{"id":13092,"date":"2016-03-07T10:01:27","date_gmt":"2016-03-07T15:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/?p=13092"},"modified":"2016-03-24T18:02:12","modified_gmt":"2016-03-24T22:02:12","slug":"master-of-orion-early-access-first-impressions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/master-of-orion-early-access-first-impressions\/","title":{"rendered":"Master of Orion – Early Access First Impressions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Master<\/a><\/p>\n

WG Labs (Wargaming.net publisher brand name) released NGD Studios developed Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars<\/a> in Early Access on February 26, 2016. The game is a turn-based space 4X game with real-time tactical combat. The game will feature diplomacy, espionage, and several news mechanics like minor races and more victory conditions. It should be noted many of these things are not in the Early Access yet.<\/p>\n

Aside from the tactical combat being in real-time and the introduction of star-lanes (referred to as Warp Points in the game\u2019s lore) the game does try to recapture some of the essence of the original MOO games, using MOO 2 as its main source of inspiration. You can read the interview with Chris Keeling<\/a> here to know a little more about the decisions made in developing the game.<\/p>\n

As with any Early Access title it\u2019s hard to form a solid opinion as the product is still in development, things can as easily go south as they can significantly improve. Sometimes a single element can hurt a game more than one could imagine, while the change to make things far better may be smaller than some may think. With all this said, I do think Master of Orion is off to a good start.<\/p>\n

There are some issues but hopefully these will be addressed. Naturally, star-lanes and real-time tactical combat will disappoint a number of people. I don\u2019t aim to argue which is better. I\u2019ll only focus on the fact if they\u2019re properly implemented or not. It\u2019s not my goal to try to convince anyone to change their personal preferences, “to each their own,” as they say.<\/p>\n

\"Master<\/a><\/p>\n

State of the Game<\/strong><\/p>\n

The game is surprisingly polished. I experienced no crash or game breaking bug (or anything I would call a bug either), and I only heard of a few reports on these. This doesn\u2019t mean there are no rough corners: AI is still infantile to say the least, tactical combat still needs a lot of work, the ship designer is still unpolished, and many text errors are present in the tooltips.<\/p>\n

One can easily play a full game with the core features present. Tactical combat actually works and is cinematic, though player control seems limited at the moment. The AI seems to be able to play the game in the early phase. Though the AI struggles once you hit the mid game and it becomes a complete pushover afterwards, which sparks the bulk of the criticisms against the AI.<\/p>\n

Also, this should be obvious to anyone that watched the videos and looked at the images, the game does look gorgeous and the production values are high. This has to be one of the highest production values 4X game I\u2019ve played in for a while. Say what you will that visuals are not important for a good game; they do help and does add to the immersion.<\/p>\n

\"Master<\/a><\/p>\n

List of Features that are in now (from the official site<\/a>):<\/strong><\/p>\n

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