Genre: Strategy / tactics
Pacing: Turn-based
Gameplay: 4X, Managerial / business simulation, Turn-based strategy
Setting: Sci-fi / futuristic
Published by: MicroProse Software
Developed by: SimTex
Released: 1996
Platform: DOS
Review of any game should be critical and neutral - these are the advantages, these are the disadvantages. But even so, only one thing can be said about the Master of Orion II: it is a masterpiece. The game fully met the expectations of the fans of the first part and became a classic and an example of the genre. Compared to Master of Orion I, the game has SIGNIFICANTLY improved and developed absolutely everything, from the interface and graphics to combat and the economy, but at the same time all the advantages and atmosphere of the first part are preserved - a rare example of the golden mean.
The goal and means of achieving it are the same as in the first part: using a wide choice of military, sabotage, economic or diplomatic methods, you expand your state and eliminate opponents, achieving victory either by destroying all enemies, or by winning the "popular" (more precisely, " all-racial ") presidential elections; there is also a third ending option, but more about it below.
These elections are held - regardless of your desire - regularly, if the vast majority of the planets on the map are inhabited (by any race), and they are always tense, there is a tough "pre-election struggle". The scale of the map corresponds to the real one: now the star is not equated to the planet and can have up to 5 planets, each of which can be populated, if its conditions permit; to increase the range of your fleets, you can create not a colony on the planet, but an outpost (without population and buildings) - it's not a pity to lose it; you must also fight for each planet separately.
One of the best innovations is the presence of leaders in the game, each of which has its own unique characteristics and develops them over time, gaining new titles. Leaders can be commanders of ships or governors of star systems, all of them are individuals who live according to the laws of the Master of Orion II game world: they can be hired by any race (not only you), and when their ship (system) is destroyed, they can die. The number of leaders is limited, so by the turn of the 250th, almost all of them will be hired by someone. You can, of course, do without them, but they greatly increase the effectiveness of your actions, so it makes sense to hire them; you can have 4 commanders and 4 governors in service at the same time.
The beginning of the game and its course. There can be a huge variety of options here. You choose 1 of 13 ready-made races that have their pros and cons, and (this is best) you can create your own race, giving it any features: for this you will have 10 points, each plus (for example, the ability of the race to live without problems on planets of oceanic type, or, hmm, there are stones instead of food) takes away points, each minus (for example, weakened defense of ships) adds. Then you need to choose the size and characteristics of the galaxy, the number of races in it and the same starting level for them - Pre Warp (1 planet, no fleet and technologies), Average (1 planet, small fleet, basic technologies) or Advanced (5 planets in different stellar systems, a decent fleet, medium technologies), as well as the level of difficulty, the ability to control the battle in space (do not turn it off in any case!), the presence of random events and attacks by Antarans (about them below). I would especially like to say about the highest level of difficulty (Impossible): the enemy there not only has more material advantages (including bonuses for the race), but, most importantly, he is smarter, therefore, it is much more interesting to fight him.
Economy. The planet control screen is simple, user-friendly, straightforward and reminiscent of the Master of Magic. Figures of soldiers and tanks on the screen show ground troops defending the planet, figures of inhabitants - its population. Each inhabitant (1 figure corresponds to 1 million) can be a farmer, worker or scientist, in addition, having studied a special technology, in addition to the inhabitants, you can build androids that perform all these works. The inhabitants of the planet pay taxes, consume food, conduct scientific research, can build ships or upgrade those already in service, train scouts, create buildings, planetary defense or terraforming systems, and convert their working potential (Industry) into population growth (Housing) or money (Trade Goods). What are some space minefields or the creation of a planet from asteroids! In general, all this must be seen, especially since the graphics - for that time - are magnificent.
Economy. The planet control screen is simple, user-friendly, straightforward and reminiscent of the Master of Magic. Figures of soldiers and tanks on the screen show ground troops defending the planet, figures of inhabitants - its population. Each inhabitant (1 figure corresponds to 1 million) can be a farmer, worker or scientist, in addition, having studied a special technology, in addition to the inhabitants, you can build androids that perform all these works. The inhabitants of the planet pay taxes, consume food, conduct scientific research, can build ships or upgrade those already in service, train scouts, create buildings, planetary defense or terraforming systems, and convert their working potential (Industry) into population growth (Housing) or money (Trade Goods). What are some space minefields or the creation of a planet from asteroids! In general, all this must be seen, especially since the graphics - for that time - are magnificent.
Diplomacy and Intelligence. There are a lot of opportunities here, just like in life. You can put forward different requirements to other races (up to the transfer of their ships or star systems to you), regulate the relations of this race with any other, make all sorts of proposals - including those from which "they cannot refuse," and computer ambassadors, in their turn, they may be offended and not communicate with you for a while. In the game, various political blocs (usually long-lasting) of allies and "sympathizers" are formed, which is reflected in the presidential elections. But reconnaissance and sabotage activities in the game are not sufficiently developed, it all comes down to the percentage probability of success with an admixture of randomness: you just need to have more intelligence officers and counterintelligence officers and hope that they are lucky. But the minus is, frankly, small.
The science. The basic principle here is the same as in the first part: all scientific work is divided into topics (there are 8 of them here), and topics into sections, each of which contains 1-4 studies. The bottom line is that you can only complete one research from each section, and the rest of the technologies can only be obtained through diplomacy or intelligence, but if your race has the Creative trait, then you will conduct all the research of the section at once, and for the price of one. The technologies here are more numerous and varied than in Master of Orion I, but their importance is still great, and it is almost impossible to "crush" the enemy's fleet, which is technically much superior to yours, by numbers. In general, technology is the basis of everything: development, production, income and, of course, a successful war.
Hostilities. They are divided into 3 types: battles in space, orbital bombing (to start them, you must first win in a space battle), ground battles. It makes sense to single out orbital bombardments because they have now become metered: your fleet can immediately use all firepower on the planet, incinerating everything and everyone there, or it can fire gradually and after the destruction of enemy troops on it, or take the remaining inhabitants and buildings with bare hands , or (if for some reason you do not need to take this planet away from this race) proudly turn around and leave, demonstrating the power - well, downright R. Heinlein's novel "Star Rangers". Ground battles have hardly changed, and the one who has more troops and they are better wins, and there is a small element of randomness, but, alas, there is no control - we note another small minus of the game. But here's a big plus is the optional extermination of the inhabitants of occupied planets, and their assimilation, and at first they will work through the stump-deck because of dissatisfaction, but then they will get used to it.
And finally, space battles. This is the main "highlight" of both parts of the game and the main means of achieving victory. Now there are no squads of the same type of ships with an indication of the number, and you control EVERY ship that has its own characteristics (including the name and experience of the crew). There are no longer 6 types of ships, as in the first part, but an unlimited number, create as many of them as you want, if the type is outdated, then it does not matter - the ship can be upgraded; therefore, it is no longer necessary to rent ships for scrap in order to build newer ones. All types of ships in the second part are divided into 6 classes (do not confuse the concepts of "type" and "class"!), Differing in size, and the size determines the number of the crew and free space, that is, in the end, all the data of the ship: firepower, speed, survivability and so on. So the best ship is Doomstar, capable of single-handedly defeating entire fleets, but in order to build it, you need to crank out some kind of scientific and industrial work.
Each planet can now have 1 orbital base (a stationary analogue of a ship), and in addition, some very powerful weapons can be installed directly on the planet. Many important and interesting details have been added to the space battles themselves (including boarding skirmishes, automatic fighters and bombers, escape pods) and technical details - now each ship can not only move, but also unfold, each weapon has a range and a sector of fire; Damage does not fall on the total Hit Points, as in the first part, but specifically on the force field, case or system, any weapon or computer may fail ... The list of innovations goes on and on.
And finally, there are a number of other features. In Master of Orion II, as in the first part, there is a very important planet Orion (logical!), Which I advise you to visit before your opponents. I will not retell the plot of the game, but in the second part it turns out that on this very planet Orion, the former center of a great civilization, there is not only an evil Guardian, but also more friendly personalities, extremely influential, moreover. And the enemies of the great civilization - "pretty in all respects" Antarans - have not disappeared anywhere and together with all sorts of space creatures will periodically attack the planets of different races. You can find the lair of these villains and, by defeating them, unite all races, thereby completing the game and becoming a regular hero of all issues of the local mega-popular news agency GNN.
How exactly to complete the game - only you decide, that's why the name "Master of Orion". As a result, we can say: Master of Orion II will arouse interest (to one degree or another, of course) among all those who are fond of computer games.