Master of Orion manual
- Master of Orion
- manual
_ _ ____ ____ ___ ____ ____
|\/| |__| [__ | |___ |__/
| | | | ___] | |___ | \
____ ____
| | |___
|__| |
___________________ _____________
/____ \______ \_____)/____ \ ___ \
_ _______) ) _ _ _| | | |
| | | | __ / | || | | | | | |
| |___| | | \ \ _| || |___| | | | |
\_____/|_| |_(_____)_____/|_| |_|
The Master of Orion Softdocs
CONTENTS
Credits............................................ 4
Introduction....................................... 5
Part I - Playing Master of Orion................... 7
New Game Options.............................. 8
The Control Screen............................ 10
Planet Production............................. 13
Fleet Movement................................ 16
Colonizing Planets............................ 17
The Ship Design Screen........................ 21
The Fleet Screen.............................. 24
The Races Screen.............................. 25
The Planets Screen............................ 29
The Technology Screen......................... 31
Ship Combat................................... 33
Winning The Game.............................. 35
Part II - Mastering Master of Orion................ 37
Growing Your Empire........................... 37
Diplomatic Relations.......................... 39
Trade and Tribute............................. 41
Espionage and Sabotage........................ 43
The Alien Races............................... 45
The Alien Leaders............................. 48
Crises and Disasters.......................... 50
Ship Designs.................................. 52
Combat Resolution............................. 57
Technology.................................... 61
Technical Supplement and Reference................ A1
Contents..................................... A1
Minimum System Requirements.................. A1
Installation................................. A1
Memory Requirements.......................... A3
Starting The Game............................ A3
Playing Master Of Orion...................... A3
Your First Game.............................. A3
Online Help.................................. A4
Game Controls................................ A4
The Main Screen.............................. A4
Ratio Bars................................... A5
Other Game Functions......................... A5
Technology Development Table................. A6
Weapons Tables............................... A10
(\/( Page 04 )\/)
CREDITS
Designer: Stephen Barcia
Producer: Jeff Johannigman
Programmers: Stephen Barcia, Maria Barcia,
Ken Burd
Artists: Maria Barcia, Jeff dee,
Frank Vivirito,
Bill Willingham
Music Producer: The Fat Man
(George Alistair Sanger)
Music Composer: Dave Govett
Sound Software: John Miles, John Ratcliffe
QA Manager: Michael Craighead
Lead Testers: Frank Brown, Destin Strader
Testers: Jen MacLean, Mike Rea, Tom Lu,
Hamilton Chu, Jeff Dinger,
John Possidente, Vaughn Thomas,
Mick Uhl
Manual Writer: Stephen Barcia
Manual Design
& Layout: Decarol Smith, Joe Morel
Director of
Publications: Joe Morel
Manual Art: Bill Willingham
Product Manager: John Dreibelbis
Package Design: John Emory
Package Art: Erik Olson
Special Thanks to Alan Emrich and Tom Hughes
for their invaluable design critiquing and suggestions.
(\/( Page 05 )\/)
INTRODUCTION
By the beginning of the 23rd century, ten races had emerged with the
technology necessary to colonize deep space. For nearly a century,
population growth on all planets had outstripped planetary resources,
and soon all the races were forced to expand and discover new worlds
to colonize. As history has proven time and time again, unrestrained
expansion inevitably leads to war.
Even though each race is very different from the others, all have
legends of a master race that once controlled the galaxy. It is said
that the Masters left behind a world that contained marvelous secrets
and powerful technology. The loremasters call it Orion and it is
written in legend that he who masters Orion masters the universe.
Master of Orion is a competitive game of interstellar conquest that
combines exploration with conflict. You are cast as the immortal
emperor who shapes the future of your race, as contact is made with the
neighbouring races. Your objective is simple: control a majority of
the known galaxy and eliminate all who stand in the way.
As ruler you must ultimately decide the destiny of your race as you
make decisions on how planetary resources are allocated, where star
fleets will be deployed, which races to fight, and which races to ally
with. You begin with control of your home planet, from which you can
explore and colonize nearby star systems. Your first decisions will be
centre around the rapid development of colonies into productive
worlds, what types of technology to focus on, and which star systems
to colonize. However, the true challenge begins when contact is made
with other races, and complex strategies must be formulated to manage
diplomacy, sabotage, espionage, trade, and interstellar combat.
(\/( Page 07 )\/)
(\/(____)\/)
PART 1 - Playing Master Of Orion
\/ \/
THE MAIN GAME MENU
The main menu allows you to continue currently running games, load
previously saved games, and start new games.
Continue Game: Any time you exit a game from the game options
screen, the game will automatically be saved. The continue game option
then loads and runs the most recently played game.
Load Game File: This option allows the user to restart a previously
saved game.
New Game: This option generates a completely new universe with
random placement of the stars, different planetary environments, and
up to five opponents.
Quit to DOS: Exists the program and returns control back to DOS.
(\/( Page 08 )\/)
NEW GAME OPTIONS
When creating a new game, you have a great deal of control over the
actual game play by deciding what size galaxy you want to play in, the
number of opponents, and the intelligence of you adversaries.
Size:
Small - 24 stars. A quick game, and contact with other races is
almost immediate. The is actually more difficult than playing in
larger galaxies.
Medium - 48 stars. Long enough to develop most technologies.
Large - 70 star systems.
Huge - 108 stars. For epic games with huge empires and massive star
fleets. Note that the game can be very slow in a huge galaxy.
Difficulty: The difficulty setting affects several components of the
game including your opponents' production rates, expansion rate,
technology development, and willingness to ally with you. It also
determines the size of your initial fleet.
Opponents: Choose the number of opposing races in the galaxy, from 1
to 5. The fewer opponents you have the longer you will have to develop
your empire before contact is made.
Race Choice: Races are chosen from the following:
* The Alkaris - an avian race of superior pilots.
* The Bulrathis - a large bearlike race with superior ground
troops.
* The Darlok - shape-changing spies.
* The Humans - outstanding diplomats and traders.
* The Klackons - productive insect workers.
* The Meklars - cybernetic masters of automated production.
* The Mrrshan - a catlike race with accurate gunners.
* The Psilons - brilliant researchers.
* The Sakkra - prolific lizards.
* The Silicoids - crystalline beings immune to hostile
environments.
For more information, see the chapter "The Alien Races".
(\/( Page 09 )\/)
NEW GAME OPTIONS (CONT.)
Choose Banner: Your choice of banner will determine the colour used
to represent your space fleets and colonies during the games. This
also determines the style of ship icons you can use.
Your Name: The name of your Emperor.
Home World: Customize the name of your home world or use the default
value given.
Cancel: Returns to the Main Menu.
OK: Accepts the settings currently displayed and starts the new
game.
(\/( Page 10 )\/)
THE CONTROL SCREEN
The galaxy movement screen is the most commonly used display in the
game. From this screen you can move starships, view star systems, and
manage planetary production. You can also examine unexplored star
systems, scan incoming enemy fleets, and view enemy colonies.
Galaxy Map: The galaxy map contains a variable number of star
systems and nebulas. Most of the stay systems will have one planet
that can support life. The type and size of the planet depends on the
colour of the primary star. Yellow stars provide the most habitable
planets, while planets around purple neutron stars are more likely to
be mineral rich. When play begins, each star system will remain
unknown until scouted by one of your ships. The only information that
you will have until then will be the colour of the star. One of your
first objectives should be to explore all nearby systems in order to
decide where to begin colonization.
When a star system has been colonized, the name of that star system
will appear below the picture of the star, in the colour of the race
that colonized it. If the stay is outside your scanner range, it's
name will appear in a dark colour. You will only be able to see ships
that are within the range of your scanners.
Nebulas: Nebulas are great particle clouds of matter. Starships
travelling through a nebula are reduced in speed to warp 1 (one parsec
per year), and perhaps more importantly, deflector and planetary
shields do not function inside nebulas. However, nebulas increase the
chance of planets inside being mineral rich. Nebulas are illustrated
on the galaxy maps as great purple clouds.
Changing Current Star System: The stay system currently being viewed
is surrounded by a green pulsating border. The information on the
right side panel will refer to that star system. To change the
currently viewed star system, click on the intended star. If you have
colonized the star system, the right side panel will be replaced by
the Planet Production panel. You will be able to change the type of
starship being constructed and alter the distribution of resources. If
you do not have a colony in the system, only the planet's environment,
size, and special characteristics will appear on the right side panel.
If you click on a stay system that is already selected you will see
The Planet View Screen, a full screen view of the planet with all the
information concerning that planet.
(\/( Page 11 )\/)
THE CONTROL SCREEN (CONT.)
Viewing Starships: Scanners allow you to view incoming enemy
starships or any of your own fleets. Clicking on a fleet icon will
replace the right side panel with the Fleet Scan panel.
Moving Starships: Click the mouse on the fleet that you intend to
move. If it is currently in orbit, the Fleet Deployment panel will
appear on the right side panel. If the fleet is currently in transit
you will only get a report on it's composition, destination and ETA.
FUNCTION BUTTONS
The row of buttons along the bottom of the screen are used to
perform game functions and access reports.
Game: This button invokes the game and sound options menu, where you
can save the current game, load a previously saved game, quit to the
main menu or change the current sound setting.
Design: Allows you to design new ship types for construction. You
can only maintain six ship designs at one time. If you already have
six ship types, you will first have to scrap one to create space for
the new design.
Fleet: This button brings up the Fleet Screen, a report on all your
currently operating fleets. It shows each fleet's location or
destination and allows you to examine the specifications of every
design.
Map: The map screen gives you an overview of the entire galaxy. The
player can see the distribution of colonies, environment types, or the
location of any planets with special characteristics.
Races: This screen gives you an overview of your relations with all
the races you are in contact with. It shows any treaties that you have
signed as well as the race's current attitude towards you. you may
also initiate diplomatic contacts from this screen. You can ask for
new treaties, threaten to break old ones, or offer an exchange of
technologies.
Your intelligence forces are controlled from this screen. You may
build new spy networks in each enemy empire and assign them a mission.
If you have at least one spy in an empire you can get an intelligence
report on their current technology levels. Finally, you may also set
the percentage of resources that will go towards strengthening
internal security.
Planets: The planet screen gives you a quick summary of the vital
data on all of your colonies. It also serves as a convenient method of
going directly to one of your colonies to change their production
settings. A breakdown on your maintenance and income is shown along
the bottom of this screen.
(\/( Page 12 )\/)
THE CONTROL SCREEN (CONT.)
Tech: This option will allow you to review the technologies that you
have already discovered. A short description of the effects of each
technology is available. Allocation of your research points to six
technology areas is also accomplished from this screen.
Next Turn: The next year button sends the game to the next turn.
Transports and ships will move, spies will attempt to steal technology
and sabotage enemy colonies, ground and space conflicts will be
resolved, and new ships and bases will be built.
(\/( Page 13 )\/)
PLANET PRODUCTION
Planetary production is measured in BC's (billions of credits) and
is a measure of a star systems's resources and building potential.
The production can be used to build new ships and missile bases,
create new factories, improve your planet's environment, and research
new technology. Production is displayed immediately above the
production ratio bards in terms of actual and total resources. The
total resources are shown inside parentheses. The total represents not
only the sum of colonists and factory production, but also the
revenues from existing trade routes and other player tribute, plus
revenues transferred to that planet from the Planetary Reserve. The
actual production is the amount of resources remaining after
maintenance, trading, tribute, espionage, security, and colony
transport costs are deducted from the planet's total production.
Actual production is the amount of resources that can actually be used
to build ships, bases, and industry.
Production Ratio Bars: The ratio bars automatically divide the
planet's total production into five areas: starship production,
planetary defense, new factory construction, ecology, and
technological research. To make large adjustments in the current
ratios, place the mouse cursor in the appropriate bar and press the
button. For incremental adjustments click on the arrows on either end
of the ratio bar. The full length of the bar represents 100% of the
planets production, and the total allocation between the five areas
cannot exceed the 100% limit. Therefore, increasing the production in
one area will decrease the production in another. If you want to lock
the production bar so that it cannot be altered, press the ratio
description to the left of the bar. This will change the colour of the
bar to red and you will no longer be able to alter that production
ratio bar. Press the description again to unlock the ratio bar.
Ship (SHIP): Resources allocated toward ship production are used to
construct new starships or stargates. Each planet can only build one
type of ship at a time. The type of starship built is shown inside the
star dock in the lower right portion of the screen. Once you have
developed stargate technology you can build stargates instead of
ships. You select the stargate as if it were another type of ship.
The rate at which the selected ships are constructed depends on the
cost of the ship, how large a percentage of resources has been
allocated, and the star system's total production. The number shown to
the right of the bar
(\/( Page 14 )\/)
PLANET PRODUCTION (CONT.)
indicates the number of years left remaining to produce the ship given
current levels of production. If the start system is capable of
producing more than one ship per year, the time will be 1 year, and
the number of ships produced will be shown by the ship's picture. New
starships will either be placed in orbit around the planet, or sent to
another colony if you have specified a destination for relocation (see
Relocate button).
Defenses (Def): Resources allocated to planetary defenses are used
to upgrade existing bases, build planetary defense shields, and
construct new missile bases, in that order. Missile bases will always
be equipped with the most advanced technology available. When new
weapons technology is discovered that can be placed in a missile
base, the current missile bases must be upgraded to include the new
weapons. If the defense ratio is insufficient to cover the costs of
upgrading the missile bases, the word UPGRD will appear to the right
of the ratio bar. Any remaining resources will be used to build
planetary defense shields if you have the necessary technology. The
word SHIELD will appear for those planets that are in the process but
have not yet completed construction of planetary shields. Otherwise
remaining resources will be used to build new missile bases with the
number of years left to build the next base shown to the right of the
ratio bar.
Industry (Ind): Resources allocated to industry will be used to
build new factories. You can build more factories than the colonies
can operate, but you will be warned with the message MAX in the
construction box to the right of the ratio bar. Be careful not to
build too many factories without the technology necessary to clean up
the waste generated by factories. When the game begins, colonists can
operate two factories each. With advanced technology though, the
level of control can be raised up to seven factories per colonist. If
you have built as many factories as your planet's maximum population
can support, any excess spent on Industry will go to the Planetary
Reserve (see The Planets Screen) and be displayed as RESERV.
Ecology (Eco): Resources allocated to ecology are used to improve
the planet's environment by cleaning up industrial waste, expanding
the habitable regions with terraforming, converting the atmosphere,
and enriching the soil, in that order. Ecology resources are first
used to eliminate industrial waste. If you have not allocated enough
resources to completely clean up the planet, WASTE will appear by the
ratio bar. The ecology allocation will automatically be set to the
minimum amount needed to maintain a clean environment. If any
resources remain and you have the technology to terraform the planet
beyond its current size, convert the atmosphere from hostile to
standard, or enrich the planet's soil to gaia, resources will be
allocated to the appropriate terraforming operation in that order.
ATMOS will appear in the construction box when atmospheric
terraforming is being conducted and SOIL when soil enrichment is being
performed.
(\/( Page 15 )\/)
PLANET PRODUCTION (CONT.)
If you do not have any new terraforming technology to build and all
the waste has been removed, CLEAN will be shown in the construction
box. Remaining resources will be used to improve the existing ecology
and increase the growth rate of the colony's population. If sufficient
resources have been allocated to increase the normal growth rate,
+#POP will be displayed indicating the number of additional colonists
being born. (For additional details on population growth, see the
Colonizing Planets.)
Technology (Tech): Resources allocated to technology are used to
fund research projects to develop new and useful devices. Resources
are converted to research points that are then combined with the
research from all your other planets and are used to achieve higher
technology levels.
You will get more benefit from research by investing a few points in
technology over several turns than by allocating a large amount in a
single turn.
Ships Button: Each planet is allowed to produce only one type of
starship at a time. To change the current starship to another design,
press this button. You can cycle through the list of starship designs
until you find the one you prefer. If you have the technology
necessary to build star gates, you will also be given the option to
build a star gate instead of a ship.
Relocate Button (Reloc): The relocate button allows you to direct
the planet's newly built ships to another star system that you
control. There will be an appropriate delay from production to arrival
since the ships must travel to the new destination normally. This
allows you to produce starships in a far corner of your empire and
then redirect those ships to a system along an enemy border without
having to move each ship yourself. A blue line will appear on the star
map to indicate those planets which are redirecting ship production to
other planets.
Colony Transports Button (Trans): You may transport colonists to any
planet where a colony has been established. No more than half of a
planet's population can be transported in a single turn. Before
sending colonists to uninhabited planets, you must send a ship with a
"Colony Base" Special device to establish a Base on that planet. Some
planets will have hostile environments that require advanced
technology to land on. Colonists may also be sent to assault enemy
colonies if you have the technology to land there. When your colonists
arrive they will battle the enemy population for control of the
planet.
(\/( Page 16 )\/)
FLEET MOVEMENT
The Fleet Deployment Panel is used to give your fleets movement
orders. It is invoked by clicking on a friendly fleet in orbit.
Each ship type has its own section and control buttons. The number
at the lower right of the ship picture is the number of the ships that
are being moved. The ">" button increases this number by one while the
"<" button decreases this number. If there are a large number of ships
of one type the ">" and "<" buttons change the number in increments of
5% of the total number. The ">>" button allocates all ships of that
type and the "<<" button sets the number to 0.
To set a destination simply click on the desired star. Your
destination must be within fuel range of one of your colonies, for all
ships in that fleet. If the target is within range a green line will
be drawn from your present location to your destination. If for any
reason the move is illegal a red line will be drawn and you will
receive a message giving the reason.
Cancel Button: will return you to the main movement screen with no
orders being given.
Accept Button: accepts the current settings. The moving ship icon is
moved from the top right of the star system to the top left.
SCAN FLEET PANEL
The Scan Fleet Panel shows the composition of any fleet within
scanner range of a colony or fleet. If you have advanced scanners or
you are scanning one of your own fleets, this panel will also show the
fleet's destination and how many turns it will take to get there.
(\/( Page 17 )\/)
COLONIZING PLANETS
PLANET VIEW SCREEN
The Planet View screen provides a summary of current population,
population growth, industrial waste, factories, planetary defense
shields, and orbital fleets. Each icon on the planet is equal to 10
units of whatever the icon represents.
Planetary Environments: There are 14 environmental types in Master
of Orion. The type of planetary environment dictates the size of the
planet, which in turn determines how many colonists the planet can
support and how fast the population will grow. Hostile environments
(barren, tundra, dead, inferno, toxic, and radiated) halve the normal
population growth and require advanced technology to colonize. Hostile
environments are also the systems most likely to mineral rich
resources that double or even triple ship, defense, and factory
production.
* Terran planets are earth-like and can support the largest number
colonists.
* Jungle planets are young, undeveloped worlds reminiscent of the
Dinosaur Age on earth.
* Ocean planets have very few land masses and are almost completely
covered by water.
* Arid planets have only about one quarter of their surface covered
by water.
* Steppe planets have rugged terrains that are difficult to clear
for a colony.
* Desert planets have very scarce water supplies and are plagued by
violent dust storms.
* Minimal planets can barely support life with an oxygen poor
atmosphere and little water.
* Barren planets have no surface water supplies and little to no
atmosphere.
* Tundra planets have no water supplies or atmospheres whatsoever.
* Inferno planets are similar to Venus with excruciatingly hot
environments.
(\/( Page 18 )\/)
COLONIZING PLANETS (CONT.)
* Toxic planets have corrosive atmospheres which destroy most types
of equipment.
* Radiated planets are constantly bombarded by solar radiation.
Planetary Specials: Not all planets have the same industrial
potentials. Some have special environments that modify population
growth while others may have abundances of important metals for
construction.
* Mineral Poor planets lack sufficient amounts of the heavy metals
necessary for construction. Ship production, missile base
construction, and new factory construction is halved. However,
ecology and research are unaffected.
* Ultra Poor planets are the same as mineral poor planets, but
production is reduced to one-third.
* Artifact planets have ancient relics and devices left over from
previous races. Technology research is doubled on planets with
artifacts.
* Mineral Rich planets have abundant supplies of heavy metals.
Starship production, missile base production, and new factory
construction are all doubled on mineral rich planets. Ecology and
technology research is unaffected.
* Ultra Rich planets are the same as mineral rich planets except
that production is tripled.
* Hostile planets have harsh environments that halve the normal
population growth rate and require advanced technology to even
land on.
* Fertile planets are easier to colonize than normal. Population
growth is 1.5 times normal.
* Gaia planets are ecological paradises. Population growth is twice
normal rate.
Planet Size: The size of the planet indicates how many colonists can
populate the planet. The size shown on this screen includes the
effects of industrial waste as well as terraform expansion. At the
start of the game, the planet size is determined by the planet's
environment. Terraforming technology can eventually be used to
increase the base size of the planet and allow more colonists to live
on the planet.
Planetary Defense Shield: Planetary defense shields protect
population, industrial factories, and military bases from enemy
attacks. Planet shields are the only defense that populations and
factories have from space attacks. Missile bases add the planetary
shield to their force fields when absorbing damage. Planetary shields
are automatically built when the proper technology is acquired and
sufficient resources have been allocated to defense spending.
(\/( Page 19 )\/)
COLONIZING PLANETS (CONT.)
Factories: Each factory must be operated by people and the number of
factories that can be controlled by colonists is limited by the
player's level of robotic technology. The better the robot controls
the more factories that can be operated by each colonist. You must be
careful not to build too many factories without the technology to
either clean up the resulting industrial waste or reduce the amount
produced by each factory. Otherwise, you will be spending a
considerable amount of your resources just removing the pollution and
keeping your populations from dying off.
Industrial Waste: Waste reduces the habitability of a planet and may
actually kill colonists if the amount grows too large. Each factory
produces roughly one unit of waste, modified by the amount of waste
already present on the planet. The amount of waste each factory
generates can be reduced by advanced construction technology while the
cost of cleaning up existing waste can be decreased with increased
planetology tech.
Planetary Missile Bases: Missile bases are marvelous for planetary
defense. Although they are immobile, bases are per unit the cheapest
military unit. Unlike starships, missile bases are always equipped
with the best available technology: missiles, force fields, ECM
jammers, and battle computers. Note that missile bases do require
maintenance, and although they are not as costly to maintain as
starships, they nevertheless can be expensive if too many are built.
Population: Colonists provide two functions: generating production
to build starships, missile bases, technology etc., and operating the
industrial factories to provide even more production. Generally, the
larger the population, the more the colony can build in a single year.
Population Growth: Each year your colonies will grow an amount that
depends on the current number of colonists, the maximum planetary
population (including industrial waste), and the planet's environment.
You grow the most people when the planet's population is at half its
maximum size. Should the population maximum ever fall below the
current population, the growth rate goes negative and colonists begin
to die off. Hostile environments (barren, tundra, dead, inferno,
toxic, and radiated) slow population growth while fertile and gaia
environments increase it. Technology will eventually allow you to
convert hostile environments to standard environments and standard
environments to fertile and gaia environments.
Orbital Fleets: The ships shown circling the planet represent the
space fleet currently in control of the planet. The count shown to the
lower right indicates how many of each type of ship are in that group.
(\/( Page 20 )\/)
COLONIZING PLANETS (CONT.)
Colony transports can be used to move populations and ground troops
to assault enemy worlds. In both cases, you must have the required
ship range to reach the star system and the appropriate planetology
tech if the planet has a hostile environment. No more than half of a
planet's population may be transported to the new star system, and
only a single destination may be chosen per turn.
Transport Speed: Colony transports move at one less than the maximum
speed of your best known engine type. For example, if you have
developed Sub-Light engines which move starships at warp 3 (three
parsecs per turn), your transports would then more at warp 2.
Forming A New Colony: The first step in colonizing a new planet is
to create a ship design that includes a colony base as one of its
special devices. When a ship with a colony base is in orbit around an
unclaimed planet that you can land on, you will be given the option to
start a colony on that planet. If you choose to do so, the ship will
be scrapped and the materials used to build the new colony. you may
now transport more colonists to the planet to enable the colony to
grow faster. In addition, you can now use the planet as a base for
starship operations, allowing your ships to move deeper into the
galaxy.
Invading Enemy Planets: Only star systems that have been explored
can be invaded. Enemy starships in orbit and missile bases on the
ground can destroy colony transports attempting to land on an enemy
planet. If you intend to land on another player's planet, you should
eliminate the ground and space forces first. Otherwise, a significant
number of the colonists will be destroyed. Once the transports have
landed, both sides engage in ground combat with the winner retaining
control of the planet. Space combat is resolved prior to transport
landings.
Ground Combat: Ground combat is resolved in a series of engagements
until one side has been completely eliminated. Each side receives a
bonus according to any ground combat technological advances it has
acquired. The Bulrathi also have a natural advantage in ground combat.
Taking an Enemy World: There are several advantages in capturing
enemy colonies, compared to colonizing unoccupied planets. First, you
do not need to build a ship with a colony base to start the colony.
Second, you can use the factories that were previously owned by the
enemy player (enemy factories must be refit, however). Finally, there
is a chance that you will discover some advanced technology that you
did not already have.
(\/( Page 21 )\/)
THE SHIP DESIGN SCREEN
As you develop technology you will want to design new ships to take
advantage of the advanced weapons, force fields, computers, and
engines that you have developed. Only six designs can be in commission
at one time, and you may have to scrap other ships to make room for
the new designs.
Technology is not the only consideration in ship design. Ship size
also limits how many devices can be mounted on the shit and cost
determines how fast the ships can be produced.
In order to change a ship's equipment, press the mouse on either the
title or name of the item to alter. If the item cannot be increased in
size or power due to space constraints or lack of technology, it will
appear darkened. Once selected, a list of all available technology
will be shown on the screen, with their cost, space, and power
requirements. The total space column shows the total space
requirements for the item including extra engines needed to power the
item. Any item too big to fit on the ship as currently configured
will be darkened.
Ship Name: Each time that you design a new ship it will have a
default name that suits the current ship size and your race. If you
wish to change the name, press the mouse on the name field and enter
the new name.
Ship Size: The size of a starship determines how many devices can be
placed on a ship, how much damage the ship can take before being
destroyed, and how maneuverable the ship is in combat. Smaller ships
are more maneuverable and so are harder to hit in combat while the
larger ships are much easier to hit.
Battle Computers: Battle computers direct all ship's fire. The more
advanced the battle computer the better the chance a ship has of
hitting an enemy target. In addition, in combat better battle
computers provide faster response time and improve a ship's initiative
(the order in which ships move and fire).
Shields: Force fields are essential to the survival of a starship.
Shields absorb damage from all incoming attacks an amount equal to
their class. For example, Class V shields absorb 5 points of damage
from all attacks. Obviously, a superior shield can make a ship nearly
immune to enemy attacks.
(\/( Page 22 )\/)
SHIP DESIGNS (CONT.)
ECM Generators: ECM units (Electronic Counter Measures) reduce the
chance of enemy missiles striking the protected ship. A ship's missile
defense is the sum of the ship's normal defense plus it's ECM rating.
Without a powerful ECM generator, most advanced missiles will almost
always hit.
Armor: Armor protects a ship from all attacks by increasing the
ship's total hit points. There are two type of armor for each
material: standard and double hull. The standard hull always take the
same amount of space, regardless of the material. Double hulls
(displayed as II) increases a ship's hit points at the sacrifice of
ship space.
Engines: Not only do ship engines move a starship, but they also
power all of the ship's devices. On the galaxy map, each level of warp
moves the starship one parsec per year, i.e. Fusion engines (warp 4)
move a ship 4 parsecs per turn. In combat a ship's maneuverability
increases its defense against beam and missile weapons. Older engine
types have a better power to space ratio than new engines so it will
take less space to power all the devices on a ship if older engines
are used. Unfortunately, this also means the ship won't be able to
move as fast and will be easier to hit.
Maneuverability: Unlike galaxy map travel, combat movement requires
rapid changes in direction and speed. On the galaxy map, ships can
take a long time to accelerate into hyperspace. In combat, ships
require more thrust to overcome inertia and alter course quickly. To
do so requires more engines to provide the needed thrust. The larger
the ship, the more engines that are required to move in combat. Huge
ships rarely have a high maneuverability while small ships generally
move very quickly. A ship can move one space per turn in combat for
every two points of maneuverability it has. Maneuverability also
affects the initiative of the ship, since faster ships react quicker
than slower ones.
Weapon Types: Each ship may have up to four different types of
mounted weapons. Click on each weapon row to select a weapon for that
slot. Click on the small up and down arrows next to the weapon count
to increase or decrease the number of weapons of that type.
(\/( Page 23 )\/)
SHIP DESIGNS (CONT.)
Special Devices: Special devices give ships unique capabilities. For
example, a shit with a colony base is required to start any new
colonies, and ships with battle scanners can analyze enemy ships in
combat. Each ship may carry up to three special devices, and no more
than one of each type.
Clear Button: the Ship Design screen keeps the design settings of
the last ship built, so you may modify your most recent design in
building a new class of ship. If you prefer to start your design from
scratch, CLEAR resets all the design settings.
Build Button: when you are satisfied with your design, press the
build button to accept the design and return to the galaxy map. You
can now produce ships of that design by selecting it with the SHIPS
button in a planet's Production Panel.
Cancel Button: if you change your mind and wish to leave the screen
without saving the ship design, press the cancel button.
(\/( Page 24 )\/)
THE FLEET SCREEN
The Fleet screen is a quick and easy way to check the deployment of
your space fleet. Every separate fleet will have an entry in the fleet
list. The arrow keys can be used to scroll the list when you have more
than five fleets.
The Station column shows the current location of the fleet, the star
system it is orbiting or its destination and ETA if it is in transit.
The other columns show the number of ships from each of the six ship
classes.
Clicking on any box of a fleet in orbit will take you immediately to
the Fleet Deployment panel for that fleet. If the fleet was in transit
clicking on a box of that fleet will take you to the Scan fleet panel.
Specs Button: will show the Ship Specs screen letting you examine
the equipment and armament of each design that you have made. This is
useful in identifying obsolete ship designs to scrap to make room for
more modern designs.
Scrap Button: lets you select a type of ship to decommission. Every
ship of the class will be scrapped. 25% of the ships' costs will be
salvaged and put in the Planetary Reserve.
OK Button: will return you to the main screen.
SHIP SPECS SCREEN
The Specs screen gives a detailed report on the equipment and
armament of each class of ship that you have designed.
Scrap Button: will scrap all the ships of that design. 25% of the
ships' cost will be salvaged and put in the Planetary Reserve.
(\/( Page 25 )\/)
THE RACES SCREEN
The Races screen displays your diplomatic standing will all the
races you are in contact with. You may initiate diplomatic
negotiations and receive reports on the status of all races.
Allocation of production to spy activities and security is also
handled from this screen.
Contact: A race's window on the screen will remain closed and "No
Contact" will appear, until your starships (not including long range
scouts) can reach one of your opponent's planets, and that planet is
in range of your scanners.
Race Window: There is a window for each race in the galaxy on this
screen. Each window shows any treaties or trade agreements with the
race and that empire's current feelings towards you.
Diplomatic Relations: The multi-coloured bar shown below the ratio
bar indicates the current tension level between the different races.
The position of the blue triangular marker shows how that race views
you. There are fifteen levels of relations, ranging from fued to
harmony. The more negative the relations, the more likely the opponent
is to attack. An opponent driven to feud will attack nearly every
turn.
Spies: Below the diplomatic information is a section for your
espionage efforts in that empire. The production allocation bar allows
new spy networks to be built in that empire. Spy networks are very
expensive, so be careful not to build more than you can afford.
Missions: The three buttons below the production bar allow you to
set the activity the spies will take. Hide reduces their chance of
discovery by security forces. This can be important when you are
attempting to improve diplomatic relations with that empire. Sabotage
orders the spies to attempt to blow up either factories or missile
bases in the enemy's empire or to stir up rebellion in one of their
colonies. Espionage is an attempt to steal technology from the enemy.
Internal Security: This slider controls how much of your empire's
resources you dedicate to eliminating spy networks in your empire.
Status Button: Will bring up the Status Screen which gives a report
on the state of the galaxy. Each race that you have encountered will
be rated in five separate areas, as well as a combined power rating.
(\/( Page 26 )\/)
THE RACES SCREEN (CONT.)
Report Button: gives the latest intelligence report on a race.
Clicking on this button turns the mouse shape into "WHO" and then you
must click on the race that you wish to investigate. This will bring
up the Report Screen.
Audience Button: will allow you to conduct negotiations with any
empire you are in contact with. Clicking on this button turns the
mouse shape into "WHO" and then you must click on the race that you
with to talk with. The Audience Screen will then be displayed showing
the areas that you may discuss.
Repeated Audiences: Emperors are very busy people. They do not have
time for repeated haggling over the same topics. Every audience after
the first will find the emperor less willing to be cooperative with
your requests. If you continue to pester his he will become
unavailable and you may not have another audience for several years.
STATUS SCREEN
Each bar is a logarithmic representation of a race's power in each
area. Only those races you are in contact with will appear on the
status screen.
The Fleet section shows the relative strength of the starship fleets
of each race. The Population section is straight census for each
player's race. The total technological level of each race can be found
in the Tech section. Planets show the number of planets each side owns
that can produce at least 100 BC. Production gives the total
production of each planet on a logarithmic scale. As the bar extends
to the right each unit of length represents more and more production.
Finally, total power is a relative rating of the strength of each
race. The most powerful race is shown a as full bar and every other
race is shown proportionally.
(\/( Page 27 )\/)
THE RACES SCREEN (CONT.)
ENEMY REPORT SCREEN
The report screen gives a list of the most advanced eight items of
technology in each of the areas. You can also see any treaties or wars
that are currently in effect for that race. The report will be updated
every turn if you have at least one spy in the enemy's empire.
Otherwise, the report will indicate when the last reliable report was.
AUDIENCE SCREEN
The Audience screen will allow you to initiate negotiations with any
race that you are in contact with. The menu at the bottom of the screen
will show you the areas that you may discuss with the other empires.
Any items currently unavailable for discussion will be darkened. the
possible areas of negotiation are:
Propose Treaty: lets you choose the type of treaty to propose:
* A Peace Treaty is signed to end a state of war between races. The
better the way is going for you the more likely your opponent
will be to want peace. If your enemy is winning the war it is
unlikely that you can get him to sign a peace treaty.
* A Non-Aggression Pact allows your ships to co-exist peacefully in
orbit if there is not a colony in the system. Sending your fleet
to the other race's colonies will still provoke an attack on
those ships and could easily break the non-aggression pact.
* An Alliance prohibits any fighting between the two races as well
as allowing each race to use the other's colonies as refueling
depots to extend ship range.
You can also try to influence an empire's relations with other
races. You may ask an emperor to break alliances or declare war on
other races.
(\/( Page 28 )\/)
THE RACES SCREEN (CONT.)
Form Trade Agreement: Trade can be very profitable for both sides.
Once both empires have at least 100BC in total production a trade
agreement can be made. It will be several turns before trade will
actually produce any income. As the length of time the two empires
have been trading together increases, the profit will increase until
finally equaling the value of the treaty.
Threaten/Break Treaty and Trade: lets you break any treaties you have
made with other empires. The other emperors will remember every treaty
you have broken with them, so do not break any treaties lightly. You
may also threaten to attack another race in order to extort tribute
from them. Depending on the relative strengths of the empires, the
other empire may ignore you, give tribute, or declare war.
Offer tribute: if the quickest way to improve relations with another
empire. You may give tribute in either BC's or technology.
Technological tribute is very effective and will have long lasting
effects on relations. Monetary tribute is drawn from your Planetary
Reserve.
Exchange Technology: allows the trading of technology between
empires. The other emperor will give you a list of technologies that
he would be willing to trade. After you choose which technology you
are interested in, your opponent will give you a list of what he will
accept in trade for that knowledge.
(\/( Page 29 )\/)
THE PLANETS SCREEN
The planet report screen provides not only a full planet summary for
all the star systems that you control and a breakdown on your
maintenance costs, but also allows you to instantly look up and move
to any planet of your choice by name. Furthermore, a quick scan on
this screen will reveal which planets have the best population growth
and which ones are losing colonists to pollution.
When first entering the screen, the planet that you were previously
viewing will be highlighted. Selecting any other planet's row will
send you to that selected planet in the Main Control screen.
Arrow Icons: If you have more than 12 planets under your control,
the arrow keys will allow you to scroll the list up and down to find a
particular planet.
Population: The current colony population is shown in the left box.
If the population has changed since last turn an arrow will be
displayed in the right box (red for decrease and green for increase)
along with the amount of change. Unless the colony ahas been engaged
in combat, a red arrow is a sure sign that industrial waste is killing
off your population. (For details on population growth, see Colonizing
Planets.)
Planetary Shields (SHD): Planetary shields defend both populations
and military bases from enemy space bombardment. The rating of the
shield, V-XX, indicates how many points of damage are absorbed from
each attack. Missile bases are protected by both Planetary Shields and
their own Deflector Shields.
Factories (FACT): Industrial factories are the main source of
colony production, but each factory requires at least one colonist
unit to operate. Eventually advanced robotics technology will allow
colonists to operate multiple factories. Any factories beyond the
control of the colonists can not be operated.
Missile Bases (BASE): Missile bases are a cheap alternative to space
fleets for planetary defense.
Industrial Waste (WST): The industrial waste shown beside the number
of factories reduces the maximum number of colonists that can live on
a planet. The report screen is quite useful for identifying those
planets that are having pollution problems and then jumping to them so
that you can increase their ecology spending.
(\/( Page 30 )\/)
THE PLANETS SCREEN (CONT.)
Production (PROD): The total production of a planet indicates how
much a colony can build in a single turn.
Space Dock: The type of ship currently under construction in the
planetary space dock. This entry will be blank if the planet is not
building any ships.
Notes: Planets with special environments or heavy mineral deposits
modify the planet's population growth and production. For details on
the different types of environments, see the planetary view screen.
The (*) indicates that the planet has a star gate.
Maintenance Costs: The spending shown at the bottom is a breakdown
of maintenance spending for ships, missile bases, trade treaties and
tribute.
Spending Costs: show the costs for your spy network, security, ship
and base maintenance.
Income: "Planets" includes all production from your colonies and any
tribute being given to you by your opponents. "Trade" is the gross
income from all of your trade treaties.
Planetary Reserve: The Planetary Reserve lets you stockpile
resources for emergency uses, or anytime you decide a colony needs a
quick influx of BC's. You may set a "tax" of up to 20% on each
planet's production, which puts 1 BC into your Planetary Reserve for
every 2 BC collected from your planets.
Transfer: The fund in your Planetary Reserve may be transferred to
any colony in need of extra BC's. The amount of transferred funds that
a colony can use in a year is limited to it's total production,
effectively doubling its available resources that year. Any excess
funds transferred to that colony will be used in subsequent years.
(\/( Page 31 )\/)
THE TECHNOLOGY SCREEN
Technology plays a key role in your ability to win Master of Orion.
Even if you have developed a powerful industry and a large fleet, a
more advanced race can destroy you as surely as the Spanish
Conquistadors did the Aztecs.
There are six areas of science in Master of Orion: computers,
construction, force fields, planetology, propulsion, and weapons.
Computer technology is used to develop battle computers, ECM
jammers, deep space scanners, improved robotic controls, and the
technology nullifier. Furthermore, your computer tech level improves
your chances for success in espionage missions and sabotage
operations.
Construction technology not only reduces the base cost of building
starships, missile bases, and factories, but it is also used to
develop technology that will create improved materials for armor,
reductions in the amount of waste produced by each factory, and
automated repair units. Do not underestimate the value of construction
technology. Without it, you will not be able to produce ships quickly
and efficiently.
Force Field technology is used to develop deflector shields,
planetary defense shields, repulsor beams, stasis fields, lightning
shields, and the cloaking device. One of the most effective ways of
achieving military superiority is to develop force friends that are
stronger than your rival's weapon technology.
Planetology focuses on technology related to the environmental
improvements. Planetology develops advanced ecological restoration,
terraforming to expand the size of a planet, controlled environmental
units to land on hostile planets, biological weapons, advanced cloning
techniques, and soil enrichment to increase population growth rates.
Improved Planetology also makes your populations happier and more
productive.
Propulsion technology develops faster starship engines, increased
ship ranges, inertial stabilizers, warp dissipators, subspace
teleporters, pulsars, and high energy focus units. Propulsion
technology is probably the most important at the beginning of the game
because without increased range you may not be able to reach any other
planets to colonize.
Weapons technology is used to develop advanced weaponry for your
ships, missile bases, and ground troops.
(\/( Page 32 )\/)
THE TECHNOLOGY SCREEN (CONT.)
Acquiring New Technology: Technology can be acquired in several
ways: resource points spent on technology research, stealing
technology from other races, exchanging technology with other races,
or finding remnants of technology from conquered enemy planets.
Review Technology: A list of advances acquired in each area of
technology can be displayed by clicking on the respective button in the
upper left corner of the screen. The button highlighted in red is
currently active. The advances acquired in the active area are listed
in the section below the buttons. Clicking on a particular
technological advance will give a detailed description of that advance
at the bottom of the screen.
Technology Ratio Bars: The technology ratio bars on the right allow
you to divide up the total research points accumulated from all of
your planets between the six areas of science. To adjust the current
ratios, click the mouse icon on the appropriate bar position that you
wish to change. The arrows at either end of the bar can be used for
exact adjustments. The full length of the bar represents 100% of all
the total research points and the total allocations between all six
sciences cannot exceed the 100% limit. Therefore, increasing
allocations for one science will decrease the ratios for the other
areas.
If you wish to lock an area so that it cannot be altered, press the
ratio description to the left of the bar. This will change the
description and bar colours to red signifying that you can no longer
change that technology ratio bar. Press the description again to
unlock the ratio bar.
Each device has a base research cost that must be spent before the
device can be completed. The light bulbs by each technology bar show
how close you are to reaching that cost by filling up. Each year you
spend money on research after the light bulbs are filled, you get a
chance, shown as a %, of your scientists completing that device. The %
chance continues to go up as you continue to allocate research to
that area, but stops entirely if you stop spending on that field.
Reduced Costs and Miniaturization: Advances in technology will
reduce the cost and the size of technological devices. The higher your
technology is above the minimum required level, the less it costs to
build and the less space it takes on your ships. Although there are no
new devices above the 50th level, you can still decrease the size and
costs of producing existing technology.
(\/( Page 33 )\/)
SHIP COMBAT
A space battle ensues anytime fleets from different races enter the
same star system. The conflict is resolved immediately and continues
until one side is totally destroyed, decides to retreat, or 50 turns
have elapsed, forcing the attacker to retreat. If the defender does
not have an orbital fleet, he can still defend the planet with ground
missile bases.
Ship Facing: all of your ships begin on the left side of the screen,
facing right, and all enemy ships begin on the opposite side. The
number of ships in the group is indicated below each ship icon. When
the ship count for a group drops to zero, the group is eliminated. In
the case of planets, the count indicates the number of remaining
missile bases.
Initiative: The order which ships move and fire is determined by
their initiative ratings. A ship's initiative is based on the
maneuverability and the ship's battle computer. Ship's with the
highest initiative move first. A ship with a higher initiative can
also fire first when enemy ships come into range. There are two
exceptions to the firing order: ships utilizing a subspace teleporter
or a cloaking device fire first after moving or de-cloaking.
Current Ship: When it becomes time for a ship to move it will be
shown surrounded by a shimmering red box. The ship can then move and
fire its weapons. After firing all of its weapons the ship is assumed
to be finished with its turn and will no longer be able to move until
the next round.
Movement Icons: The type of action a ship executes when you click
the mouse is determined by the current icon shape shown above the
space.
* The move icon indicates that the ship can legally move to that
space. A ship can move as many spaces in a turn as its combat
speed. After clicking the mouse button, the ship will travel to
the specified space. If the ships move into the range of an
enemy's weapons, the enemy may fire its weapons at its first
opportunity.
* The cross hairs icon appears over enemy targets that are within
range of your weapons. Clicking the icon fires all available
weapons that are in range. If some of your beam weapons have a
shorter range, they will not fire, and may be used against other,
closer targets, or as defensive fire if enemy ships move into
their range.
(\/( Page 34 )\/)
SHIP COMBAT (CONT.)
* The question mark icon appears when the mouse is placed over one
of your ships. Clicking the icon allows you to view the
specification for the ships in your fleet.
* The red slashed-circle icon indicates that no valid action can be
performed in that space.
Auto Button: turns control of your fleet over to the computer. The
computer will continue to automatically move and fire your ships until
you click the mouse again.
Done Button: ends the turn of the currently moving ship. If the ship
has not yet fired its beam weapons, it may still fire if enemy ships
move into range later.
Missile Button: turns missile on or off for the currently moving
ship. Since ships are equipped with only a limited number of
missiles, you may want to fire your other weapons without also
launching your missile. the missile button can then be toggled to turn
your missiles on or off.
Retreat Button: removes the current ship from combat. The enemy will
have one turn to fire on your ship as it retreats off the screen. If
you are victorious the ships will rejoin your fleet immediately after
combat.
Scan Button: may be used if at least one of your ships is equipped
with a battle scanner, or if the combat is taking place at one of your
colony planets. The scan button allows you to view all specifications
of the enemy fleet.
Special Button: is used to activate and deactivate certain special
devices, such as Stasis Fields and Pulsars.
Wait Button: delays the currently moving ship until all other ships
have moved. At the end of the turn, the ship may utilize any remaining
movement and fire any weapons that have no already been used during
the turn.
Defensive Fire: If a ship has already had its turn, did not fire all
of its beam weapons, and an enemy ship moves into range, the waiting
ship gets an opportunity to fire its beam weapons first before the
moving enemy ship can fire.
Victory and Defeat: The last player to have surviving ships or
missile bases remaining on the combat screen is the victor. If any of
the loser's ships retreated they will set course for the nearest
colony on their side. Any of the victor's ships that retreated during
combat will rejoin their fleet.
(\/( Page 35 )\/)
WINNING THE GAME
To win in Master of Orion, the High Council must declare you to be
High Master of the Galaxy by a 2/3rds majority vote. The High Council
is formed once more than half the galaxy has been colonized, and each
race has 1 vote for ever 100 units of population it controls. You can
win by conquering 2/3rds of the population yourself. However, more
diplomatic players can also win by having enough allies to provide the
2/3rds majority vote needed. Races also tend to side with whomever
controls Orion.
Once the High Council has voted in a High Master, you may either
accept their vote at that time, or challenge it. If you decide to
reject their decision, they will then jointly declare war on you in a
battle to the bloody end.
We recommend the following strategies to win the game:
* When the game starts, quickly send scout ships to explore nearby
star systems. If you do not have any habitable planets within
range, you should allocate your resources to propulsion
technology to increase your ship's range.
* Do no expand recklessly. Give your colonies time to build
factories and defenses before colonizing new planets.
* Choose your new colonies wisely. To form a new colony you must
build a ship equipped with a colony base. It may be quite a while
before recouping the cost of building a colony ship.
* Heavily defend colonies with mineral rich deposits. They will
certainly be targets for enemy attacks.
* Do not allow industrial waste to accumulate. Closely monitor
waste buildup and never allow the waste to grow beyond 10.
* Do not fall behind in the technology race. An entire fleet can be
defeated by a handful of ships equipped with superior technology.
* If you are missing a key piece of technology, (robotic controls,
industrial waste reduction or improved waste elimination)
attempt to steal the technology from another player with your
spies. Likewise, if your technology is superior, raise your
internal security to protect your technology from other players.
* Do not pay more than 0% in starship maintenance. When maintenance
costs grows too large, dismiss obsolete ships.
(\/( Page 36 )\/)
WINNING THE GAME (CONT.)
* Attempt to capture planets with ground forces. Not only will you
gain the planet's factories, but you also have an opportunity to
find technology that you are lacking.
* Maintain a Planetary Reserve at all times to aid in building new
colonies and deal with unexpected crises.
* Concentrate on a single opponent. Declaring war on multiple
players will dramatically increase the difficulty of winning.
* Trade with your allies. Not only do you get an economic benefit,
but your relations improve as well.
* Periodically house clean by raising your security level to
maximum. This will serve to eliminate a large number of spies
within your empire even if they are hiding.
(\/( Page 37 )\/)
(\/(____)\/)
Part 2 - Mastering Master of Orion
\/ \/
GROWING YOUR EMPIRE
Population Growth: The growth of your population depends on the
current number of colonists, the maximum planetary population
(including industrial waste), and the planet's environment. The closer
to the population maximum the colony is, the smaller the percentage of
growth. You grow the most people when the planet's population is at
half of its maximum size. At this point, the growth is about 10% of
the current population. Should the population maximum ever fall below
the current population, the growth rate goes negative and colonists
die off. Hostile environments (barren tundra, dead, inferno, toxic,
and radiated) halve the population growth, fertile environments
increase the growth by 50% and gaias double it. Technology will
eventually allow you to convert hostile environments to standard
environments and standard environments to gaias.
If additional resources are spent on ecology above and beyond those
required to clean up a planet's industrial waste, you are temporarily
improving the environment and increasing the population growth rate.
Each 20 BC spent on this form of improvement increases growth by one
colonist unit. With cloning technology, the cost is reduced to 10 BC
per colonist, and with advanced cloning the cost is reduced even
further to 5 BC each. Additional growth can never exceed one-fourth
the current population per year.
Planetary Production: Planetary production is measured in BC's
(billions of credits) and is a measure of a star system's resources
and building potential. The production can be used to build new ships
and missile bases, create new factories, remove industrial pollution,
and research new technology. The production is displayed on the right
side of the screen in terms of actual and total resources. The total
resources are shown inside parentheses. The total represents not only
the sum of colonists and factory production, but also the revenues from
existing trade routes and funds transferred from the Planetary
Reserve. The actual production is the amount of resources remaining
after maintenance, trading, tribute, security, espionage, sabotage, and
colony transport costs are deducted from the planet's total
production. The actual production are the resources that can be used
to build ships, bases, and industry.
(\/( Page 38 )\/)
GROWING YOUR EMPIRE (CONT.)
Colonies produce one unit of production for each working factory and
half a unit for each colonist. When the game starts, only two
factories can be manned by each colonist. Any excess factories beyond
the control of the population can not be operated and generate no
production. Improved robotic controls will allow the colonists to
control more factories, but they must first be researched.
The total planetary production is reduced by the amount of ship
maintenance, trading, tribute, espionage, and sabotage that the player
has allocated. Be careful not the allow the ship maintenance to grow
to a point where colonies cannot afford to produce any new ships or
missile bases.
Planetology technology increases the amount each worker produces. In
the beginning, each worker produces only one-half a BC per year, but
by the time the 50th level of planetology is reached, each worker is
producing two BCs per year. This extra production bonus is
particularly useful when forming new colonies.
Mineral rich planets have an abundance of heavy metals necessary for
construction. ship production, missile base construction and new
factory construction is doubled on rich and tripled on ultra rich
planets. However, ecology and technology spending are unaffected.
Mineral poor planets, on the other hand, have constructions halved on
poor and cut to one-third on ultra poor planets.
Factory Costs: Each factory costs a base of 10 BCs to build. In
order for colonists to operate more than two factories, special
controls must be build that dramatically increase the factory's
building costs. To take advantage of Robotic Controls, you must first
REFIT your existing factories. The cost for refitting existing
factories is the difference between the factory's current cost and the
cost of building the factories with the higher level of Robotic
Controls.
Improved Factory Tech (construction technology) decreases the base
costs of factories to as little as 2 BCs each. In general, without the
factory improvements, it will be very expensive to build robotic
factories.
(\/( Page 39 )\/)
DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS
Diplomatic relations are a measure of the other players' tolerance
and reactions to your actions. The worse the relations, the more
likely the opponent is to attack. The better the relations, the easier
it will be to form treaties and trade technology.
Altering the diplomatic relations depends on your actions. Attacks
will worsen relations, while trade and tribute will improve them. At
the end of the year, if you do nothing to change relations, the
diplomatic scale will move back toward the neutral setting for both
races.
Negative Diplomatic actions:
* espionage
* sabotage
* excessive military buildup along borders
* attacking a fleet
* killing off planetary population
* using biological weapons against ANY race
* possessing too many planets
* previously broken treaties
Positive Diplomatic Actions:
* tribute
* trading
* non-aggression pacts and alliances
* attacking a mutual enemy
An accidental encounter over an uncontrolled star system will damage
relations, but attacking an enemy colony almost certainly leads to
war. Furthermore using biological weapons will make all races distrust
you.
Enemy emperors will remember your actions. Every time war is
declared or a treaty is broken, a permanent diplomacy penalty is
assigned to any future dealings. Therefore, if you consistently break
treaties and attack an opponent, he will be very unwilling to form new
treaties and will only accept trades which benefit him more than you.
Non-aggression pacts and alliances do not immediately effect your
diplomatic relations, but instead improve the relations as long as the
treaty is enforced. Trade also improves relations, but not as much as
a non-aggression pact or alliance.
(\/( Page 40 )\/)
DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS (CONT.)
Finally, there will come a time when one empire recognizes its
superior position and will attempt to eliminate all weaker competitors
to win the game. At this time no amount of tribute will prevent the
enemy from attacking.
Declarations of War: Once war has been declared, the enemy withdraws
their ambassadors and existing treaties and trade agreements are
broken. Until relations stabilize, the ambassadors will not return to
even talk over peace agreements. You can increase your opponent's
willingness to sue for peace by successfully attacking ships and
destroying his colonies. On the other hand, if they are succeeding,
they will not be eager to discuss peace. If neither side attacks for a
while, relations will eventually stabilize, ambassadors will return
and be willing to negotiate for peace.
Starting Diplomatic Relations: When play begins, each race starts
with a diplomacy rating that reflects their suspicions and projudices
concerning the other races in the game. Then, as the game foes and the
diplomacy ratings change, relations will always gravitate back toward
the starting diplomacy setting. Therefore, if you wish to remain
allied with another race, you must continually perform positive
diplomatic actions. The table below shows the starting diplomatic
relations for each race. Note that the Humans in general are the most
favoured, while everyone hates the Darloks.
Races |Alkar|Mrrsh|Human|Klack|Mekla|Psilo|Darlo|Sakkr|Silic|Bulra
_________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____
Alkari |-----|Rest |Relax|Uneze|Neutr|Neutr|Uneze|Uneze|Neutr|Neutr
Mrrshan |Rest |-----|Relax|Uneze|Neutr|Neutr|Uneze|Wary |Neutr|Uneze
Humans |Relax|Relax|-----|Relax|Relax|Relax|Relax|Relax|Relax|Relax
Klackons |Uneze|Uneze|Relax|-----|Neutr|Neutr|Uneze|Uneze|Uneze|Neutr
Meklars |Neutr|Neutr|Relax|Neutr|-----|Neutr|Uneze|Uneze|Relax|Neutr
Psilons |Neutr|Neutr|Relax|Neutr|Neutr|-----|Uneze|Neutr|Neutr|Neutr
Darloks |Uneze|Uneze|Relax|Uneze|Uneze|Uneze|-----|Uneze|Uneze|Uneze
Sakkra |Uneze|Wary |Relax|Uneze|Uneze|Neutr|Uneze|-----|Neutr|Neutr
Silicoids|Neutr|Neutr|Relax|Relax|Relax|Neutr|Uneze|Neutr|-----|Neutr
Bulrathi |Neutr|Uneze|Relax|Neutr|Neutr|Neutr|Uneze|Neutr|Neutr|-----
Rest = Restless
Wary = Wary
Uneze = Unease
Neutr = Neutral
Relax = Relaxed
(\/( Page 41 )\/)
TRADE AND TRIBUTE
Trade: By exchanging trade goods with your opponents, you are
actually receiving needed resources that will increase your total
income while improving your relations with the race that you are
trading with. As long as you are not actively engaged in a war with a
race, you will be able to trade with them.
By signing a trade treaty, you agree to exchange a specified amount
each year, up to 25% of the lesser player's production total. Both
players then receive a percentage return based on the number of years
the treaty has been established.
Since establishing trade requires an initial investment for
organizing patrolled trade routes and establishing customs, your
income from a trade treaty begins at -30% of the treaty amount. Each
turn thereafter, your trade income increases by +05%, so you usually
do not generate a positive income until after 10-12 years. The trade
revenues are then divided up among you planets in proportion to their
productions. Your income percentage continues to increase until it
reaches a maximum of 100% of the treaty amount. Humans get an
additional +25% on all trade returns.
For example, you could control two planets that have a combined
production total of 500 BC while your neighbour has three planets with
a production total of 400 BC. The maximum that you could trade would
then be 100 BC per turn (25% of your neighbour's production). You both
agree to exchange the maximum. After twenty turns the percentage
return has reached 25% indicating that you and your neighbour are
making a profit of 25 BC per turn from the trade. The profits are
distributed proportionally among your planets. If one of your planets
was producing 200 BC per year and the other 300 BC per year, the first
would receive 10 BC trade profit and the second 15 BC profit.
If an already existing treaty is in effect, the percentage return
begins as the average of your current return and -30%. This new return
rate is then applied to the new treaty amount. For example, you have a
trade agreement for 100 BC per year, currently at a 50% return rate and
you establish a new agreement for 200 BC a year. The percentage return
becomes 10% (the average of 50% and -30%), applied to the new treaty
amount of 200 BC, generating a trade income of 20 BC. The return rate
continues to grow again at +0-5% per turn until reaching 100% of the
new amount.
(\/( Page 42 )\/)
TRADE AND TRIBUTE (CONT.)
Breaking a trade treaty not only reduces the trade amount to zero,
but also drops the percentage return back to -30%. Restarting trade
relations requires rebuilding the trade routes from scratch. Think
twice before breaking a profitable trade treaty with another player.
Tribute: When faced with imminent threat of war, you may attempt to
appease a rival with an offer of tribute. While trade may be more
cost-effective for improving relations with allies, antagonized
opponents are unlikely to trade with you. Tribute may be one of the
only ways to improve trade relations and end a war. You can donate up
to the total in your planetary reserve. The amount of improvement
depends on what percentage of the rival's resources you donate.
Generally, a donation of 10% of your rival's production will shift the
diplomacy scale half a level. Alternatively, you can offer needed
technology as a tribute. This will more dramatically effect
relations, particularly if it was useful technology. If you are faced
with several opponents all attacking at once, you should most
certainly try buying peace from at least one.
(\/( Page 43 )\/)
ESPIONAGE AND SABOTAGE
In Master of Orion, you can finance both espionage and sabotage
operations. The resources you allocate build spy networks, but your
opponent is also spending resources on internal security to uncover
and eliminate your spies. Spies ordered to perform Espionage steal
technology from the laboratories of other races. Sabotage undermines a
specific colony by destroying missile bases or factories, or inciting
rebellion among the populace.
As long as you have any spy networks in an empire, your Report on
their current technology (see the Races screen) will be current.
Costs: The first spy network placed in an empire costs 25 BC, plus 2
BC per level of Computer Technology. Additional spies in each empire
cost twice as much as the previous spy network, so a second spy costs
twice the base amount, a third costs four times, a fourth costs eight
times the base, etc. Darlok spies cost only half as much as other
races.
Internal Security: Internal Security is used to uncover, thwart, and
eliminate spy activity in your empire. Your empire's base security
level is equal to its Computer Tech level. You can also increase the
Security Bonus by 2% for every 1% of your empire's production you
allocate to security.
Capturing Spies: Each year, your vigilant counter-intelligence
forces are attempting to eliminate any spy activity in your empire.
For EVERY spy network in your empire, your security forces get a roll
of 1-100, plus your Internal Security Bonus. If your Computer Tech
level is higher than your oppponent's, the different is also added to
that roll. if the enemy spies are hiding, though, the roll is reduced
by 30.
Roll Result
0 mistaken identity, another race may be framed
1-30 spy not discovered
31-50 spy identified, infiltration attempts not stopped
51-70 spy infiltration stopped, but spy escapes
71-88 spy infiltration stopped, and spy eliminated.
100+ spy confesses, stops all other spies that year.
(\/( Page 44 )\/)
ESPIONAGE AND SABOTAGE (CONT.)
If no spies confess, then all spies who were not stopped from
infiltrating make ONE roll to successfully infiltrate. If the spies
have a higher Computer Tech level than the target empire, the
difference is added to their roll. Also, Darlok spies get an
additional +30 bonus to their rolls.
Roll Result
0-84 infiltration failed
85-99 successful infiltration
100+ successful infiltration, and another race is framed
If your spies succeed, they can perform their assigned missions:
Espionage - You can select an area of technology to steal. Each spy
that infiltrated makes a roll from 1 to the opponent's Tech Level in
that field. The highest roll determines the highest piece of technology
that your spies find.
Sabotage Missile Bases - Each spy has a 50% chance of destroying a
missile base, for every 10 levels of Weapons Technology you have. You
should probably sabotage missile bases on planets you intend to attack
soon.
Sabotage Factories - Each spy destroys 1-5 factories for every 10
levels of Weapons Tech you have.
Inciting Rebellion - Each spy can cause up to 10% of the population
to rebel. If the total exceeds 50%, the colony goes into rebellion.
(\/( Page 45 )\/)
THE ALIEN RACES
When playing as a particular race, you should take advantage of your
race's special abilities. They can have a drastic effect on your
decisions. A winning strategy for one race can spell quick defeat for
another.
Alkari - The Alkari are descended from large birds and are still
capable of limited flight. From an early age Alkari learn to master
the subtleties of flight and three dimensional motion. As a result,
Alkari make superior pilots: their ships are very difficult to hit
and, given equivalent ship designs, their ships will move before any
others except the Mrrshan. Alkari pilots add three levels of defense
to any spacecraft they pilot in combat and add +3 to their ship
initiatives.
To take full advantage of the Alkari's combat bonus, Alkari players
should build small and medium ships. The defensive bonus tremendously
reduces the amount of damage taken.
Bulrathi - The Bulrathi are a fierce bear-like race that possess
incredible strength and constitution. No other race can match the
Bulrathi in person combat, giving the Bulrathi a +10 bonus in all
ground attacks.
Bulrathi players should always attempt to take colonies with ground
forces even if outnumbered.
Darloks - The Darloks are a ruthless race of shape shifters capable
of taking on the form of nearly any living being. This unusual ability
to change forms makes the superior spies and allows them a bonus to
all sabotage, espionage, and security functions. Darlok spy networks
cost only half as much as other races' spies. The Darloks add +30 to
their Spy Fate rolls and add +20 to their security. Of course, no one
trusts a Darlok.
Darlok players should concentrate on one or two areas of technology
for a technological advantage and steal the rest.
(\/( Page 46 )\/)
THE ALIEN RACES (CONT.)
Humans - While man may be physically weaker than many of the other
races, his talent for trading and generally amiable nature has made
him one of the best diplomats in the universe. Humans receive an
additional 25% profit when trading, double the effects of good
diplomatic actions, and add +5 diplomatic levels when offering
treaties and trade agreements, and in the High Council.
Since the Human's advantage is gained from interaction, human
players should immediately begin making deals with other races.
Klackons - The Klackons are a large ant-like race with an extremely
ordered society. Each individual is born to serve a single purpose,
and does so without question. As a result, the Klackons are mobilized
into an industrious society where each unit of population produces
double the output of other races. The Klackon's bonus is cumulative
with planetology bonuses. Klackons excel in quickly making productive
new colonies.
Meklars - For centuries the Meklars have developed and word powered
exoskeletons to compensate for their physical weakness. As a result,
the Meklars are the acknowledged masters of cybernetic interfaces and
are able to control two additional factories per population above and
beyond their normal technological limit. Also, Meklars also do not
need to pay to refit factories for Robotic Control.
Since Meklars can create powerful industries, Meklar players do not
need to expand as quickly as the other races.
Mrrshan - The Mrrshans are descendants of very large hunting cats,
and although they have in general been able to curb their aggressive
impulses, the Mrrshans still retain a keen hunter nature. Their sheer
ferocity and natural instincts make Mrrshans the best gunners in the
universe. Mrrshan ships move first in most situations and add four
levels to their attack rolls. Mrrshan ships equipped with multiple
fire weapons can be particularly nasty.
Like the Alkari, Mrrshan players should begin the game in an
offensive posture and should attack their enemies almost immediately.
(\/( Page 47 )\/)
THE ALIEN RACES (CONT.)
Psilons - The Psilons are a brilliant, unemotional race devoted
solely to hard logic and the quest for knowledge. Their superior minds
and research techniques allow them to gain a +50% bonus to all their
research efforts. They can also select from a greater number of
devices to research than other races.
Psilon players should invest heavily in research, then guard their
discoveries with high internal security. Technological advantages
should be used as quickly as possible against more primitive races.
Sakkra - the Sakkra are a race of cold-blooded reptiles which are
hatched from eggs like their dinosaur ancestors. Sakkras reproduce at
astonishing rates and gain a +50% population growth rate bonus above
and beyond any bonuses for fertile or gaia environments. They even
receive the bonus when cloning.
Sakkra players should never allow their planets to fill up. Their
advantage is in their growth rate and they should constantly expand
and create new colonies.
Silicoids - The Silicoids are a race of rock-beings. They are immune
to the effects of waste and can land on star systems with any type of
environment. Silicoids do not benefit from fertile or gaia
environments. Due to their crystalline nature, Silicoid populations
grow at only half the rate of other races.
Even though the Silicoids already possess many of the planetology
tech advantages, Silicoid players cannot ignore planetology
altogether. Planetology is necessary to expand the size of planets,
and the additional production bonus is always important.
(\/( Page 48 )\/)
THE ALIEN LEADERS
Emperor Personalities and Objectives: Leader personalities strongly
modify reactions to a diplomatic situation. Xenophobes, for example,
always react harshly to negative diplomacy and reduce the effects of
positive actions such as tribute. Pacifists will sooner sue for peace
after war is declared.
Every time a new game is created, the leaders from each race are
endowed with personality traits and objectives that will dictate how
they will develop their star systems, what types of technology will be
emphasized, and how they will react to certain diplomatic situations.
Each race has certain tendencies for leader personalities, and leaders
may change through the course of a game.
The personality of the leader reflects the emperor's diplomatic
outlook when dealing with neighbouring races:
* Ruthless leaders attack with little or no provocation and are
quite willing to sacrifice starships and people to achieve their
goals.
* Erratic leaders are totally unpredictable. One year they may be
peaceful and non-violent, while the next year they will go to war
over any little excuse.
* Aggressive leaders will attack any time they are put in a
favourable situation.
* Pacifistic leaders are eager to maintain peaceful relations even
after being attacked.
* Honourable leaders will never attack anyone that they are on
good terms with. However, they will react twice as strongly to
unprovoked attacks and sabotage.
* Xenophobic leaders hate everyone, halving the effects of positive
diplomacy and doubling the diplomatic effects of hostile actions.
The leader's objectives determine how the emperor will allocate
resources and focus technological research.
* Diplomats concentrate resources on trade with allies and
espionage with enemies. Otherwise they seek a balance between
military buildup, ecological maintenance, and technological
research.
* Militarists seek to develop new and innovative weapons
technology. They will build and maintain a large star fleet at
all times.
* Technologists will focus resources on the development of new
technology with little emphasis places on any one single area.
(\/( Page 49 )\/)
THE ALIEN LEADERS (CONT.)
* Ecologists wish to develop and maintain star systems which
provide the best environments for population growth. They will
concentrate technological research on planetology and
construction above all other sciences.
* Industrialists seek to not only build the most factories
possible, but to also acquire technology that will allow industry
to grow and improve.
* Expansionists are primarily interested in expanding territory.
They will spend considerable resources on developing propulsion
and planetology technology. Furthermore, expansionists are more
likely to send out transports to colonize new worlds.
Racial Tendencies: Each race has a tendency towards certain
personalities and objectives for their rulers. Although actual ruler
personalities and objectives will vary from game to game, and even
within a game, these types will show up more often within their race,
and rarely will a leader have a type of personality or goal that is
diametrically opposed.
* Alkaris - Honourable Militarists
* Bulrathis - Aggressive Ecologists
* Darloks - Aggressive Diplomats
* Humans - Honourable Diplomats
* Klackons - Xenophobic Industrialists
* Meklars - Erratic Industrialists
* Mrrshans - Ruthless Militarists
* Psilons - Pacifistic Technologists
* Sakkras - Aggressive Expansionists
* Silicoids - Xenophobic Expansionists
Revolts: From time to time emperors will be overthrown by their
people and replaced with new ones. Those races which are doing poorly
in the game are more likely to revolt. The new leader will generally
have a new personality and objective that should address the empire's
current dilemmas. For example, if a race is lagging far behind in
technology, the emperor will most likely be replaced with a
Technologist. Revolts are very disruptive not only to diplomatic
relations but also to established trade routes. When an empire revolts
all trade and treaties will be broken, and relations between your races
are shifted toward neutral.
(\/( Page 50 )\/)
CRISES AND DISASTERS
From time to time, every leader will be faced with disasters that
will strike their star systems. Each year there is a chance that a
disaster will occur, with the chance growing more likely the longer it
has been since the last crises. In all cases, a disaster requires some
sort of intervention to solve the problem. The following is a list of
the potential crises that may occur during a game.
Ancient Derelict: You discover an ancient derelict which contains
superior force field and weapons technology.
Climate Change: A sudden shift in the planet's axis changes it's
environment to be more fertile. Population growth increases by 50%.
Comet: A comet is discovered to be on a direct collision course with
one of your colonies. If the comet hits, the colony will be completely
destroyed. Your star fleet can be moved into the system to destroy the
comet. The more ships, the faster the comet will be obliterated.
Computer Virus: A highly destructive computer virus strikes your
primary research centres, destroying years of research in a specific
technology. Although you will not lose technology that you have
already obtained, you will lose several levels of research that will
have to be repeated to advance any further.
Diplomatic Blunder: One of your ambassadors to another race commits
a disastrous blunder and seriously jeopardizes your relations with
the rival empire. In some cases, the blunder can even set you at the
brink of war.
Donation: A wealthy merchant willing to support the cause makes a
substantial donation to your Planetary Reserve.
Earthquake: A major quake strikes one of your colonies killing
colonists and damaging industry. Once the earthquake has hit, you may
have to redirect resources to repair the damaged factories.
Industrial Accident: A major industrial accident pollutes an entire
colony with radioactive waster, setting the industrial waste to
maximum for that planet. You should attempt to clean up the waste as
soon as possible or the pollution will begin to kill off your
colonists.
Mineral Discovery: Deep mining exploration reveals a huge previously
undetected deposit of neutronium, making the planet Mineral Rich.
Mineral Depletion: Your planet exhausts it's heavy metal deposits,
making the colony Mineral Poor.
(\/( Page 51 )\/)
CRISES AND DISASTERS (CONT.)
Piracy: Pirates begin raiding your colonies and disrupting your
trade routes. Until dealt with the pirates will reduce the resources
that you obtain from trade revenues. The main pirate holdout will be
located within a particular star system, and the pirates can be
eliminated by moving enough ships into the star system to patrol.
Plague: A deadly virus strikes one of your colonies, slowly killing
off your colonists until a cure can be found. All research points
obtained from the afflicted colony are automatically directed to
finding a cure for the plague. In addition, the planet is quarantined,
prohibiting transports from leaving the colony for fear of spreading
the disease.
Rebellion: One of your planets has gone into revolt, and production
on that planet has stopped. Rebellion sometimes occurs naturally, but
is often the result of enemy saboteurs. To end the Rebellion, you must
transport colonists form another of your worlds to the rebel colony,
to fight the rebel troops. Until the rebels are defeated, you cannot
affect the colony's development, and their population does not count
for votes in the High Council.
Space Monster: An enormous space monster invades the galaxy and
threatens to destroy your colonies. Until defeated by your star fleet,
the monster will go from system to system, destroying all of the
colonies within. The space monsters are terrific adversaries and will
take quite a number of ships to defeat
Super Nova: The primary star of one of your systems threatens to go
super nova unless you can find a scientific solution. If the star does
nova, most of the inhabitants of the planet will be killed and nearly
all of the industry will be destroyed. Research points obtained from
the star system are automatically directed to finding a solution to
the problem.
(\/( Page 52 )\/)
SHIP DESIGNS
Technology is not the only consideration in ship design. Ship size
also limits how many total devices can be physically mounted on the
ship and cost restricts how fast the ships can be produced.
Cost: The cost of a ship depends not only on what types of devices
the ship has been equipped with, but also the designer's current
level of technology. Each ten levels of technology that you have above
the item's level halves the cost of producing that device. For
example, lasers which are first level weapons technology cost only
half their normal price once you have reached the 11th level of
weapons tech, one-quarter at level 21, and one-eighth at level 31.
Likewise, the cost of battle computers drops with increases in
computer tech. Even after designing a ship, the cost displayed
includes the cost of engines needed to power the ship and physical
space for the devices.
Ship Size: The size of a starship determines how many devices can be
placed on a ship, how much damage the ship can take before being
destroyed, and how maneuverable the ship is in combat. Every level of
construction technology that you have increases the ship's available
space by 1%.
Note that the defense modifier shown below is added to both the
ship's beam defense and missile defense in combat.
Ship Size | Space (tons) | Hits | Defense | Cost (BC)
__________|______________|______|_________|___________
Small | 40 | 3 | +2 | 6
Medium | 200 | 18 | +1 | 36
Large | 1000 | 100 | +0 | 200
Huge | 5000 | 600 | -1 | 1200
Space: With the addition of each device, the ship's total space will
be reduced according the physical size of the device and the space
required for the engines to power the device. Higher levels of
technology reduce the physical size of a device (miniaturization) just
like technology reduces cost. Each ten levels of technology above the
minimum required level decreases the size of the device by 25%.
Weapons miniaturize at a rate of 50% for every 10 levels.
Computers: Battle computers direct all ship's fire. The more
advanced the battle computers the better the chance a ship has of
hitting an enemy target. In addition, better battle computers provide
faster response time and improve a ship's combat initiative (the order
in which ships move and fire). For the precise effects of battle
computers in combat, see the section on space combat.
(\/( Page 53 )\/)
SHIP DESIGNS (CONT.)
Shields: Force fields are essential to the survival of a starship.
Shields absorb damage from all incoming attacks an amount equal to
their class. For example, Class BV shields absorb 5 hits of damage
from all attacks. Obviously, a superior shield can make a ship nearly
immune to enemy attacks.
ECM Generators: ECM units (Electronic Counter Measures) reduce the
chance of enemy missiles striking the protected ship. A ship's missile
defense is the sum of the ship's beam defense plus it's ECM rating.
Without a powerful ECM generator most advanced missile will almost
always hit.
Armour: Armour protects a ship from all attacks by increasing the
ship's total hit points. There are two types of armour for each
material: standard and double hull. The standard hull always takes the
same amount of space, regardless of the material. Double hulls
(displayed as II) on the other hand require twice the normal amount of
space and increase the hit points of the ship by an additional 50%.
Refinements in designs from improved technology reduces the size of
armour just like all other devices (50% per ten levels).
Engines: Not only do ship engines move a starship, but they are also
responsible for powering all of the ship's devices. Each engine
generates 10 units of power times it's warp rating, i.e. a fusion
engine produces 40 units of power. On the galaxy map, each level of
warp moves the starship one parsec per year, i.e. Fusion engines (warp
4) move a ship 4 parsecs per turn. In combat, a ship's maneuverability
increases a ship's inherent defense against beam and missile weapons.
So why not always choose the best warp engine available since you
move faster on the galaxy map and have a better defense in combat? The
answer is space. Since nearly every device on a ship requires power, a
miniaturized engine (lower level) will allow you to fit quite a bit
more on a ship.
Maneuverability: Unlike galaxy map travel, combat movement requires
rapid changes in direction and speed. On the galaxy map, ships can
take a long time to accelerate into hyperspace. In combat, a ship
requires more thrust to overcome inertia and alter course quickly. To
do so requires more engines to provide the needed thrust. The actual
number of engine units needed to move a ship 1 space per turn depends
on the ship's size. The units shown to the right of the combat speed
is the total number of engines that are required to power all ship's
systems and move the starship in combat. Your combat speed increases
by one for every two levels of maneuverability.
Weapon Types: Each ship may have at most four different types of
mounted weapons. The following list details and explains weapon
attributes.
* Beam Weapons are directed fire weapons that strike the target
instantly. Damage is shown as a range, with the minimum damage
being scored if the attacker rolls the minimum to hit and maximum
damage
(\/( Page 54 )\/)
SHIP DESIGNS (CONT.)
being scored when the attacker rolls maximum (100). Unless
otherwise specified, beam weapons have a range of only one.
* Heavy Cannons are larger versions of the same technology. These
cannons inflict greater damage and have greater range, but
require considerably more power and space.
* Missile Weapons are fast travelling drones mounted with explosive
warheads. Unlike beam weapons, when a missile hits, it scores
it's full damage. Each missile is also equipped with a targeting
computer that improves it's chance to hit (it's rating is added
to the firer's battle computer). However, ECM jammers will reduce
the missile's chance to hit. Each missile rack has a limited
number of missile that can be used in a single combat. The number
of shots is shown in the description.
* Torpedoes are energy based missile weapons except that they fire
every other round and have an unlimited number of shots. Since
they are composed of energy and diffuse in atmosphere, they are
not as effective against planetary targets as missile are.
* Bombs require no power and are only effective against ground
based targets. Since missile bases add planetary shields to their
force field, bombs may be the only way to penetrate their
shielding.
* Biological Weapons kill populations outright and reduce the
habitability of the planet by up to the maximum damage listed.
Be cautious in the use of biological weapons. All players will be
extremely angered when they are released.
* Autofire weapons such as Gatling Lasers fire multiple times
during a single combat round. The shots can be fired against a
single target or spread out to several enemies.
* Continuous fire weapons suck as Graviton Beams can destroy a
target and inflict remaining damage to additional targets.
* Projectile weapons such as Neutron Pellet Guns and Mass Drivers,
pierce force fields with increased effectiveness, halving the
class of the defender's shield.
* Enveloping weapons such as Hellfire Torpedoes surround the enemy
targets with an energy field that strikes from all direction. If
the weapon hits, the target suffers the effects of four attacks,
with the target's shielding being applied to each attack.
* Extended range weapons have their maximum range extended out
beyond the normal one space range of most direct fire weapons.
* Wide beam weapons such as the Megabolt Cannon increase the chance
of hitting their target by +3
(\/( Page 55 )\/)
SHIP DESIGNS (CONT.)
Special Devices: Each ship may carry up to three special devices.
Only one type of each device may be mounted, and only those devices
which can fit in the remaining space will be listed.
* Advanced Damage Control units automatically repair ships that
have suffered damage but have not been destroyed. Up to 50% of
the ship's hits may be restored at the end of each round of
combat.
* Anti-Missile Rockets destroy incoming missile attacks 35% of the
time, reduced by 1% per tech level of the missile.
* Automated Repair units automatically repair damaged ships at the
end of each turn. If the ship has suffered damage and was not
destroyed, the ship is "healed" up to 25% of it's total hits.
* Battle Scanners reveal all technical specification of enemy ships.
In addition, ships equipped with the battle scanners receive a +3
initiative advantage and add +1 level to hit.
* Black Hole Generators create an energy field that destroys all
life. Enemy ships in the target space will have 35-100% of their
crews slain outright. Deflector shields reduce the amount killed
by 2% per level of shielding.
* Cloaking Devices mask the ship from sight and scanners. Cloaked
ships add _5 to their beam and missile defense until they fire
their weapons. Decloaking ships always attack first, regardless
of initiative. The ship must then wait one complete turn without
firing any weapons before it may re-cloak. Cloaking shields are
very effective for penetrative enemy lines and attacking heavily
defended planetary targets.
* Colony Base contains the necessary survival gear and population
to set up a colony base on an uninhabited world. To create a new
colony, you must send a ship with this special device to an
uninhabited planet with an environment that you can survive in.
Once there, you will be asked if you want to set up a colony on
the planet. If you choose to do so, the entire ship will be
dismantled, and the parts used to create the first settlement on
the planet. Once the colony is established, you may then
transport additional colonists to populate the planet. Note that
you do not need a colony ship if you are assaulting a planet with
an established alien colony.
* High Energy Focus units increase the effective firing range of
all beam weapons by three spaces in combat. This device is
particularly effective for ships primarily armed with beam
weapons.
* Ion Stream Projectors hit all shits in a group, and reduce their
current armour by 20% + 1/2% for ever attacking ship up to a
maximum of 50%.
(\/( Page 56 )\/)
SHIP DESIGNS (CONT.)
* Inertial Nullifiers generate a damping field that negates the
effects of inertia, making the starship more maneuverable and
adding +4 to the maneuverability and +2 to the combat speed.
* Inertial Stabilizers reduce the effects of inertia and add +2 to
the ship's maneuverability and +1 to the combat speed.
* Lightning Shields surround the ship in a devastating energy
field that destroys incoming enemy missiles 100% of the time,
reduced by 1% per tech level of the missile.
* Neutron Stream Projectors hit all ships in a group and reduce
their current armour by 40% +1 for every attacking ship.
* Oracle Interfaces focus all of your ship's beam weapons into a
simultaneous attack at a single point on the enemy ship. This
effectively halves the target's shielding for all your beam
weapons.
* Pulsars are waves of energy generated by specially modified
engines. They damage all ships adjacent to yours. The maximum
damage an Energy Pulsar can do is 5 points plus 1 point for
every two ships firing pulsars. For Ionic Pulsars, the damage can
be up to 10 points plus one for each attacking ship.
* Repulsor Beams hurl enemy targets back 1 space away from the
firing ship each turn.
* Reserve Fuel Tanks increase the range of ships by three parsecs.
* Stasis Fields trap one group of enemy ships in a time vortex for
one turn of combat. While trapped the enemy ships cannot fir or
be fired upon. Ships equipped with stasis fields are
automatically assumed to use their stasis fields against the
first enemy that they attack each round, unless you intentionally
turn off the stasis field.
* Subspace Teleporters teleport ships to any space they want and
give them first firing opportunity regardless of enemy
initiative. Planets with Subspace Interdictors can nullify
Subspace Teleporters.
* Technology Nullifiers can overload enemy computers and ECM
generators. Effected targets temporarily lose 1-3 classes of
battle computer and ECM, rolled separately for each. The effect
is cumulative, and after a ship has been hit several times, it's
ability to attack will be severely impaired. If the victim ship
survives, the damage will be automatically repaired when the
battle ends.
* Warp Dissipators disrupt the normal operations of shit engines
and reduce enemy target combat speeds by 1 each shot. If the
disrupted ships survive the battle, the warp engines will be
restored after combat.
* Zyro Shields surround the ship in an energy field that destroys
incoming missile attacks 75% of the time, reduced by 1% per tech
level of the missile.
(\/( Page 57 )\/)
COMBAT RESOLUTION
Initiative: The order in which ships move and fire is determined by
their initiative ratings. A ship's initiative is the sum of it's
maneuverability plus the level of the ship's battle computer. In
addition, ships equipped with battle scanners add +3 to their
initiative. Ships with the highest initiative then move first, ties
being resolved randomly by the computer. Furthermore, a ship with a
higher initiative can fire first if an enemy ship moves into range.
There is one exception to the firing order. Ships utilizing a subspace
teleporter to move or a cloaking device to surprise an enemy always
fire first after moving or decloaking.
Beam Weapon Attacks: Beam weapons generally have a range of one
space and strike enemy targets instantly. The probability that the
weapons hit depends on the attack level of the firer, the defense
level of the defender, and the firing range. The attack level is
determined by the type of battle computer aboard the firing ship. If
the ship also has a battle scanner, +1 is added to it's attack level.
The defender's maneuverability is the basis for his defense level.
The size of the ship also modifies the defense level as well as
special devices such as the inertial stabilizers and inertial
nullifiers. For those weapons with extended range, +1 is added to the
defender's defense level foe each space beyond one. Cloaked ships that
have not fired their weapons also receive an additional +5 levels of
defense.
Each weapon attack is resolved separately. The table below indicates
the probability of a weapon hitting given the attacker's attack level
and the defender's defense level. A roll of 1-100 is made. If the roll
is equal to or exceeds the weapon hit probability shown below, the
weapon hits. The same roll also determines the amount of damage
scored. The higher the roll, the more damage that is inflicted. A roll
equal to the base hit probability does the minimum damage listed for
the weapon. A roll of 100 does the maximum damage. Any roll in between
is interpolated for the amount of damage scored.
For example, an attacker with an attack level of 2 fires a laser at
an enemy ship with a defense of 2, giving a 50% chance to hit. The
laser, which does 1-3 points of damage, rolls a 75, midway between the
50% needed to hit and the 100% maximum. The laser hits and does 2
points of damage.
(\/( Page 58 )\/)
COMBAT RESOLUTION (CONT.)
Note that attacks with negative hit probabilities always hit, and
the roll is used solely to determine damage. For example, an attacker
with a fusion beam (10-25 points of damage) has a base to hit of -50
and rolls a 40. The fusion beam scores 20 points of damage.
__________________________________________________________________
| Weapon Min Roll To Hit |
|__________________________________________________________________|
|Attack| Defender's Defense Level |
|Level |___________________________________________________________|
|______|_0__|_1__|_2__|_3__|_4__|_5__|_6__|_7__|_8__|_9__|_10_|_11_|
|0 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 95 | 95 | 95 | 95 | 95 | 95 | 95 |
|1 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 95 | 95 | 95 | 95 | 95 | 95 |
|2 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 95 | 95 | 95 | 95 | 95 |
|3 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 95 | 95 | 95 | 95 |
|4 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 95 | 95 | 95 |
|5 | 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 95 | 95 |
|6 |-10 | 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 95 |
|7 |-20 |-10 | 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 |
|8 |-30 |-20 |-10 | 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 |
|9 |-40 |-30 |-20 |-10 | 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 |
|10 |-50 |-40 |-30 |-20 |-10 | 0 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 |
(\/( Page 59 )\/)
COMBAT RESOLUTION (CONT.)
Missiles and Torpedo Attacks: Unlike beam weapons, missile may be
fired at long range, but missiles must track and follow their target
before hitting. If the missile has not hit within it's duration turns,
the missile will run out of fuel and automatically be eliminated.
The hit probably of missile is the same as beam weapons except that
the attacker adds the targeting value of the missile to the attack
level, the defender adds his ECM Rating to the defense level, and the
effect of range is ignored. If the missile or torpedo hits, full
damage is scored, regardless of the attack roll.
When you are moving, missiles that are targeted on you will begin to
flare. Then as your ships move, the missile will track and follow.
Deflector Shields: After the damage has been calculated, the
defender applies his force field to the damage. The shield rating is
subtracted from the weapon damage of each attack. For example, the
fusion attack that scored 15 points of damage would only do 4 points
to a ship equipped with a Class X Shield.
Destroying Ships: Each weapon shot is resolved individually. When
the accumulated damage exceeds the hit points of the target ship, one
ship is destroyed. The process continues until all weapons fire has
been resolved. Therefore, a large ship firing one huge weapon can only
destroy one enemy at a time, even small fighters. Continuous fire
weapons, however, can apply damage leftover after a target is
destroyed to new targets in a group.
Attacking Planets: Missile bases take 50 hits to destroy, possess an
unlimited supply of missiles, and have an inherent defense of 1.
Missile bases also add the planet's planetary defense shield to their
force fields for absorbing damage. Furthermore, planetary atmospheres
are quite difficult to penetrate, halving the damage from all beam
weapons and torpedoes. Bombs and missiles are sometimes the only way
to effectively eliminate surface missile bases.
Colonists and industry are also susceptible to bombardment from
space. Attacks against missile bases kill one million colonists for
each 400 points of damage scored against missile bases, and one factory
is destroyed for each 100 points. Once all missile bases have been
destroyed, and fire can be concentrated on the population centres, the
kill rate is doubled for both colonists and factories. Planetary
defense shields protect the colonies whether or not missile bases are
still present.
Biological weapons are the most effective means of attacking
planets. Not only are populations slain outright, but the habitability
rating of the planet is reduced. However, all races frown on their use
and your diplomatic relations will be severely damaged every time one
is employed.
(\/( Page 60 )\/)
COMBAT RESOLUTION (CONT.)
Attacking Colony Transports: Each colony transport has a base of 15
hits modified by the best available armour, has no shields, and moves
at a speed of less than your best known warp speed. For example, if
you have developed Sub-Light engines which move starships at warp 3
(three parsecs per turn), your transports would move at warp 2. Combat
speed is one-half their warp speed. When a transport attempts to land
on an enemy planet, the transports are attacked by all enemy ships in
orbit and any ground missile bases. Combat involving transports is
automatically resolved with the transport attempting to reach the
planet before being destroyed. In this case, combat speed is very
important. Not only are transports with faster speeds harder to hit,
but they reach the planet much faster and therefore are attacked
fewer times. Transports equipped with combat transporters have a 50%
chance of getting their troops off the transport before combat even
begins.
Ground Combat: Ground combat is resolved in a series of attacks
until one side has been completely eliminated. Each attack consists of
a roll made by each side, with the highest roller killing off one unit
of the loser's population. In the case of a tie, both sides lose on
unit. The attack consists of a roll from 1-100 and adding the race's
current best ground combat technology bonuses for armour, shields and
weapons. Bulrathi get an additional +20 advantage. Significant
differences in ground combat technology will give one side a decided
advantage. A mere +10 bonus difference will yield a 3 to 2 kill ratio.
(\/( Page 61 )\/)
TECHNOLOGY
Technology plays a key role in your ability to win Master of Orion.
Even if you have developed a powerful industry, without advanced
technology you will be unable to compete effectively with your rivals.
There are six areas of science in Master of Orion: computers,
construction, force fields, planetology, propulsion, and weapons. Only
the first 50 levels actually contain new inventions. Levels above 50
refine and miniaturize your existing technology.
Acquiring New Technology: Technology can be acquired in three ways:
researching from resource points spent on technology, stealing
technology from other races, or finding remnants of technology from
conquered enemy planets.
To acquire a new device in one of the six sciences, you must
accumulate enough research points. Each colony converts resources
devoted to technology to research points. The points are then combined
with the research from all your other planets and are divided up into
the six areas according to the ratios that you specify on the
technology screen.
Each device that you research has a Base Cost of research points
that must be invested in it before your scientists can achieve a
breakthrough and "discover" that device. The Base Cost of developing a
Technology is the device's tech level squared, multiplied by a factor
that depends upon the game's difficulty setting.
Each year that you invest research points in a device, you also get
"interest" on the amount you have invested. The interest is either 15%
of your total, or an amount equal to what you are adding this year,
whichever is lower. This encourages a steady investment in your
research as opposed to a "crash" funding.
After the Base Cost has been invested in it's research, your
scientists have a chance of a breakthrough, as long as you continue to
fund that research. Your chance of a breakthrough increases by 1% for
every 2% of the Base Cost you invest in addition.
So, for example, if the base cost of a device were 100 RP, you would
get a chance to have a breakthrough after that 100 RP has been
invested. By the time you invested a total of 150 RP, your chance of
breakthrough that turn would be 25% (100 spent on the Base Cost; 50
more RP divided by 2 gives you a 25% chance).
(\/( Page 62 )\/)
TECHNOLOGY (CONT.)
If your research spending in a given technology drops to 0, you have
effectively shelved the research for that device, and get no chance of
discovery on that turn. In addition, you lose 10% of the amount
already invested each turn, until you begin research again.
Your technology level in a given are is based upon 80% of the level
of your most advance device, plus the total number of devices in that
field you have discovered. For instance, if you have discovered 5
weapons, the most advanced of which is level 20, your overall Weapons
Technology Level is 21 (80% of 20, plus 5 devices).
Artifact Planets and Orion: Planets with artifacts tremendously
enghnce technology research, doubling the research output on those
planets. Orion is a scientist's wonderland and research there is
quadrupled.
Reducing Costs and Size: Advances in technology will reduce the cost
of building existing ships and missile bases. For every ten levels
above the minimum required level of technology that you have, the cost
of producing that device is halved. For example, a particle beam (15th
level weapons technology) costs 13 BC when it is first developed. When
you reach level 20, the weapon costs 9.75 BC and at level 25 it costs
only 6.5 BC. Although there are no new devices at higher than 50th
level technology, you can still decrease the costs of producing
existing technology.
Along with reduced cost, advances in technology also allows you to
reduce the size of existing devices so that you can fit more on your
starships. The mass of a device is decreased by 25% per 10 levels of
technology above the minimum required level. Weapons, however, reduce
by 50% for every 10 levels. For example, the particle beam normally
requires 20 tons of space to mount on a ship. At level 25 the weapon
takes 10 tons of space, and at 25th level it takes only 5 tons of
space. Miniaturization works on computers, ECM jammers, armour, force
fields, ship engines, weapons, and most special devices.
(\/( Page 63 )\/)
TECHNOLOGY (CONT.)
Racial Differences in Technology Development: Each race has placed
different priorities on developing technology in different area. As a
result, some races pay a lower Base Cost for developing technologies
in their specialties, while areas of technology they are poor in cost
more to research. The table below summarizes each race's strengths and
weaknesses in research:
Race |Computers|Constructn|Force Fields|Planetolgy|Propulsn|Weapons
________|_________|__________|____________|__________|________|_______
Alkari | ------- | -------- | Poor | -------- |Excellnt| -----
Bulrathi| Poor | Good | ---------- | -------- | ------ | Good
Darlok | Good | -------- | ---------- | -------- | ------ | -----
Human | ------- | -------- | Excellent | Good | Good | -----
Klackon | ------- |Excellent | ---------- | -------- | Poor | -----
Meklar |Excellent| -------- | ---------- | Poor | ------ | -----
Mrrshan | ------- | Poor | ---------- | -------- | ------ |Excllent
Psilon | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good
Sakkra | ------- | -------- | ---------- |Excellent | ------ | -----
Silicoid| Good | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor
The Base Cost of developing a device is multiplied by the race's
multiplier:
Poor = 125% of the standard Base Cost
Good = 80% of the standard Base Cost
------ = Standard Base Cost
Excellent = 60% of the standard Base Cost
(\/( Page 64 )\/)
COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY
Computer Tech deals with the development of specialized electronic
devices and computer systems. Computer tech produces such devices as
battle computers, ECM jammers, robotic controls, space scanners, and
the infamous technology nullifier.
* Battle Computers direct all starship weapons fire. The mark of
the battle computer determines not only the attack level of the
starship when it is firing it's weapons, but also is added to the
ship's maneuverability to calculate initiative.
* Battle Scanners provide starships with exceptionally detailed
information on enemy starships. If any ship in a fleet is
equipped with a battle scanner, you can view all the technical
specs of the enemy fleet. In addition, the equipped ship gains a
+3 initiative bonus, and +1 to it's attack level. Note that all
planetary missile bases are automatically equipped with battle
scanners.
* ECM Jammers confuse incoming enemy missiles, reducing the chance
of a missile hitting. The mark of the jammer is added to the
ship's defense level for all missile attacks.
* Hyperspace Communications allow you to communicate with ships
already en route and change their destination.
* Improved Robotic Controls allow colonists to operate multiple
factories. The number following the title indicates the number of
factories that can be controlled by each unit of population.
Robotic controls are expensive. Each robotic level above the
first increases the cost of building factories by +50%.
* Oracle Interfaces focus all of your ship's beam weapons into a
simultaneous attack at a single point on the enemy ship. This
effectively halves the target's shielding for all your beam
weapons.
* Space Scanners alert your colonies to the movements of enemy
space craft. When the game starts, each of your colonies has
space scanners that can identify enemy starships in hyperspace up
to 3 parsecs away. Deep space scanners extend the range to 5
parsecs. Improved scanners reach 7 parsecs, and can determine
ship destination. Advanced scanners can determine planet types
and have a range of 9 parsecs. They also increase your ship's
scanning range, from 0 at the start up to 3 parsecs with Advanced
Scanners.
(\/( Page 65 )\/)
COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY (CONT.)
* Technology Nullifiers overload enemy computers and ECM jammers.
The weapon generates a field that temporarily reduces the mark of
enemy battle computers and ECM jammers by 1-3 levels, determined
separately. Technology nullifiers have a range of 4 spaces.
CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY
Construction Tech is a generalized form of engineering primarily
dealing with advanced structures and materials. Construction tech can
be used to develop advanced armours, reduce industrial waste
emissions, and decrease the cost of building new factories. In
addition, for each level you have attained in construction tech, the
amount of available space on a starship increases by 1%.
* Automated Repair Units automatically repair damaged ships at the
end of each round of combat. Automated repair units can repair up
to 25% of the ship's original hits in damage each turn. Advanced
damage control units can repair 50%.
* Improved Industrial Tech reduces the cost of building new
factories. The number following the title indicates the cost of
new factories in billions of credits (BCs). Since factories which
exceed a planet's population cost an additional 50% for each
level of robotic control, improved industrial tech can be very
important if you wish to have a large factory to colonists ratio.
* Powered Armours provide troops with superior power and mobility
by mechanically magnifying their natural strength. Troops
equipped with Battle Suits gain a +10 bonus in ground combat, +20
with Armoured Exoskeletons, and +30 with Powered Armour.
* Reduced Industrial Waste decreases the amount of pollution
generated by operating factories. Normally, each factory produces
1 unit of pollution. With reduced industrial waste, the amount of
waste is decreased to the amount following the title. For
example, "Reduced Industrial Waste 80%" only produces 8 units of
waste per 10 factories.
* Reserve Fuel Tanks increase a ship's range by three parsecs.
* Starship Armours increase the damage capacity of starships and
transports. Each level of armour increases the base hits of a
starship by +50%. Armour, like devices, can be miniaturized at
25% reduction for every 10 levels of Construction Technology.
(\/( Page 66 )\/)
FORCE FIELD
Force Field sciences involve the practical applications of advanced
field physics such as deflector shields, repulsor beams, stasis
fields, damage shields, and the black hole generator.
* Black Hole generators create fields that destroy all life. The
generator has a 1 space range. Once fired, 25-100% of the
targeted enemy ships will have their crews killed, eliminating
the ships from the battle. Deflector shields reduce the kill
ratio by 2% per class of shield.
* Cloaking Devices hide ships from enemy scanners and detection
devices. As long as the cloaked ship does not attack, it can add
+5 to it's defense. When the ship does attack, it strikes first
regardless of initiative. Once the ship has attacked though, it
must wait one complete turn before recloaking.
* Deflector Shields reduce the damage taken from all enemy attacks.
The shield can absorb it's class in hits, i.e. a Class X
deflector shield reduces all attacks by 10 hits. Shields do not
function within star systems that are in nebulas.
* Lightning Shields surround ships in a powerful energy field that
can prematurely detonate incoming enemy missile and torpedo
attacks. Zyro shields destroy the missiles 75% of the time while
Lightning shields destroy them 100% of the time. Their
effectiveness is reduced by 1% per tech level of the missile.
* Personal Shields provide individual ground troops with protection
of a force field and reduces their chances of being hit by enemy
fire. Personal Deflector Shields add +10 to troops' combat bonus,
Personal Absorption Shields add +20, and Personal Barrier Shields
add +30.
* Planetary Defense Shields act like deflector shields, except that
the force field protects missile bases, colonists, and factories
from space attacks. The planetary shields are automatically built
once the technology has been obtained, with the resources being
supplied from each planet's defense spending. As with deflector
shields, planetary shields do not function within star systems
that are inside nebulas. Planetary shields cost 100 BC per class
to build.
* Repulsor beams push adjacent enemy starships one space away.
* Stasis Field Generators trap enemy ships in a time bubble. While
trapped, the ships cannot attack or be attacked until the
following turn. The stasis field generator has a range of one
space.
(\/( Page 67 )\/)
PLANETOLOGY
Planetology involves the analysis and development of alien worlds.
Planetology can be used to develop technology that will eliminate
waste more efficiently, expand the livable terrain of planets, and
allow colonists to land on planets with hostile environments.
Planetology improves colonists' productivity, increasing their
production from one half BC per colonist to two BC per colonist at
50th level. It is also responsible for weapons that can destroy the
ecology of a target planet, eliminating millions of colonists.
* Atmospheric Terraforming converts hostile environments to
standard environments changing the population growth rate to
normal levels. The conversion costs 200 BC. Once the technology
has been developed, any surplus ecological resources allocated by
planets with hostile environments will be devoted to terraforming
the atmosphere.
* Biological Weapons kill populations and reduce the habitability
of planets. The damage rating for a biological weapon indicates
the maximum number of colonists killed by each attack and the
amount that planet's population maximum is reduced.
* Biological Weapon Antidotes are broad spectrum anti-bacterial
chemicals that reduce the casualties from biological attacks.
Bio-toxin antidotes save two million people each attack.
Antidotes only reduce population loss. They do not affect the
damage to the planet's habitability.
* Controlled Hostile Environments permits colonists to land on
planets with hostile environments. Developing a specific
controlled environment allows you to also land on all lesser
environmental types. For example, developing controlled inferno
landings allows you to colonize planets with inferno, dead,
tundra, and barren environments. This technology is particularly
important because hostile planets are more likely to be mineral
rich. Controlled hostile environments is also necessary for troop
invasion on enemy worlds with hostile environments.
* Colony Bases must be placed on a starship and then moved to the
unoccupied star system where the ship can be dismantled to form a
new colony.
(\/( Page 68 )\/)
TECHNOLOGY (CONT.)
* Ecological Restoration reduces current levels of pollution. When
the game starts, you can eliminate two units of waste for 1 BC.
Improved ecological restoration eliminates 5 units of waste per
BC, advanced ecological restoration eliminates 10 units of waste
per BC, and complete ecological restoration eliminates 20 units
of waste per BC.
* Soil Enrichment converts standard environments to fertile
environments that increase population growth rates by +50%. The
conversion costs 150 BC and is automatically built from surplus
ecology spending above the necessary amount to clean up
industrial waste. Advanced Soil Enrichment converts standard and
fertile environments to gaias with double normal population
growth rates and costs 300 BC
* Terraforming increases the effective size of a planet by
improving their habitability. The bonus following the title
indicates how much of the planet size can be increased by.
Terraforming costs 5 BC per unit of size increase. Advanced
terraforming techniques eventually decrease the cost to 2 BC per
size increase.
PROPULSION TECHNOLOGY
Propulsion sciences are used to develop new and more powerful ship
engines, extend ship ranges, and construct special power systems such
as inertial nullifiers, subspace teleporters, and high energy focus
units.
* Combat Transporters provide instantaneous teleportation of ground
troops to planet surfaces at great distances. Colony transports
equipped with these teleporters have a 50% chance of landing
troops on enemy planets before the transport enters combat in
orbit.
* High Energy Focuses increase the range of a ship's weapons by
three spaces. A fusion beam normally has a 1 space range. Ships
equipped with a high energy focus can attack out to 4 spaces with
their fusion beams. The ship still takes the normal range
penalties for firing beyond 1 space.
* Increased Ship Range allows your starships to travel deeper into
the galaxy. At the start of the game your ships can move 3
parsecs from colony worlds. Through improvements in fuels, your
range increases until eventually you can move anywhere on the
galaxy map.
(\/( Page 69 )\/)
TECHNOLOGY (CONT.)
* Inertial Stabilizers and Nullifiers create a sub-space field that
reduces or negates the effects of inertia. Ships mounted with
inertial stabilizers add +2 to their maneuverability. Ships with
inertial nullifiers add +4
* Pulsars are waves of energy generated by specially modified
engines. They damage all ships adjacent to yours. The maximum
damage an Energy Pulsar can do is 5 points plus 1 point for every
two ships firing pulsars. For Ionic Pulsars, the damage can be up
to 10 points plus one for each attacking ship.
* Star Gates provide instantaneous movement of your ships and
transports between any two star systems equipped with star gates.
Travel time takes only one year regardless of distance. A star
gate is built like a ship, costs 2000 BC to build, and 100 BC per
year to maintain.
* Starship Engines control the speed at which starships move on the
galaxy map and the base defense the starships have in combat.
Engine speeds are measured in usits of "warp" which translate to
one parsec of movement per year. Furthermore, for each level of
warp an engine has, it produces 10 units of power to supply to
other systems.
* Sub Space Interdictors create intense gravity walls around your
planets. They are automatically added to your planet's defenses
and prevent ships from using subspace teleporters.
* Subspace Teleporters teleport ships to anywhere on the space
combat map instead of normal movement. In addition, the
teleporting ships always attack first after moving, regardless of
initiatives. Subspace teleporters are nullified near planets with
Sub Space Interdictors.
* Warp Dissipators disrupt enemy starship engines, reducing their
combat speed by 1 each shot. The weapon has a 3 space range, and
damaged engines are repaired after the combat is over.
(\/( Page 70 )\/)
TECHNOLOGY (CONT.)
WEAPONS TECHNOLOGY
Weapons Tech deals exclusively with the development of advanced
weapon systems. Weapons are divided into four groups: beams, missiles,
bombs, and hand weapons.
* Anti-Missile Rockets intercept and destroy incoming enemy
missiles 35% of the time minus 1% per level of the missile.
* Beam Weapons are direct fire trans-light weapons that strike their
targets almost instantly. Damage for beam weapons is given in a
range with the lowest value being scored with a minimum roll
needed to hit and maximum damage being scored with the best to
hit roll. Beam weapon damage is explained in more detail in the
space combat section.
* Hand Weapons are personal energy weapons that ground troops can
use in enemy assaults. Hand Lasers provide a +5 bonus in ground
battles, Ion Rifles +10, Fusion Rifles +20, Hand Phasors +25, and
Plasma Rifles +30.
* Bombs can only be used against ground based targets. They carry
extremely heavy warheads capable of inflicting much more damage
than their beam weapon and missile counterparts. Ships equipped
with bombs each carry a supply sufficient for ten attacks.
* Missiles and Torpedoes are seeking drones that track and follow
enemy starships, detonating on contact. If the missile or torpedo
hits, the full damage of the warhead is scored against the
target. Each missile equipped with a targeting computer that
improves it's chances of hitting. The computer rating is added to
the launching starship's battle computer mark for calculating the
effective attack level of the missile. Ships equipped with
missiles have a limited supply of drones, chosen when the ship is
designed. Missile supplies are replenished after combat.
Torpedoes, on the other hand, can fire endlessly, but the
launchers only fire every other turn. Missile are fully effective
against planetary targets, but the damage of torpedoes is halved
when penetrating the atmosphere.
* Stream Projectors affect all ships in a group, stripping away
their armour. Ion Stream Projectors reduce armour by 20% plus an
additional 1/2% for every attacking ship, up to a maximum of 50%.
Neutron Stream Projectors reduce armour by 40%, plus 1% for every
attacking ship, up to a maximum of 75%.
(\/( Page 71 )\/)
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Copyright (C) 1993 by MicroProse Software, Inc., all rights reserved.
This manual and the computer programs and audiovisuals on the
accompanying floppy disks, which are described by this manual, are
copyrighted and contain proprietary information belonging to
MicroProse Software, Inc. No one may give or sell copies of this
manual or the accompanying disks or of listings of the programs on the
disks to any person or institution, except as provided for by written
agreement with MicroProse Software, Inc. No one may copy, photocopy,
reproduce, translate this manual or reduce it to machine readable
form, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of
MicroProse Software, Inc. Any person/persons reproducing it to machine
readable form, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent
of MicroProse Software, Inc. Any person/persons reproducing any
portion of this program, in any media, for any reason, shall by guilty
of Copyright Violation, and shall be subjected to civil liability at
the discretion of the copyright holder.
(\/( Page A1 )\/)
(\/(____)\/)
Technical Supplement and Reference
\/ \/
CONTENTS
Our Master of Orion package should contain this technical
supplement, a manual with registration card, and a set of four 3.5"
floppy disks.
MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Computer: IBM, or fully compatible, with 16 Mhz 386 processor or
better.
System Memory: 2 MB of RAM, with 700K of EMS free.
Conventional Memory: 575K (588,800 bytes) of your base RAM must be
available.
Hard Drive: at least 14 MB of free space must be available on your
hard drive.
Graphics: VGA graphics card and VGA monitor.
Floppy Drive: One 3.5" required for installation only.
DOS: MS-DOS version 3.0 or higher required.
Optional:
Mouse: Microsoft Mouse or compatible highly recommended.
Sound Cards: Sound Blaster, Ad-Lib, Pro-Audio Spectrum, or Roland
MT-32 sound cards.
INSTALLATION
Master of Orion includes a program to install the game onto your
hard drive. To run this program:
1. Start up your computer normally.
2. Insert the first Master of Orion disk into your 3.5" floppy disk
drive.
3. Type A: or B: (whichever refers to the drive with your disk), and
press the Enter key.
4. Type INSTALL, then press the Enter key. Follow the on-screen
prompts.
(\/( Page A2 )\/)
INSTALLATION (CONT)
The main menu of the INSTALL program has four options:
Install Game Files to Hard Disk: will decompress and copy the game
files from your floppy disks onto a directory that you specify on your
hard drive. Because the files on the floppy disk are compressed, you
MUST use this option to copy the game files to your hard drive.
Reconfigure Hardware Options: Allows you to configure hardware
settings for your sound card and interface. The highlighted menu
options are the ones that the INSTALL program believes are available
in your system. You may still select settings that are greyed out.
Generally, the farther down the menu, the more advanced the sound
system.
If the sound device you have selected requires specific
configuration settings for address, IRQ, and/or DRQ, it will request
them. The Install program will try to preselect the options it
believes are correct for your system. Check the documentation that
came with your sound card, and any notes on the settings used for
address, IRQ, and/or DRQ when you installed the card in your computer.
If you do not set these correctly, you may not hear the correct sound
and music, or possibly Master of Orion may not run at all.
After setting option for sound drivers, you may configure the
interface for either mouse or keyboard usage. We highly recommend
using a mouse with Master of Orion.
Display README.TXT file: The README.TXT file contains information
too recent to be included in the manual or this Technical supplement.
Exit to DOS: leaves the INSTALL program, ready to play Master of
Orion. If you later need to change your hardware settings, or read the
README.TXT file, you can run the INSTALL program again from your hard
drive.
NOTE: As part of it's auto-detection routines, the INSTALL program
checks for any installed sound cards. Certain sounds cards may cause
your computer to lock up when this routine runs. If you experience
this problem, you may run the INSTALL program without checking for
sound cards by typing INSTALL -S instead of just INSTALL. This
bypasses the check, and lets you select any sound card in the menu. Be
careful to use the right settings.
(\/( Page A3 )\/)
MEMORY REQUIREMENTS
Master of Orion requires that 575K (588,800 bytes) of your
conventional RAM be available. To check how much RAM you have
available, type MEM and press Enter.
The memory report shows a number for the "largest executable program
size". If that is less than 588,800 bytes, you may have to modify
your system configuration to remove some memory resident programs that
take up that space.
STARTING THE GAME
Once Master of Orion is properly installed and configured on your
hard drive, you are ready to play the game. Change to the subdirectory
containing Master of Orion. If you installed with the default options,
you would type:
CD C:\MPS\ORION
then press Enter. Once you are in the correct subdirectory, then you
type:
ORION
and press Enter to begin the game.
PLAYING MASTER OF ORION
Your goal in Master of Orion is nothing less than conquest of the
galaxy. To do this, you must:
* Use the resources of your planets to develop their industry,
defense, research, ecology, and ship production.
* Send out ships to discover and colonize new planets.
* Deal with other races that you encounter in space through
diplomacy, trade, espionage, sabotage, and warfare.
* Research new technologies in Computers, Force Fields,
Planetology, Construction, Propulsion, and Weapons.
* Design new ships with new technologies, to aid you in
accomplishing your goals.
If this is your first game, we recommend that you play in a Medium
sized galaxy (not Small), at Simple difficulty, with 3 other Races.
Play as either the Alkaris, Silicoids, or Klackons; they are the
easiest for new players.
(\/( Page A4 )\/)
ONLINE HELP
Most game screens in Master of Orion have built in help displays to
explain the controls. To see the help displays for any screen, press
the F1 Function key on your keyboard.
GAME CONTROLS
We highly recommend the use of a mouse to play Master of Orion. The
left mouse button is always used to select an option, and the right
mouse button ot cancel a selection.
The numeric keypad can be used instead of a mouse, to move the
pointer. Be sure that the Numlock is turned on. Pressing Enter selects
an option, and pressing the Esc key cancels a selection. To scroll the
game map, hold down the Ctrl key while pressing the numeric keys.
Most buttons on screen can be activated by pressing the keyboard key
corresponding to the first letter of the button's name. There are a
few exceptions to this rule:
Main Screen: RELOCTATE = 'L' TRANSPORT = 'X'
Fleet Screen: SPECS = 'V'
Combat: SPECIAL = 'X'
Many screens: (down arrow) = '<' (up arrow) = '>'
F1 = online help.
F2 = next planet.
F3 = previous planet.
THE MAIN SCREEN
The main game screen includes a large window displaying a portion of
the galaxy, a right side panel with planetary information and/or
control displays, and a row of buttons at the bottom of the screen to
access other control and information screens.
In the galaxy window, you can select stars or fleets of ships. If
you select a star that you have colonized, the right panel can be used
to allocate it's resources, build up ships in it's docks, relocate
completed ships to other colonies, or transfer population to other
star systems. If you click again on an already selected star system,
the display will change to show you more information about that star.
If you select a star that you have not colonized, the right panel
displays what information you have about that star system.
If you select a fleet orbiting a planet, the right panel lets you
order ships from that fleet to other star systems. If you select a
fleet already in space, the panel displays it's composition,
destination, and ETA.
(\/( Page A5 )\/)
RATIO BARS
You control the allocation of your planetary spending, and the other
distribution of your research efforts, using ratio bars. A group of
ratio bars shows how a resource is being divided among several
different areas. The total value of all the bars must always equal
100% of the resource being allocated. Therefore, if you reduce on bar,
another will lengthen; lengthen a bar, and another must get shorter.
To change the setting of a ratio bar, you simply click in the bar
area at the position you want the setting to be. Other bars will
change their settings to compensate, so that the toal values of all
the bars still adds up to 100%. You may have finer control over bar
settings by pressing the arrows on the left and right of the bars, or
by using + and - keys when the ratio bar is selected.
If you wish to lock down a bar's setting, so that changing other
ratio bars does NOT affect it's setting, click on the bar's title, at
the left of the bar you wish to lock. The title will change colour,
and changing ratios in other bars cannot affect the locked bar's
resources. You can unlock the ratio bar setting by clicking on the
title again.
OTHER GAME FUNCTIONS
Buttons at the bottom of the Main screen access other screens with
more detailed information and control displays:
Game: lets you save and load games, change settings for sound, and
quit the game.
Design: lets you design new types of ships. You can have no more than
six types of ships active at any one time.
Fleet: shows you where all your ships are, what their specifications
are, and lets you choose any ship types to scrap to make room for
newer designs.
Map: displays an overview of the entire galaxy.
Races: controls your interactions with other races you have contacted.
Here you can speak to their ambassadors, send out spies, and see how
your race stands compared to others.
Planets: summarises information about all of your colonies, and your
empire's economic status.
Tech: shows you the technological advances you have, and allows you to
set the ratios for your six areas of research.
Next Year: ends this turn, and sends the game onto the next one.
(\/( Page A6 )\/)
TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT TABLE
Technology Level| Computers
________________|____________________________________________________
1 | Battle Computer Mark I
2 | ECM Jammer Mark I
3 |
4 | Deep Space Scanner
5 | Battle Computer Mark II
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
6 |
7 | ECM Jammer Mark II
8 | Improved Robotic Controls III
9 |
10 | Battle Computer Mark III
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
11 |
12 | ECM Jammer Mark III
13 | Improved Space Scanner
14 |
15 | Battle Computer Mark IV
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
16 |
17 | ECM Jammer MArk IV
18 | Improved Robotic Controls IV
19 |
20 | Battle Computer Mark V
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
21 |
22 | ECM Jammer Mark V
23 | Advanced Space Scanner
24 |
25 | Battle Computer Mark VI
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
26 |
27 | ECM Jammer Mark VI
28 | Improved Robotic Controls V
29 |
30 | Battle Computer Mark VII
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
31 |
32 | ECM Jammer Mark VII
33 |
34 | Hyperspace Communications
35 | Battle Computer Mark VII
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
36 |
37 | ECM Jammer VIII
38 | Improved Robotic Controls VI
39 |
40 | Battle Computer Mark IX
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
41 |
42 | ECM Jammer Mark IX
42 |
44 |
45 | Battle Computer Mark X
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
46 | Oracle Interface
47 | ECM Jammer Mark X
48 | Improved Robotic Controls VII
49 | Technology Nullifier
50 | Battle Computer Mark XI
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
Technology Level| Construction
________________|____________________________________________________
1 | Titanium Amour
2 |
3 | Improved Industrial Tech 9
4 |
5 | Reduced Industrial Waste
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
6 |
7 |
8 | Improved Industrial Tech 8
9 |
10 | Duralloy Armour
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
11 | Battle Suit
12 |
13 | Improved Industrial Tech 7
14 | Automated Repair Units
15 | Reduced Industrial Waste 60%
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
16 |
17 | Zortium Armour
18 | Improved Industrial Tech 6
19 |
20 |
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
21 |
22 |
23 | Improved Industrial Tech 5
24 | Armoured Exoskeleton
25 | Reduced Industrial Waste 40%
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
26 | Andrium Armour
27 |
28 | Improved Industrial Tech 4
29 |
30 |
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
31 |
32 |
33 | Improved Indusrial Tech 3
34 | Tritanium Armour
35 | Reduced Industrial Waste 20%
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
36 | Advanced Damage Control
37 |
38 | Improved Industrial Tech 2
39 |
40 | Powered Armour
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
41 |
42 | Adamantium Armour
42 |
44 |
45 | Industrial Waste Elimination
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
46 |
47 |
48 |
49 |
50 | Neutronium Armour
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
Technology Level| Force Fields
________________|____________________________________________________
1 | Class I Deflector Shield
2 |
3 |
4 | Class II Deflector Shield
5 |
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
6 |
7 |
8 | Personal Deflector Shield
9 |
10 | Class III Deflector Shield
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
11 |
12 | Class V Planetary Shield
13 |
14 | Class IV Deflector Shield
15 |
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
16 | Repulsor Beam
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 | Class V Deflector Shield
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
21 | Personal Absorption Shield
22 | Class X Planetary Shield
23 |
24 | Class VI Deflector Shield
25 |
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
26 |
27 | Cloaking Device
28 |
29 |
30 | Class VII Deflector Shield
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
31 | Zyro Shield
32 | Class XV Planetary Shield
33 |
34 | Class IX Deflector Shield
35 |
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
36 |
37 | Stasis Field
38 | Personal Barrier Shield
39 |
40 | Class XI Deflector Shield
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
41 |
42 | Class XX Planetary Shield
42 | Black Hole Generator
44 | Class XIII Deflector Shield
45 |
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
46 | Lightning Shield
47 |
48 |
49 |
50 | Class XV Deflector Shield
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
Technology Level| Planetology
________________|____________________________________________________
1 | Ecological Restoration
2 | Terraforming +10
3 | Controlled Barren Landings
4 |
5 | Improved Eco Restoration
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
6 | Controlled Tundra Landings
7 |
8 | Terraforming +20
9 | Dead Planet Landings
10 | Death Spores
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
11 |
12 | Controlled Inferno Landings
13 | Enhanced Eco Restoration
14 | Terraforming +30
15 | Controlled Toxic Landings
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
16 | Soil Enrichment
17 | Bio Toxin Antidote
18 | Radioactive Landings
19 |
20 | Terraforming +40
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
21 | Cloning
22 | Atmospheric Terraforming
23 |
24 | Advanced Eco Restoration
25 |
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
26 | Terraforming +50
27 | Doom Virus
28 |
29 |
30 | Advanced Soil Enrichment
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
31 |
32 | Terraforming +60
33 |
34 | Complete Eco Restoration
35 |
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
36 | Universal Antidote
37 |
38 | Terraforming +80
39 |
40 | Bio Terminator
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
41 |
42 | Advanced cloning
42 |
44 | Terraforming +100
45 |
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
46 |
47 |
48 |
49 |
50 | Terraforming +120
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
Technology Level| Propulsion
________________|____________________________________________________
1 | Retro Engines (Warp 1)
2 |
3 | Hydrogen Fuel Cells (Range 4)
4 |
5 | Deuteriumm Fuel Cells (Range 5)
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
6 | Nuclear Engines (Warp 2)
7 |
8 |
9 | Iridium Fuel Cells (Range 6)
10 | Inertial Stabilizer
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
11 |
12 | Sub-Light Drive (Warp 3)
13 |
14 | Dotomite Crystals (Range 7)
15 |
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
16 | Energy Pulsar
17 |
18 | Fusion Drive (Warp 4)
19 | Uridium Fuel Cells (Range 8)
20 | Warp Dissipator
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
21 |
22 |
23 | Reajax II Fuel Cells (Range 9)
24 | Impulse Engines (Warp 5)
25 |
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
26 |
27 | Star Gates
28 |
29 | Trilithium Crystals (Range 10)
30 | Ion Drive (Warp 6)
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
31 |
32 |
33 |
34 | High Energy Focus
35 |
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
36 | Anti-Matter Engines (Warp 7)
37 |
38 | Sub Space Teleporter
39 |
40 | Ionic Pulsar
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
41 | Thorium cells (Unlimited Range)
42 | Interphased Drive (Warp 8)
42 | Sub Space Interdictor
44 |
45 | Combat Transports
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
46 | Inertial Nullifier
47 |
48 | Hyper Drive (Warp 9)
49 |
50 | Displacement Device
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
Technology Level| Weapons
________________|____________________________________________________
1 | Lasers and Nukes
2 | Hand Laser
3 |
4 | Hyper-V Rockets
5 | Gatling Laser
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
6 | Anti-Missile Rockets
7 | Neutron Pellet Gun
8 | Hyper-X Missile
9 | Fusion Bomb
10 | Ion Cannon
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
11 | Scatter Pack V Rockets
12 | Ion Rifle
13 | Mass Driver
14 | Merculite Missiles
15 | Neutron Blaster
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
16 | Anti-Matter Bomb
17 | Graviton Beam
18 | Stinger Missiles
19 | Hard Beam
20 | Fusion Beam
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
21 | Ion Stream Projector
22 | Omega-V Bomb
23 | Anti-Matter Torpedoes
24 | Fusion Rifle
25 | Megabolt Cannon
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
26 | Phasor
27 | Scatter Pack VII Rockets
28 | Auto Blaster
29 | Pulson Missile
30 | Tachyon Beam
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
31 | Hand Phasor
32 | Gauss Auto Cannon
33 | Particle Beam
34 | Hercular Missile
35 | Plasma Cannon
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
36 |
37 | Disruptor
38 | Pulse Phasor
39 | Neutronium bomb
40 | Hellfire Torpedoes
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
41 | Zeon Missiles
42 | Plasma Rifle
42 | Proton Torpedoes
44 | Scatter Pack X Missiles
45 | Tri-Focus Plasma
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
46 | Stellar Convertor
47 | Neutron Stream Projector
48 | Mauler Device
49 |
50 | Plasma Torpedoe
----------------|----------------------------------------------------
(\/( Page A10 )\/)
WEAPONS TABLES
| L | D | C | S | P |
| | | | | |
Notes:
BEAM WEAPONS
[L = Level, D = Damage, C = Cost, S = Size, P = Power]
Laser
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 1 | 1-4 | 3 | 10 | 30 |
Notes:
Heavy Laser
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 5 | 1-7 | 9 | 30 | 90 |
Notes: 2 space range
Gatling Laser
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 7 | 1-4 | 9 | 20 | 70 |
Notes: fires 4 times per turn
Neutron Pellet Gun
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 10 | 2-5 | 3 | 15 | 25 |
Notes: halves enemy shield strength
Ion Cannon
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 10 | 3-8 | 4 | 15 | 35 |
Notes:
Heavy Ion Cannon
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 10 | 3-15 | 11 | 45 | 105 |
Notes: 2 space range
Mass Driver
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 13 | 5-8 | 9 | 55 | 50 |
Notes: halves enemy shield stengths
Neutron Blaster
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 15 | 3-12 | 6 | 20 | 60 |
Notes:
Heavy Blast Cannon
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 15 | 3-24 | 18 | 60 | 180 |
Notes: 2 space range
Graviton Beam
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 17 | 1-15 | 6 | 30 | 60 |
Notes: damage carries over from one target to another
Hard Beam
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 19 | 8-12 | 12 | 50 | 100 |
Notes: halves enemy shield strengths
Fusion Beam
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 20 | 4-16 | 7 | 20 | 75 |
Notes:
Heavy Fusion Beam
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 20 | 4-30 | 21 | 60 | 225 |
Notes: 2 space range
Megabolt Cannon
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 25 | 2-20 | 8 | 30 | 65 |
Notes: +3 levels to hit
Phasor
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 26 | 5-20 | 9 | 20 | 90 |
Notes:
Heavy Phasor
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 26 | 5-40 | 26 | 60 | 270 |
Notes: 2 space range
Auto Blaster
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 28 | 4-16 | 14 | 30 | 75 |
Notes: fires 3 times per turn
Tachyon Beam
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 30 | 1-25 | 9 | 30 | 80 |
Notes: damage carries over from one target to another
Gauss Autocannon
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 32 | 7-10 | 28 | 105 | 105 |
Notes: fires 4 times per turn, halves enemy shields
Particle Beam
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 33 | 10-20 | 15 | 90 | 75 |
Notes: halves enemy shield strengths
Plasma Cannon
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 35 | 6-30 | 12 | 30 | 110 |
Notes:
Disruptor
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 37 | 10-40 | 21 | 70 | 160 |
Notes: 2 space range
Pulse Phasor
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 38 | 5-20 | 25 | 40 | 120 |
Notes: fires 3 times per turn
Tri-Focus Plasma
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 45 | 20-50 | 25 | 70 | 180 |
Notes:
Stellar Converter
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 46 | 10-35 | 50 | 200 | 300 |
Notes: 3 space range/hits all four shields
Mauler Device
| L | D | C | S | P |
| 48 | 20-100 | 55 | 150 | 350 |
Notes:
BOMBS AND BIOLOGICALS
[L = Level, D = Damage, C = Cost, B = Bombs, S = Size, P = Power]
Nuclear Bomb
| L | D | C | B | S | P |
| 1 | 3-12 | 3 | 10 | 25 | 0 |
Notes:
Fusion Bomb
| L | D | C | B | S | P |
| 8 | 5-20 | 4 | 10 | 25 | 0 |
Notes:
Death Spores
| L | D | C | B | S | P |
| 10 | 1 pop. | 10 | 5 | 50 | 0 |
Notes: biological weapon
Anti-Matter Bomb
| L | D | C | B | S | P |
| 16 | 10-40 | 5 | 10 | 50 | 0 |
Notes:
Omega-V Bomb
| L | D | C | B | S | P |
| 22 | 20-50 | 8 | 10 | 75 | 0 |
Notes:
Doom Virus
| L | D | C | B | S | P |
| 27 | 2 pop. | 15 | 5 | 100 | 0 |
Notes: biological weapon
Neutronium Bomb
| L | D | C | B | S | P |
| 39 | 40-70 | 10 | 10 | 90 | 0 |
Notes:
Bio Terminator
| L | D | C | B | S | P |
| 40 | 3 pop. | 20 | 5 | 150 | 0 |
Notes: biologicial weapon
(\/( Page A11 )\/)
MISSILES AND TORPEDOES
Values for size and power apply to 2 rack missile launchers. Five rack
launchers are 50% larger and more expensive than 2 rack launchers.
Two rack missiles have a +1 speed and +2 range.
Planetary missile bases launchers have double the normal range.
[L = Level, D = Damage, C = Cost, S = Size, P = Power, B = Bonus,
SPD = Speed, R = Range]
Nuclear Missiles
| L | D | C | S | P | B | SPD | R |
| 1 | 4 | 7 | 50 | 20 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Notes:
Hyper-V Rockets
| L | D | C | S | P | B | SPD | R |
| 4 | 6 | 9 | 70 | 20 | 0 | 2.5 | 5 |
Notes:
Hyper-X Missiles
| L | D | C | S | P | B | SPD | R |
| 7 | 8 | 12 | 100 | 20 | +1 | 2.5 | 4 |
Notes:
Scatter Pack V Rockets
| L | D | C | S | P | B | SPD | R |
| 11 | 6 | 18 | 115 | 60 | 0 | 2.5 | 5 |
Notes: splits into five warheads
Merculite Missiles
| L | D | C | S | P | B | SPD | R |
| 14 | 10 | 13 | 105 | 20 | +2 | 3 | 6 |
Notes:
Stinger Missiles
| L | D | C | S | P | B | SPD | R |
| 18 | 15 | 19 | 155 | 30 | +3 | 3.5 | 7 |
Notes:
Anti-Matter Torpedoes
| L | D | C | S | P | B | SPD | R |
| 23 | 30 | 30 | 75 | 300 | +4 | 4 | 8 |
Notes:
Scatter Pack VII Missiles
| L | D | C | S | P | B | SPD | R |
| 27 | 10 | 28 | 230 | 50 | +2 | 3 | 6 |
Notes: splits into seven warheads
Pulson Missile
| L | D | C | S | P | B | SPD | R |
| 29 | 20 | 20 | 160 | 40 | +4 | 4 | 8 |
Notes:
Hercular Missiles
| L | D | C | S | P | B | SPD | R |
| 34 | 25 | 26 | 220 | 40 | +5 | 4.5 | 9 |
Notes:
Hellfire Torpedoes
| L | D | C | S | P | B | SPD | R |
| 40 | 25 | 50 | 150 | 350 | +6 | 5 | 10 |
Notes: hits all four shields
Zeon Missiles
| L | D | C | S | P | B | SPD | R |
| 41 | 30 | 30 | 250 | 50 | +6 | 5 | 10 |
Notes: best missile for missile bases
Proton Torpedoes
| L | D | C | S | P | B | SPD | R |
| 43 | 60 | 50 | 150 | 400 | +6 | 8 | 10 |
Notes:
Scatter Pack X Missiles
| L | D | C | S | P | B | SPD | R |
| 44 | 15 | 30 | 200 | 50 | +3 | 3.5 | 7 |
Notes: splits into ten warheads
Plasma Torpedoes
| L | D | C | S | P | B | SPD | R |
| 50 | 150 | 150 | 250 | 450 | +7 | 6 | 10 |
Notes: loses 15 strength/space
