
its farming planet, but if you centralize everything, production and
research tend to go faster.
Hit system with monsters as soon as you have deuterium fuel cells and
battle pods, since most monsters do not survive the attack of 4 or 5
missile ships. Kill the guardian as soon as you can. If you are attack
by an antaren ship(s), try to build or refit ships with assault
shuttles. Most of the time you never capture a ship, but when you do,
you get a good ship that can be scraped for great tech.
Late in the game, if you have creative, you will have sufficient tech to
build 2 rare ship designs, the stealth ship and the drone. A drone is a
frigate fitted with a phasing cloak, a wide-area ecm jammer, and a warp
dissipitator. A stealth ship is basically an attack ship fitted with a
phasing cloak. Place several drones through out the enemy empire to
monitor their actions secretly.
THE TWO ROUTES TO SUCCESS
There are two possible routes to success in a game like MOOII -- long
term and short term. The long term almost guarantees a victory as long
as you can survive the initial onslaught offered by the short term
empires. Vice versa goes for the short term. Here's the description for
both strategies
THE LONG WAY TO VICTORY
First of all, you have to be playing a long term race. The best built in
races for this are the Meklars and the Psilons. The Psilons' Creativity
allow them to create killer fleets late in the game which no other race
can match, while the Meklars' production bonus allow them to get an
early start on colonization which allows them to offset any opponents'
advantages by sheer number of workforce
The idea is to keep your empire out of trouble until you have amassed a
big enough force to destroy everyone else. This works very well in
Pre-Warp civilizations with the largest galaxies -- this will give you
more than enough time to use your racial advantages to it's fullest.
FAST AND FURIOUS
This strategy is a good one and it allows you to play several games
within the timespan it takes to play a Long-term game. (Not as enjoyable
though, IMHO) The races best for this are the Mrrshans and the Elerians,
the warrior races. The Mrrshans have the Warlord ability, which allows
them to build more ships without experiencing maintenance problems,
plus, those ships start out one level higher than norms allowing you to
pump out Veteran crew with each ship. (Assuming you have the Space
Academy) The Elerians on the other hand, can build ships very quickly
due to their Feudalistic govt. and they don't need to bother with
Transports -- just Mind Control every colony you come across!
As you may have concluded from reading the paragraph above, the idea is
to churn out several ships, then seek and destroy everybody you come
across before the long term races can "set up". Hunting is easier on
small galaxies, and you deny the LT races the time to set up by choosing
Advanced Civilization.
========================================================================
=7. ADVANCED BLITZING =
========================================================================
Against merely impossible-level computer players, blitzing is a
virtually guaranteed win even in a huge universe.
Last weekend, I practiced blitzing in Impossible/Large/Average Age/8
Empire/Pre-warp universes with a Uni/Tel/AHW/RHW/LHW/Ship Attack +20
combo against the standard races. Until I grew very tired, I won by
conquest in every game by turn 190 to 210. Of course I refused a win by
vote at a much earlier stage.
In a huge universe, I think the most powerful combo is
Unif/Tele/Omni/AHW/RHW. Usually I don't pick Omni, but for QEC yes maybe
it's worth it. To blitz Tolerant, Lithovore, Subterranean, High
Population Growth, Creative, Science +2, Industry +2 races might be
difficult, yes. You certainly wouldn't want one of those for an initial
eighbor: I had enough trouble fending off aggro Psilons when Mentar
started off within Deuterium distance - they always seemed to have
Tritanium Heavy Armor and maybe Missile Bases by the time I reached them
(turn 60 odd), and soon they'd retaliate with a Battleship of their own.
Against humans, I KNOW that good human players can defend against
blitzing, even in small galaxies, and your best chance in blitzing
humans is to find someone who has adopted a rapid expansion strategy
(i.e. Unified/Tolerant), and eat them a bite at a time.
There seems little more to learn from the AI's strategies. Against
impossible-level computer players, here is the drill to win:
During all research, I will generally research until between 25 - 50%
chance of breakthrough, and then shift EVERYONE to production. Even if
you have NOBODY researching and 0 RP, you still get the accumulated
probability each turn.
So I keep only one person on production until the research has a decent
chance of breakthrough (25-50%), then I shift everybody to production
until the breakthrough occurs, then I shift all but one person back to
research. Anyway, with this prelude, here is the process.
1. Keep one person on production at all times, accumulating resources
for when you want them.
2. First research Computers and Research Labs, and build a lab.
3. Then research Reinforced Hull and Factories, and build a factory.
4. Then research Power and Chemistry.
5. Build a scout to poke around. The range with ext. fuel cells will be
exactly the same as you will have after researching Duet, so you can
plan your outposts. Make the scout with ext. fuel and reinforced hull,
but no weapons.
6. Research Deut. fuel.
7. Research outposts.
8. Build a string of outposts to your target race. Pick a good slave
race for your first target: tolerant, etc., and pick somone fairly
close. (I will go further for a good slave race rather than hit a closer
race that is not as good.) Sakkra, Silicoid, Klackon, Trilarian have
served well.
9, Upon building your last outpost, you will know how far it is to the
target, i.e. whether your cruiser will need
ext. fuel cellsand what technology your target has, so how much
firepower you will need to defeat him.
10. Build one or two missile cruisers as necessary, ALONG with your
weaponless scout. You will have to judge based on the technology of your
target whether you need to research level 3 chemistry in order to get
MIRV nukes (more than 2x as effective). Use hit and run. When attacking,
move your scout back to the rear corner as quickly as
possible. [Fire] both volleys of missiles from your Cruiser(s), and So
that's two salvos of as many missiles as will fit.
then retreat your Cruiser(s). Having the scout staying around will
ensure that all of your missiles hit.
11, Attack and conquer slave race. With a good slave race, you can move
nearly all manufacturing to slave race (more ships and outposts), and
shift your home world to strictly research (except one person).
12. Pick next race to conquer, and repeat.
13. Typical results: first conquest turn 40-50. Second conquest turn
60-80. Galaxy conquered turn 130 - 160.
========================================================================
=8. COLONIZATION - HOW TO GET STARTED =
========================================================================
One of the nice things about MOOII is that you can colonize hostile
planets immediately. Unlike the original Master of Orion, where you had
to research Controlled Tundra environment, and other Controlled
environments!
Actually, this feature offers beginners pits to fall on. Do not waste
your time (and your colony ship) colonizing the first planet you can get
your hands on - be choosy! The 2 governing features to look for in a
planet are it's mineral abundance, and size (not population capacity,
those are two different things). Next is the Gravity, and lastly the
environment. When choosing a planet, try to determine the amount of
production it can give off at full population, against the amount of
time required to get it running.
When you start a new colony, make sure you have enough freighters and
surplus food to feed the colonists. The idea is to keep all those
pioneers busy doing Industry until they can stabilize and feed
themselves. In other words, keep those colonists building Automated
Factories, Soil Enrichment, Terraforming, whatever, instead of making
them feed themselves.
Toxic planets are the worst planets in the game. You can't Terraform
them! Unlike Radiated, in which you can erect a Radiation shield which
converts it to Barren. Toxic planets are hopeless planets, so avoid
them.
When you start a new colony, you have to make the build queue count.
There are buildings which boost a colony's capabilities. The production
boosters should be the first to go for -- they allow you to bring out
the other stuff much quicker. Morale boosters are great, but only if
there is something for them to boost. They work best in a planet already
in optimum production. Cloning Centers are good starters for a colony,
that's what I build first. They boost population growth. After all, what
good are the other facilities if there's no one to use them? I follow up
with production boosters and pollution controllers. My first building
list looks like this:
Building Queue:
Cloning Center
Automated Factory
Pollution Processor
Robo Miners Plant
Atmospheric Renewer
Marine Barracks
Biospheres can also be used instead of the Cloning Center, but you'll
have to send in additional pioneers from already developed planets. As
soon as that building queue is finished, you can branch out to several
choices. Do you want to fortify it and deny the enemy the opportunity to
conquer it? Do you want to boost production some more by building Morale
boosters? Or maybe turn it into a paradise? It's up to you to judge what
to do with this colony. The initial queue is just there to prepare the
colony for whatever you want to do with it.
========================================================================
=9. MILITARY TACTICS =
========================================================================
While missiles are good early on I found that they don't do much good in
a large galaxy, therefore I need a good computer (Cybertronic) and a
good beam weapon. Lasers with all the upgrades work great until you get
the graviton beam
Version 0.5 at Sunday March 25, 2001
By Boba Fett (B_Fett@angelfire.com)
...see "How to Contact Me"
Table of Contents
1. General Strategies
2. Stages of the Game
3. Picks
4. Basic Blitzing
5. Ship Design
6. Running Your Empire
7. Advanced Blitzing
8. Colonization - How To Get Started
9. Military Tactics
10. Guardian
11. FAQ's
12. Version History
13. Credits
14. Copyright Information / Disclamer
Before we begin:
Master of Orion II was recently released by The Underdogs web-site (yes
- the one we've heard so much about lately) as an abandon-ware title.
This basically means that you can go to The Underdogs web-site and
freely download the complete version. Legality of this is a gray area so
just to be on the safe side I'm not going to post the link to it here
(which you probably had tattooed on your arm by now anyway :) ). But it
did introduced whole new generation to this brilliant game. So here it
is - New FAQ for The New Millenium (please DO tell me if it was too
cheesy...).
How to Contact Me
Use the e-mail above for large submission. For the quick question you
have better chance of finding me on Zsnes board (which I recently
colonized) at http://www.zsnes.com/board/index.htm as I don't check my
e-mail regularly.
========================================================================
=1. GENERAL STRATEGIES =
========================================================================
Against computer players, you always want to develop good relations with
that race immediately. The turn you come in contact with a race,
audience the computer race and give it several useless technologies,
such as death spores, bio-spheres, scout labs, and such. Any tech that
does not directly improve industry, food, research, or a ship's weapon,
shields, or armor should be considered when giving tech to a computer
player. I have found bribes to be effective only when a computer race is
in a bad position. When that happens, usually they become instant
butt-kissers to you. After you give the tech to the race, leave. Don't
form any treaties with that race immediately, especially if the race's
personality is xenophobic or erratic, since they tend to get
diplomatically pissed-off easily. The only time you should try to make a
treaty with a computer race the turn you meet them is if that race has a
pacifist personality. After you leave diplomatic contact with that race,
wait about ten turns, then audience them again. This time, ask for a
non-aggression pact. Almost always, except on impossible, the race
accepts the proposal. If they do not accept - wait ten more turns and
try again. After they accept, keep repeating the ten-turn wait until you
have all three treaties. NEVER get into an alliance with a computer
race, even if the race asking is big and powerful. The reason being is
that you very often are asked to declare war on a race, and only you
should make that decision. Refusal usually results in an immediate
canceling in the alliance and a big decline in race relations
(eventually leading to a contemptuous idiot that starts demanding
systems). The only time you ever want to get into an alliance with a
computer player is if you are in a war that you think you might not win.
Make sure that you get in good relations with all races that are not
repulsive. Races that are repulsive should be attacked as soon as you
have pollution processor. The reasons being is that repulsive races tend
to have killer race picks, and over time will usually become a powerful
race. And unless you're an incompetent idiot, you should have noticed by
now that a repulsive race with a big empire is usually not a Mr. Rogers
kind of neighbor.
Playing against human opponents is very tricky, considering how that
player uses that race directly corresponds to how patient and how
aggressive that player is. Against a player that tends to be reclusive,
colonize as many worlds as you can and put only the minimal industry and
defensive building on it. Your more advanced colonies should be
advancing your tech as fast as possible. When your fledgling colonies
have built all the industry modifying buildings put them into housing to
build up population. After the population has reached 1 minus the
population limit, start building ships. Playing against an aggressive
opponent, you must take in account what tech you and that player has. If
your tech and your fleet are greater than that of an aggressive player,
kill that player immediately. If the aggressive player is bigger,
stronger, and has better tech (usually the scenario if you happen to be
a reclusive type), research better armor a quickly as possible, for your
best bet in winning a war with a stronger race will be in having lots of
missile ships.
========================================================================
=2. STAGES OF THE GAME =
========================================================================
The game will have four basic parts: beginning, middle (when all races
have pollution processor), end (then all races are known, and at least
one has been eliminated), and advanced (when two or more races have
maximized out their tech in physics, fields and chemistry).
The beginning of the game is the MOST important part of the game, but
hopefully you already know that. When picking your race, keep in mind of
the game settings. For small universes, you will most likely win with a
race that has a research bonus. For huge universes, races must have a
balance in industry and tech, or the computer will run over your ass
before you have a good fleet.
Picking a race is one of the most important things that you will do in
the game, because the race picks often determine how you can play. I
often custom my race, because I have specific ways of playing the game,
depending on galaxy size and number of opponents. For small galaxies,
races with quick research are the most dangerous opponents. For larger
galaxies, your most dangerous opponent will be the 'quick build' race, a
race design specifically for having an explosion of industry when
research is lacking.
========================================================================
=3. PICKS =
========================================================================
...coming soon
========================================================================
=4. BASIC BLITZING =
========================================================================
In the beginning, you have two basic directions to go, depending on if
the game is set to advanced civilization or not. If the game is set to
pre-warp or average, you can do one of two things: try to do a research
blitz or try to do a colonizing blitz.
You will probably want to do the following in this order for a research
blitz: research e. computer, r. lab, h. farm, f. bays, a. factory,
freighters, build the factory and the farm, adjust population, build one
freighter fleet and one colony base if you can, research cloning center,
build it, research neural scanner, planetary s. computer, build the
computer, and at that point you can decide to go for autolab or either
start researching better weapons or start colonizing planets. If your
going for autolab, make sure you colonize all the planets in the
beginning system first, so that you will get extra food and research
from the h. farms and r. labs.
You will probably want to do the following in this order for a
colonizing blitz: research f. bays, a. factory, n. drive, freighters,
colony ship, standard fuel cell, then build the factory, freighter, one
scout, and all the colony ships you can. While you are building the
ships, have some of your population in research, and get the r. lab.
After you have the r. lab, get a better fuel cell.
It is also recommended to research the following tech first in order for
a successful game:
1. Research Lab - Gives you the early research you need to stay on equal
terms with you opponents (the computer usually researches this first
too)
2. Reinforced Hull - Gives extra protection for your star bases in case
of an early attack, and provided some extra insurance when attacking
planets with missile bases or fighter garrisons.
3. Automated Factories - More than doubles existing production, need I
say more?
4. Hydroponics Farm - Frees up one farmer to put to
research(recommended) or production if you prefer.
5. Neural Scanner - Gives a +10 spy bonus that makes stealing tech lot
easier if you opponent does not have this and can help defensive spies.
6. Supercomputer - This is the most important. If you assign most of
your population to research the supercomputer will help you bury your
opponents.
After you have achieved these technologies you should be ahead of or at
the very least equal to your opponents accelerated research. Now you can
quickly and easily research the following technologies that will
significantly increase the power of you ships.
1. Mass Driver - Class I Shield is so weak it is practically worthless.
2.Tritanium Armor - You can always steal the fuel cells and ships with
reinforced tritanium armor kill puny enemy ships that have only
titanium.
3. Fusion Beams - Fusion beams make much better point defense than
lasers.
4. Tachyon Communications - Gives extra command points for more ships
(has to be researched to get to neutron blasters)
5. Neutron Blasters - Kills marines and causes moderate damage making
ships easier to take over or destroy whatever your personality. I prefer
destroy.
In advanced civilizations, the first thing you want to do is the
obvious: look at what your colonies don't have, and build it. If the
systems you control have extra habitable planets that haven't been
colonized, colonize them immediately after the planet in that system has
an a. factory up. If you don't have a. factory, research it. If you
can't research it, seriously think about starting a new game. By the
time you get a. factory from any of the other races, they will have a
definite advantage over you, because I guarantee that the computer
players will trade that tech around with other computer players
immediately after the game starts.
========================================================================
=5. SHIP DESIGN =
========================================================================
Such infinite possibilities... In the beginning and even in the middle
of the game, the missile ship is a formidable weapon. Cheap but
powerful, it is ideal for emergencies and support in a fleet. Basic
design is to take a destroyer with a battle pod and put 2x missile racks
of mired nuclear micelles. The miry nukes are more damaging that any
missile, up until the murculite and the nuclear missile start to cost
the same, but at that point you should have a fleet of titans or doom
stars. The missile boat becomes especially useful when you have the
following tech: zortium armor, fast missile racks, battle pods, and
structural analyzer. This is a ship that can do between 300 to 600
damage in one combat turn, and with a bunch of these, you can definitely
smack the hell out of a target.
Your basic attack ship will be of the largest size you can build, fitted
with noting but heavy beam weapons. Unless your beam weapons suck,
always fit your ship with heavy armor, battle pods, maybe an ecm jammer
or a battle scanner, and as many of the second best HV modified beam
weapon, without any bombs or missiles. Use your second best beam weapon,
because usually you can do more damage with the increased number (it
would be a good idea to put a battle scanner on the ship). That only
applies when you have graviton beam and beyond.
A defender ship is a ship that you get with more advanced tech. It is a
ship that is meant to be targeted, and it is for destroying missiles
that are targeting other ships. Usually you can build this ship if you
have the creative ability, and it is great for small fleets. You fit a
cruiser with either inertia stabilizer or nullifier, multi-phase
shields, shield capacitors, augmented engines, and a lightning field if
you have it. It is also a good idea to put a battle scanner, heavy
armor, automated repair unit, and reinforced hull if you have those too.
The rest of the space should be filled with point defense mass drivers.
A capture ship is a cruiser fitted with a battle pod and all the assault
shuttles it can carry.
========================================================================
=6. RUNNING YOUR EMPIRE =
========================================================================
Try to centralize everything. Make a few planets do nothing but
research, make a few do nothing but farming, and make a few do nothing
but build ships. Even though your empire might get hit hard if it losses
its farming planet, but if you centralize everything, production and
research tend to go faster.
Hit system with monsters as soon as you have deuterium fuel cells and
battle pods, since most monsters do not survive the attack of 4 or 5
missile ships. Kill the guardian as soon as you can. If you are attack
by an antaren ship(s), try to build or refit ships with assault
shuttles. Most of the time you never capture a ship, but when you do,
you get a good ship that can be scraped for great tech.
Late in the game, if you have creative, you will have sufficient tech to
build 2 rare ship designs, the stealth ship and the drone. A drone is a
frigate fitted with a phasing cloak, a wide-area ecm jammer, and a warp
dissipitator. A stealth ship is basically an attack ship fitted with a
phasing cloak. Place several drones through out the enemy empire to
monitor their actions secretly.
THE TWO ROUTES TO SUCCESS
There are two possible routes to success in a game like MOOII -- long
term and short term. The long term almost guarantees a victory as long
as you can survive the initial onslaught offered by the short term
empires. Vice versa goes for the short term. Here's the description for
both strategies
THE LONG WAY TO VICTORY
First of all, you have to be playing a long term race. The best built in
races for this are the Meklars and the Psilons. The Psilons' Creativity
allow them to create killer fleets late in the game which no other race
can match, while the Meklars' production bonus allow them to get an
early start on colonization which allows them to offset any opponents'
advantages by sheer number of workforce
The idea is to keep your empire out of trouble until you have amassed a
big enough force to destroy everyone else. This works very well in
Pre-Warp civilizations with the largest galaxies -- this will give you
more than enough time to use your racial advantages to it's fullest.
FAST AND FURIOUS
This strategy is a good one and it allows you to play several games
within the timespan it takes to play a Long-term game. (Not as enjoyable
though, IMHO) The races best for this are the Mrrshans and the Elerians,
the warrior races. The Mrrshans have the Warlord ability, which allows
them to build more ships without experiencing maintenance problems,
plus, those ships start out one level higher than norms allowing you to
pump out Veteran crew with each ship. (Assuming you have the Space
Academy) The Elerians on the other hand, can build ships very quickly
due to their Feudalistic govt. and they don't need to bother with
Transports -- just Mind Control every colony you come across!
As you may have concluded from reading the paragraph above, the idea is
to churn out several ships, then seek and destroy everybody you come
across before the long term races can "set up". Hunting is easier on
small galaxies, and you deny the LT races the time to set up by choosing
Advanced Civilization.
========================================================================
=7. ADVANCED BLITZING =
========================================================================
Against merely impossible-level computer players, blitzing is a
virtually guaranteed win even in a huge universe.
Last weekend, I practiced blitzing in Impossible/Large/Average Age/8
Empire/Pre-warp universes with a Uni/Tel/AHW/RHW/LHW/Ship Attack +20
combo against the standard races. Until I grew very tired, I won by
conquest in every game by turn 190 to 210. Of course I refused a win by
vote at a much earlier stage.
In a huge universe, I think the most powerful combo is
Unif/Tele/Omni/AHW/RHW. Usually I don't pick Omni, but for QEC yes maybe
it's worth it. To blitz Tolerant, Lithovore, Subterranean, High
Population Growth, Creative, Science +2, Industry +2 races might be
difficult, yes. You certainly wouldn't want one of those for an initial
eighbor: I had enough trouble fending off aggro Psilons when Mentar
started off within Deuterium distance - they always seemed to have
Tritanium Heavy Armor and maybe Missile Bases by the time I reached them
(turn 60 odd), and soon they'd retaliate with a Battleship of their own.
Against humans, I KNOW that good human players can defend against
blitzing, even in small galaxies, and your best chance in blitzing
humans is to find someone who has adopted a rapid expansion strategy
(i.e. Unified/Tolerant), and eat them a bite at a time.
There seems little more to learn from the AI's strategies. Against
impossible-level computer players, here is the drill to win:
During all research, I will generally research until between 25 - 50%
chance of breakthrough, and then shift EVERYONE to production. Even if
you have NOBODY researching and 0 RP, you still get the accumulated
probability each turn.
So I keep only one person on production until the research has a decent
chance of breakthrough (25-50%), then I shift everybody to production
until the breakthrough occurs, then I shift all but one person back to
research. Anyway, with this prelude, here is the process.
1. Keep one person on production at all times, accumulating resources
for when you want them.
2. First research Computers and Research Labs, and build a lab.
3. Then research Reinforced Hull and Factories, and build a factory.
4. Then research Power and Chemistry.
5. Build a scout to poke around. The range with ext. fuel cells will be
exactly the same as you will have after researching Duet, so you can
plan your outposts. Make the scout with ext. fuel and reinforced hull,
but no weapons.
6. Research Deut. fuel.
7. Research outposts.
8. Build a string of outposts to your target race. Pick a good slave
race for your first target: tolerant, etc., and pick somone fairly
close. (I will go further for a good slave race rather than hit a closer
race that is not as good.) Sakkra, Silicoid, Klackon, Trilarian have
served well.
9, Upon building your last outpost, you will know how far it is to the
target, i.e. whether your cruiser will need
ext. fuel cellsand what technology your target has, so how much
firepower you will need to defeat him.
10. Build one or two missile cruisers as necessary, ALONG with your
weaponless scout. You will have to judge based on the technology of your
target whether you need to research level 3 chemistry in order to get
MIRV nukes (more than 2x as effective). Use hit and run. When attacking,
move your scout back to the rear corner as quickly as
possible. [Fire] both volleys of missiles from your Cruiser(s), and So
that's two salvos of as many missiles as will fit.
then retreat your Cruiser(s). Having the scout staying around will
ensure that all of your missiles hit.
11, Attack and conquer slave race. With a good slave race, you can move
nearly all manufacturing to slave race (more ships and outposts), and
shift your home world to strictly research (except one person).
12. Pick next race to conquer, and repeat.
13. Typical results: first conquest turn 40-50. Second conquest turn
60-80. Galaxy conquered turn 130 - 160.
========================================================================
=8. COLONIZATION - HOW TO GET STARTED =
========================================================================
One of the nice things about MOOII is that you can colonize hostile
planets immediately. Unlike the original Master of Orion, where you had
to research Controlled Tundra environment, and other Controlled
environments!
Actually, this feature offers beginners pits to fall on. Do not waste
your time (and your colony ship) colonizing the first planet you can get
your hands on - be choosy! The 2 governing features to look for in a
planet are it's mineral abundance, and size (not population capacity,
those are two different things). Next is the Gravity, and lastly the
environment. When choosing a planet, try to determine the amount of
production it can give off at full population, against the amount of
time required to get it running.
When you start a new colony, make sure you have enough freighters and
surplus food to feed the colonists. The idea is to keep all those
pioneers busy doing Industry until they can stabilize and feed
themselves. In other words, keep those colonists building Automated
Factories, Soil Enrichment, Terraforming, whatever, instead of making
them feed themselves.
Toxic planets are the worst planets in the game. You can't Terraform
them! Unlike Radiated, in which you can erect a Radiation shield which
converts it to Barren. Toxic planets are hopeless planets, so avoid
them.
When you start a new colony, you have to make the build queue count.
There are buildings which boost a colony's capabilities. The production
boosters should be the first to go for -- they allow you to bring out
the other stuff much quicker. Morale boosters are great, but only if
there is something for them to boost. They work best in a planet already
in optimum production. Cloning Centers are good starters for a colony,
that's what I build first. They boost population growth. After all, what
good are the other facilities if there's no one to use them? I follow up
with production boosters and pollution controllers. My first building
list looks like this:
Building Queue:
Cloning Center
Automated Factory
Pollution Processor
Robo Miners Plant
Atmospheric Renewer
Marine Barracks
Biospheres can also be used instead of the Cloning Center, but you'll
have to send in additional pioneers from already developed planets. As
soon as that building queue is finished, you can branch out to several
choices. Do you want to fortify it and deny the enemy the opportunity to
conquer it? Do you want to boost production some more by building Morale
boosters? Or maybe turn it into a paradise? It's up to you to judge what
to do with this colony. The initial queue is just there to prepare the
colony for whatever you want to do with it.
========================================================================
=9. MILITARY TACTICS =
========================================================================
While missiles are good early on I found that they don't do much good in
a large galaxy, therefore I need a good computer (Cybertronic) and a
good beam weapon. Lasers with all the upgrades work great until you get
the graviton beam