Camping Strategy

Discussion about Master of Orion (the first game in the series)
orimax
Posts:4
Joined:Sat Nov 19, 2005 5:59 pm
Camping Strategy

Postby orimax » Wed Nov 23, 2005 12:46 am

OK. This is the strat I mostly use when playing any race. The aim is to conquer at least a third of the galaxy before others do and then tech like crazy while walling with missile bases.

Galaxy – medium.
Difficulty – average.
Enemies – 5.

So. I colonize the first suitable planet with my preconstructed Colony Ship and use 2 scouts to recon for good planets – they stay at the most sweet ones to stop them being colonized by other races in case enemies are too close. After a few turns, when I have some producing power at my Homeworld, I start producing a new Colony Ship and assign the same amount of recourses to research. At first I leave only 3 fields of research open.

Construction. Research Reduced Industrial Waste. Then stop researching this field. It gives great advantage. Something like 10% more resources to allocate.

Planetology. Research Barren/Tundra/Dead environment. You don't need to go any further, because most planets useful to you at the very beginning (well, you don't have terraforming yet) are mostly below dead. I usually choose the cheapest research available.

Propulsion. This is the second field to research heavily. Hydrogen Fuel Cells (Range 4) or Deuterium Fuel Cells (Range 5) is your first choice. Nuclear Engines are your next goal. Usually in medium galaxies range 5 is enough to reach all planets.

When you contact other races, try to bribe the discontented ones with technology, so they don't declare you war at this important stage of the game.

After colonizing all you can, you have something like third of the galaxy (half if your position was good – no rivals nearby) and a bunch of very big worlds with lots of factories, as well as a dozen of new colonies.

Now I distribute research equally between all fields. From weapons I research only missiles. Other research choice that is a must: Planet Shields. If you don't have a chance to research them but see that enemies have them – exchange tech. Sometimes you have to exchange some of the minor Force Field tech of your rivals before they propose you a Planet Shield.

Other goodies I always try to get are:
Improved Space Scanner – determines ETA of the enemy ships about to attack you.
Inerial Stabilizer/Nullifier – uber leet item.
Zyro/Lightning Shield.
High Energy Focus.

Planet resource distribution: planets with full factories should produce a missile base every 7-10th turn. The rest goes to technology. The undeveloped worlds – 75% to factories, 25% to terraforming or shield construction. No ships yet.

The further game is a little boring. Manage your relations with other races and don't let the strongest races declare you a war.

Tech like crazy and build like 20-40 missile bases on each planet. Don't forget to upgrade your bases when you have discovered a new missile type by investing resources to the defense field. If you are ahead of the strongest race by 1/3-1/4 of tech, start considering building a nasty fleet of medium-sized ships. They should be fast and have some good bombs or other weapons that hit planets through shields. Bomb their colonies to dust. My friend who introduced me to MOO1 10 years ago likes to use swarms of small ships with death spores, who sneak quickly to planet and annihilate the whole population, but they don’t kill the factories, so I don't use that strategy.

Most times I am patiently waiting for plasma torpedoes and for the tech to install them on medium ships. Sometimes I have to colonize a few planets to reach to the far corners of the galaxy to kill the enemies. Don't worry about the enemy recolonizing the destroyed colonies again. Just kill the big ones that have lots of factories. Then send many really small fleets to finish the small recolonized worlds. Sometimes I colonize Orion, but by the time I do it I am mostly killing the last remains of my former rivals.

Then you are a winner.

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