Well like some have been saying, it’s a deceptive game. There’s a lot of complexity buried beneath a simple facade. You’ve got a lot to learn about good techs, research priorities, etc. And that’s to say nothing of getting used to the AI/enemy behaviors.
I’m trying to recall what I know about the AI. FWIW, this is a great Master of Orion resource, but it doesn’t have those sorts of answers. From spotty memory:
AI has a revealed map.
AI is not bound by same economic rules as the player. This can lead to absurd stack sizes for them in long running games, although that was partly to do with a bug that was fixed in a late patch IIRC. And there are ways to handle those stacks.
AI probably gets enhanced colony growth.
Points #2 and #3 are probably dependent on the difficulty. Play enough and you’ll find normal brain dead. :)
Really? Maybe the interface, but I actually preferred the character design in MOO1 to MOO2 (especially the Meklar).
But I’m also a staunch defender of MOO1, so…
Yes, the strategy guide goes into insane amounts of detail (and also corrects the manual in places), including the various things that the AI does. It also explains what happens if you, for example, let the AI auto-design your ships (p. 111). Very useful information.
That strategy guide is an amazing piece of work. It was easily the best strategy guide I had ever bought. Regretted giving it away to a complete stranger who approached me through a friend. He practically begged me for it because his kid loved the game and it was out of print. And I have a soft heart for kids who loves games.
In my current game, I had scouts hit an artifact plant on the first unexplored one and it was range 6 propulsion. Needless to say, it’s now midgame and I have three times the planets of the next AI. Nobody has declared war on me yet either, oddly enough. Best start ever and it’s not when I was relentlessly addicted to the game.
I have a recollection of Reach For the Stars basically being a computer version of Avalon Hill’s Stellar Conquest, but it has been so long I don’t know if that is an accurate memory.
I never did get either game when they came out, but played a few games of MOO when we either did a challenge here or had it in the Classic Game Club recently. I was quite impressed and really enjoyed it.
One of these days I may give MOO2 a try also.
Too bad I didn’t play this back in the day or I would have surely purchased, and still have, the strategy guide. I have a bookshelf in the finished part of our basement that is full of strategy guides from the 90s, but is sadly missing this one.
If only we were all so lucky. Sadly it’s not, for whatever reason. It’s worth keeping an eye out for an affordable copy though. Such an amazing book. This and the Master of Magic Guide are prized possessions.
