I post this in the general forum just because I know many of you have never played
Master of Orion, and had not considered doing so. But if you like strategy games at
all, whether you currently have the game or not, I would like you invite you to join
in the MOO Imperium games -- get in on the ground floor.

Here's a post I made in the MOO forum specifically aimed at the utter newbie (like me)
Top Ten Reasons for Utter News to TRY Master of Orion

Now, back to our regularly scheduled non-game off-topic discussion! (And may I give a big
wave to my RB friends - I hope you like the new boards! :D )

Charis

I'm a total, 100%, absolutely newb in MOO. And I would like to give my strongest encouragement
for all lurkers, Realms Beyond friends, MOO fans of the past, and most of all, utter newbies,
to give Master of Orion a try, and specifically... play the first Imperium!

Here's my top ten reasons to play list --

10. Installation is painless and does not threaten your system in any way.
I had it up and going on Win2K in minutes. No special programs, just click on compatibility mode and go
9. If you hated MOO3, don't let that stop you. I loathe MOO3 and can confirm the
games only share a common name and the most superficial of elements.
8. The interface is highly intuitive and not hard to master, not a gazillion levels of subscreens
7. If you've played Civilization (I/II/III) before and understand the concepts of rapid expansion
and of emphasizing growth and production early on, you are already a better than average
MOO player and will not be lost in this Imperium.
6. The game is 'simple' enough that 'cause and effect' is evident. This sounds small but is a huge
factor in improving the user experience for the newbie. (Yet it's complex enough that is has some
of the best strategy gamers around coming back after a decade. Now that's longevity!!
5. I am not one prone to like space games and yet my initial try with this game shows it to have
more potential that I might like it than any other I've tried. I've been told it makes no sense, but
I loved Warcraft and hated Starcraft. If you're also averse to space-based games but like a good
strategy game, I encourage you to try it for yourself.
4. Check out Sirian's web pages. He goes into painstaking detail and has tons of screenshots
AND solid strategic advice. Specially, if you're as rank as newbie as I am, do not miss his tutorial!!
Sirian's Tutorial at - http://sirian.warpcore.org/moo1/tutorial.html
I played through this, diverged on my own once I understood what I was doing, and won
a diplomatic victory at almost exactly the point in time where I felt, "Hmmm, I think I'm actually going
to win this game". MOO is FAR nicer in giving up the win at the point you have a won game.
3. A game can be completed, even by a newbie, in far less time than you might be used to in
other games. I'm one of the worlds slowest strategy game players, as I pore over all decisions,
but I was able to start, finish, and win my first game, all while reading the tutorial and learning
the interface in just one night. Sure the more difficult games will take longer, but if you're
on the fence wondering whether to try this or not -- there's nothing to lose
2. Cost is low, it doesn't take much time, and if you've not played in a Realms Beyond Epic before,
there is absolutely no better way to learn than to see a dozen or so other players report on
their experiences on the exact same map and with the same goals. It's nothing short of an epiphany!

1. Last but not least... when did Charis ever steer you wrong?!?! B)

I've got so much going on it's with mixed emotion I try something new, but here's what I'm going to
do -- play the first two Imperia and take it from there. Will you join me?? :war:

Pardon for this thread spam, but I felt the newbie's voice needed to be heard!
Charis

One of the top things that makes this game frustrating is the lack of a good way to look up the techs. I love Civ3 and the science screens. From there I can see every tech, what is brings in buildings / units, and requirements to get there.

I have never found a screen like that in GalCiv. I found one spreadsheet to download, but the CanBuild column was blank. Does anyone have an idea where a good reference for the game is. I suspect I need something that I can print, as alt-tabbing out of the game is slow.

I've posted an analysis of MOO technologies at My Webpage. Rather than examine each tech one at a time, I sort by field and then by function, which is in my view the best way to think of the technologies.

In most cases, we're looking at a handful of concepts with multiple upgrades, where later versions work the same as earlier versions, but cheaper, faster, or better. My analysis deals with the core concepts in a package I hope players both new and old will find insightful. I also hope this will ease the learning curve for new players making the jump from "learning how to play" into "figuring out strategy", perhaps even give folks enough information to be able to make choices in the first Imperium game with at least some confidence, and a place to refer back to (in addition to the game's manual, which is actually quite helpful) for some guidance.

I've also posted a reference for keyboard commands.


- Sirian

Epic Forty: The Hittite Cosmonauts has been announced, and will open Monday, April 5. Epic Forty will feature a new Conquests civ, but will be revisiting an older variant to see how things play out in Conquests. Please note that this Epic will be played in Conquests version 1.15 (the beta patch), although a newer patch is available. This is a small-map Epic, and I hope that will give players an opportunity to complete the game before patching if they choose.

-Griselda

My sporadic Diablo II addiction has finally resulted in my first (yes, really) solo Patriarch. Woot!

Wolf the Werewolf

Jaffa

4:42 EST, Friday April 2nd. I make a Hell game with the idea of just wasting ten minutes, and I get "Diablo Walks the Earth". I'll give it a shot, but I doubt this char can handle it. Anyone care to join RBD9 to lend a hand?

-- CH

Engaging Rantmode.

Flee now as this is bound to be inflamatory.

Just go... I about to say things that are terrible... If you don't any part of the flames, exit.

The economy is in the toilet and the white folks who live where I live are lazy as hell, not to mention they seem to have this strange idea that they are better then everybody else and deserve better.

Ahhhh... Much better. Allow me to explain. And no, there will be no apologies.

The economy where I live is in the toilet. A lot of business are suffering. A lot of folks have gone to war and closed up shop. It's hard to find a good job. There is a massive influx of migrant workers that have pretty much taken over the simple jobs, like roofing and labour. It's tough all over.

What I have been dealing with over the past few weeks is total hell... Complete breakdown. I have so many people coming to my agencies looking for work that it's not funny... Yet I am having a damned hard time actually filling jobs... I have LOTS of jobs lined up. LOTS. I have spots in bakeries, dairies, ag work, LOTS of jobs. I am practically tearing out my damned hair trying to keep up with open spots and filling them.

Every frigging bloody day I am getting reports of white folks coming in, asking for jobs, and when they are told what jobs are available, almost with out fail, will say something to the effect of "***damn that's n****r work and I wont do it."

Here's how it works... Everybody starts at the bottom. In the dairy jobs, everybody starts washing milk crates. Stacking crates, washing crates, loading crates into the distro centre warehouse so they can be filled with milk and sent to stores. Crates are brought back and they are covered in grocery store filth. You get the picture. Now, the dairy uses this as their hiring pool for all their truck drivers and such. At the bakeries, it's working in the flour room... Which is brutal I am told. It's hotter then hell, flour dust is in the air, and you spend the whole day moving 50 pound flour sacks off of a truck and on to a pallet. Other folks toss bags on to hand dollies and move them to the prep and mix rooms. It is hard back breaking work... But it's honest and at the end of the day you get to take home lots of bread or dairy products to feed your family. Pay is minimum, but, it's a foot in the door and people that serve their time are promised better jobs as soon as they are open. It's not a good job, but, it's money and food. Beggars can't be choosers.

Ignorant Redneck comes in and the very idea of scrubbing crates or getting off his fat ass and tossing sacks is offensive to him. He wants a truck driving job with the business. He seems to be under the impression that he is owed a better job... Because he is white. He curses, complains, threatens lawsuits over "unfair treatment" and generally makes a real jackass of himself. He disrupts the whole procedure, takes up time and resources by coming in, wastes the time of my workers, (Who are on MY dime) and his profane and racist behaviour leaves everybody in said agency feeling uneasy and worried. I have had death threats, threats of violence and or damage, and general mayhem. The police have had to be called at least 8 times that I know about in the past 3 weeks to remove misbehaving applicants. Said applicants who think they are to good to work go down the street and talk to United Way or one of the welfare agencies and get the free hand out they now feel they are entitled to, being the victim of "Cruel and racist hiring practices that make it impossible for decent white folks to get work." And I am quoting my friend and comrade in arms that heads up the United Way.

I am going frigging crazy. Every frigging day, it's more and more reports. Stacks of paper work. People emailing me and calling me wanting to know why I am not keeping them supplied with workers and keeping up with my end of the many contracts that rule my life. Exchanging goods for labour is really biting me in my frigging ass right now. I would like nothing more then to pay a visit to where these lazy jerks live and go and have a chat with their wife about why the whole family is eating government cheese and peanut butter. I can find out where they live... They put their address on the application... I sure as hell bet the Missus would have something to say. What stops me? Common decency? I dunno. I worry about the unemployment rate, I don't need to fiddle with the damn divorce rates.

I will the first to say that hard work is for chumps. I hated hard back breaking work. I am sure most folks do. But busting your ass is a part of life. You keep doing it till you can afford to be lazy. You work your damn ass off till you can make a grab and make something of your self in life. That crack in my ass? I nearly finished breaking it trying to make my way in the world. And now when I should be enjoying my retirement I am busy busting my ass trying to make sure that other folks get a fair shake in life. And these bozos go and screw everything sideways to Sundays.

I can't fix this. I am nearly at the end of my rope. My wit's end. I can't throw money at it. I can't threaten it. I can't strong arm it, barter with it, or reason with it. I can not apply a bigger hammer. This is one of those occasions in my life where I am completely powerless to fix or otherwise change a situation that I strongly dislike. Hate even. I have nothing but bad mean hateful spiteful things to say now.

I think I am in need of a vacation. I am tired of all this CRAP. I am old and I have better things I could be doing with my time. Like playing games. Having long and in depth chats with my goats. Go chasing after my wife who is usually out chasing butterflies. There are so many better things I could be doing.

I am burnt out.

Thought I'd start this so we can list the known isues and bugs in the game for easy reference, and to let those who may not have played the game extensively know what to look out for.

1. 300 pop planet bug:
- This occurs when you have a planet that will max out at 300 population and you select 'yes' for any of the 'increase planetary spending by X%" buttons once a tech is discovered.
- The planet spending slider will NOT change once the planet's size is increased, so must be changed manually or else you will potentially waste hundreds or thousands of credits worth of production.
- Typically occurs if you capture Orion and have the "Complete Terraforming" and "Advanced Soil Enrichment" technologies.

Bolty is not charging us for hosting (or installation of) our forums. Nor is he putting up a "See who's Lurking the Lounge! :axe: h34r: " popup. However, the hosting itself isn't free. One of the reasons he's able to host us is that the Lounge is on a dedicated server with quite a bit of data transfer available per month. This hosting costs $100/month.

If you would like to contribute to these costs, see this page.

-Griselda