![]() The tech tree has only nine technologies in it. And so begins the cornucopia of bad decisions that ultimately became Starships. Gameplay is split into two halves – a tactical map of the galaxy where you perform tech upgrades, build ships, improve your planets, call diplomatic meetings, and decide where your fleet will go, and a hex-tile-based map where ship combat is resolved. You set the size of the galaxy and the game difficulty, and you’re off to the races. You get to choose your ruler and sort of their philosophy they have different bonuses to production and starting position. It’s not like Civ ever had a plot either. There’s no plot to speak of – your race is expanding into the galaxy and runs into other races – and I’m fine with that. The game actually starts in very MOO-like fashion. And for those of you with short attention spans, let me distill this review down for you – he failed. The thought then that my personal demigod Sid Meier would try to distill the ten gallon 4X Civilization experience down into a high-octane shot glass set my heart all aflutter. But running MOO these days is a kludgey mess of Dosbox and homebrewed sound card drivers (haven’t tried the GOG version – perhaps that’s easier). It had a huge research tree, an infinite number of ships that could be designed, and a succulent simplicity to both diplomacy and planet management that allowed you to complete most games in about two hours (some, in small galaxies set on impossible difficulty, could be over one way or another in well under an hour). ![]() For me, that was where Master of Orion came in (again, the first one – for some reason the later ones were never as good IMHO). And while you can hit save on a game of Civ 5 and come back to it later, we’ve all heard the Bataan death march drum beat of capturing one more city, building one more military unit, researching one more technology, completing construction of that wonder… and, crap, the sun has come up. But there are times, and I’m sure the 4X gamers among you will agree, when you don’t have twenty hours in one big chunk to devote to conquering the world, or you have to actually be coherent the next day and can’t game until the dawn’s early light. I spent more hours playing Civilization (the first one, you damned kids, now get off my lawn!) back in graduate school than mankind has collectively devoted to trying to cure cancer. I dedicated my PhD thesis to him, my wife and I have named our two daughters Sid and Meier (for which they never will forgive me), and I have a tattoo of his name on a spot on my body none of you will ever get to see (though we’re thinking of having a contest at the venerable GO Network, so that could change for a few lucky among you). Let me start off by saying I’m a huge fan of Sid Meier. The Bad: And does a really crappy job of it! Diplomacy – presented as a handful of canned discussion choices with other leaders – is especially rudimentary, seemingly serving no function beyond providing a means of declaring war or suing for peace.The Good: Sid Meier does Master of Orion! The interface is admittedly a tad clumsy in spots – pop-ups don’t always provide all the information you’d expect, and there are a few needless submenus that could have been folded into information presented elsewhere – but I felt I had a pretty good grasp on everything inside an hour.Ī bigger issue for some could be that the strategy at the galactic scale feels pretty basic compared to that to which veteran Civilization players are accustomed. Upgrading a planet is simply a matter of mousing over it and clicking an icon – build a city, build a wonder, build improvements – that interests you. ![]() There are no giant research trees to puzzle over, no workers to manage, no special resources to discover and develop. Article content 2K GamesĪdministrating all of this is a piece of cake. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |