OT: MOO3

[Raapys]

If you're going to be playing stock, at least try to get a hold of the "Visbility Bug", "Finance Wraparound Bug" and "Tech Stuck Bug " exe-patches, as each one of these bugs are just about game-breaking.

Not sure why the duplicate race fix doesn't work. It's working fine here, but it's been so long since I installed the stuff that I can't remember if you have to manually apply some of those exe patches that follows or whatnot. And while many of the changes are 'opinionated', as you say, that's mostly just in strawberry and tropical. Vanilla is pretty much how the stock game 'should have been', so that's what I'd recommend if you didn't care for Tropical.

For the positive features, I'd have to go with, as I mentioned already, the whole planet/economy/development-plans system. It's just lightyears ahead of all other 4x's. And while I'm sure alot of people will disagree, I think the technology system also does its job very well( technologies spread over 5 research areas ); I think it gets sort of tedious and strange to select every single tech to research, in other 4x games. I also like the rather original 'Council Room' feature, although it could perhaps have been utilized better. Leaders are definitely cool, too. The game also got an epic feeling to it that no other 4x game I've played has had, except possibly MoO2 to a lesser degree( because of the superb MoO2 soundtrack and *the stellar converter miniclip* ).

As for the negative, I'd have to say that just about everything related to combat and ship management is rather poorly thought-out, and there's tons of stuff to be desired regarding task force management, tactics/strategies, etc. I mean, the only options available for task forces( and thus ships ) is to either Move them, or Disband them, that's it. Espionage is also something that's not nearly good enough.
I also miss the space monster/antaran events from MoO2.

[Wade]

Visbility Bug", "Finance Wraparound Bug" and "Tech Stuck Bug "

Will you explain these bugs, please? I do not remember encountering them when I used to play.

[Raapys]

The visibility bug is basically symptoms of the malfunctioning stock ECM/ECCM systems in MoO3. Ships will, apparantly without reason, change between being visible and invisible, even if they're inside sensor range.

The Finance Wraparound bug is a problem where very large empires who's income in a single turn exceeds a certain amount suddenly goes bankrupt, ending the game.

The stuck techs bug is quite literally what the name indicates; there's a chance technologies you try to research will stay in the "Research Items" box indefinitely, never finishing.

[Wade]

Okay. Thanks Raapys! I now remember encountering these but not the "Stuck Tech". I always thought that the ships appearing and disappearing as they maneuvered was do to the opposing electronic systems battling each other. I agree that it was very annoing.

I will now install the Vanilla upgrade because looking again at the list I see that they are all reasonable and some were very needed or wanted.

http://www.moo3.at/mods/index.php?ac...aycat&catid=17

As for the artificial intelligence in Master of Orion III, I played on "Hard" level(the third out of four) and remember the AI using war, espionage, diplomacy, and research well.

[capnq]

Raapys said: For the positive features, [...] while I'm sure alot of people will disagree, I think the technology system also does its job very well( technologies spread over 5 research areas ); I think it gets sort of tedious and strange to select every single tech to research, in other 4x games.

That was one of the things I liked about Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, the "blind research" rules option. I'd enjoy a game that combined that with MoO's uncertainty about how long the research will take.

(I've only played the original MoO. I once ordered a copy of MoO2 from Amazon; they said they'd notify me "when" it was back in stock, but I never heard about it again from them.)

[StarShadow]

I'm having an odd problem, my budget goes straight to hell if I scrap ships. I scrapped 34 ships at one point and my modest surplus of about 100AU per turn, turned into a huge -2500AU deficit! What is going on?

[AgentZero]

That's MoO3 sucking.... your money away! Geddit? Geddit?

[SothoTalKer]

If the publisher and the developer would have cared more about the game it could have become much better. But unlike SEV which also has its flaws but gets improved constantly, MoO3 has been abandoned. If you let people hack the exe just to fix bugs it is clearly a sign that you don't care anymore.
It is a disappointment for all MoO2 fans that expected a sequel with a similar gameplay. But if you view it unbiased it is an OK game - you have to work around the bugs, apply fanmade patches to make it more enjoyable. You have to get used to the macromanagement, though.

[Ragnarok-X]

Well, the money interface is pretty broken. There is a thread about it in the atariboards. I remember that it goes like this: The amount that is displayed is not really your actual treasure, a few budget "positions" are missing.

[cshank2]

Well, I reinstalled MOO3 last night. Got the Tropical and 1024x768 mods. Game isn't half bad now.


(Yes, I'm being serious.)