Somebody pointed this one out to me today. I'm passing it on here:
"Master of Orion" is a classic, but in terms of visuals and interface
(not to mention code) it's a bit long in the tooth. So for those of
you who don't want to play it in a DOSBox window, you may wish to give >"Remnants of the Precursors" a try. It's a free* recreation of the
original, with very little in the way of enhancements or
'improvements'. Mostly it's the same game with a slightly more modern
GUI and less pixelacious graphics. Even the official remake (that came
out in 2016) isn't as true to its forebear.
Available here:
https://rayfowler.itch.io/remnants-of-the-precursors
For purists, there is another option to play MOO without DosBox. It is
called 1oom. This is the original game (old graphics and all) but now
it works in Windows. It also has extra features you can turn on and
off. Just download the x64 version, copy your MOO game files into the
same directory as 1oom and run 1oom_classic_sdl2.exe -->
Interesting. I never really minded the DOSBox window myself, so I
can't really see the point of this port. But obviously some people
took issue with it, and decided to do something about it. Besides,
more MOO is always a good thing, so I'm not complaining. ;-)
Downloaded and dutifully archived on the file-server. One day I might
give even it a try ;-)
Thanks for pointing it out, MikeS!
On Tue, 30 Sep 2025 10:41:31 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson ><spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
Thank you for pointing out Remnants of the Precursors. I will be
keeping an eye on this one. I always go back to MOO and I like what I
saw with this version.
On Tue, 30 Sep 2025 13:52:47 -0400, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com>
wrote:
On Tue, 30 Sep 2025 10:41:31 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
Thank you for pointing out Remnants of the Precursors. I will be
keeping an eye on this one. I always go back to MOO and I like what I
saw with this version.
It's amazing how well the game holds up after all these years.
Arguably MOO2 is the better game, but I always preferred the first; it
had a streamlined simplicity that made it easier to
'pick-up-n-play'... at least for me.
MOO2 always felt a bit kitchen-sinky to me, where the developers were
adding features for the sake of adding features (or more likely, so
they'd have something to market on the back of the box as to why to
play the newer game if you already owned the first). Too often that
approach results in a game that feels top-heavy and poorly paced. In
the case of MOO2, it all worked out, but I think that was as much luck
as anything.
It's why I think the Master of Orion games *still* remain top of the
genre thirty years on. All the competitors try to be MOO-Plus, and I
don't think that Plus really adds to their games (or, at least, the
Plus adds as many disadvantages as it adds advantages).
It's amazing how well the game holds up after all these years.
Arguably MOO2 is the better game, but I always preferred the first; it
had a streamlined simplicity that made it easier to
'pick-up-n-play'... at least for me.
MOO2 always felt a bit kitchen-sinky to me, where the developers were
adding features for the sake of adding features (or more likely, so
they'd have something to market on the back of the box as to why to
play the newer game if you already owned the first). Too often that
approach results in a game that feels top-heavy and poorly paced. In
the case of MOO2, it all worked out, but I think that was as much luck
as anything.
On Tue, 30 Sep 2025 14:19:51 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
It's amazing how well the game holds up after all these years.
Arguably MOO2 is the better game, but I always preferred the first; it
had a streamlined simplicity that made it easier to
'pick-up-n-play'... at least for me.
Exactly. I like that you only need to build factories - not twenty or
more different buildings.
MOO2 always felt a bit kitchen-sinky to me, where the developers were
adding features for the sake of adding features (or more likely, so
they'd have something to market on the back of the box as to why to
play the newer game if you already owned the first). Too often that
approach results in a game that feels top-heavy and poorly paced. In
the case of MOO2, it all worked out, but I think that was as much luck
as anything.
I haven't played MOO2 yet, although I do own it. Hopefully, I get
around to it at some point. I am guessing I will like it, but not as
much as the first.
Mike S. wrote:
On Tue, 30 Sep 2025 14:19:51 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
I didn't like MOO3. It was weird - like a spreadsheet. I think I had trouble entering my commands.
I didn't like MOO3. It was weird - like a spreadsheet. I think I had >trouble entering my commands.
The 2016 remake is pretty good and I'm only recently making progress in
it. I guess it's a remake because it's simply titled "Masters of
Orion." It has a lot of depth and you can turn the Antarans Attacks off
if they are knocking you around like a sack of wet potatoes. Also I
have it set to written Deutsch and spoken English which is fascinating.
On 10/1/2025 11:25 AM, Praetor Mandrake wrote:
Mike S. wrote:
On Tue, 30 Sep 2025 14:19:51 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
I didn't like MOO3. It was weird - like a spreadsheet. I think I had
trouble entering my commands.
No one liked MOO3. Even though I knew it was supposedly bad, I still
bought it (though no where near release,) and still regretted it. And I >like spreadsheets.
Well apparently some people liked it as 54% give it a thumbs up on
Steam, although that's out of a whopping 164 reviews.
| Sysop: | DaiTengu |
|---|---|
| Location: | Appleton, WI |
| Users: | 1,073 |
| Nodes: | 10 (0 / 10) |
| Uptime: | 217:55:27 |
| Calls: | 13,783 |
| Calls today: | 1 |
| Files: | 186,987 |
| D/L today: |
505 files (159M bytes) |
| Messages: | 2,434,736 |