===============================================================================
==========Master of Orion III (MOO3)===========
FAQ/Strategy Guide
By: Zhaneel
[email protected]
===============================================================================
Table of Contents
Version History [1]
Notes [2]
Personal Notes [2-1]
Acknowledgements [2-2]
Introduction to the Game [3]
For Players new to the Series [3-1]
For Players of MOO2 [3-2]
The Main Menu [4]
Game Options [4-1]
Starting a new game [5]
Choosing a Race [5-1]
Customizing your race [5-2]; includes breakdown of all choices
Galaxy Setup [5-3]
Your first Turn [6]
Exploration [6-1]
Your first colony ship [6-2]
Your HomeWorld (Planet View, brief) [6-3]
The Economics Tab, in brief [6-4]
Planetary and Regional Infrastructure, in brief [6-5]
Planet Supply and Demand, brief [6-6]
All of those Tabs [7]
Micro versus Macro [8]
Copyright Info [END]
OLDER VERSION APPENDED
Playing the Game [5*]
Your first couple of turns [5-1*]
The SitRep [5-1a*]
Colonizing and Expanding [5-3*]
Colony Ship [5-3a*]
Outpost Ships [5-3b*]
Acquiring Colonies from the enemies [5-3c*]
Spying [5-5*]
Economics (by Designer Tom Hughes) [6*]
Mining [6-1*]
Bioharvest [6-2*]
Victory [8*]
Stats, Techs, and Numbers [9*]
Preset Race Modifiers [9-1*]
Magnate Race Modifiers [9-2*]
Initial Diplomacy Modifiers [9-3*]
Government Stats [9-4*]
Antaran X Benefits [9-5*]
Multiplayer [10*]
LAN Games [10-1*]
IP Games [10-2*]
GameSpy Games [10-3*]
Playing a Multiplayer Game [10-4*]
FAQs: [11*]
Mods and Links [12*]
===============================================================================
Version History [1]
===============================================================================
Current Version 0.9
* Completely revamped order, style and information. Added in Economics 101
from Developed, Government Stats. Reworked some of the information I have, and
posted just to have a version up that I like better. The older version is
appended at the bottom. All previous version comments apply to that numbering
system. Still tons of work I need to do. Wouldn't mind a little help.
Interested in helping? Have a section you want added? Let me know.
Version 0.7
* Changed section separators; extended and improved upon sections 5-1, 5-2,
5-3; removed redundant questions from FAQ; corrected an error in the race
modifiers; change mod link as Orion Sector is no longer hosting mods, allowed
GameNation to post FAQ.
Version 0.6
* Updated FAQ portion, incorporated List of racial modifiers, moved some
FAQ
questions to appropriate sections, created sections for Starting a Game,
Playing
the Game, Combat, Multiplayer, Stats and Links. Posted while sections are
incomplete as requested.
Version 0.5 (3/3/03)
*First version. Contains on basic questions and some thoughts and opinions
on game play and advice. Lots of planned places for more information.
===============================================================================
Notes [2]
===============================================================================
Please do not expect this FAQ to take the place of the manual and in-game help.
It is not meant to do that. I highly recommend you read the manual and
Readme.txt in addition to this FAQ. Also, take advantage of the in game
encyclopedia (which can be easily modded) and the Master's Notes. Yes, I know,
they are confusing but they do have helpful information.
Finally, there is a ton of information online to be found. The official forums
<
http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=224> have lots
of good threads that are stickied filled with information and the fans are very
willing to help out. I mostly only read the strategy/gameplay forum
<
http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=278>,
personally. In addition, once the patch comes out you can expect the GameFAQs
forum <
http://s1.cgi.gamefaqs.com/boards/gentopic.asp?board=3364> to pick back
up again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personal Notes [2-1]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have beaten the game a couple of times at this point. I have beaten the
Senate Victory and Antaran X Victory. I'm currently working on a beat everyone
into the ground Victory. I have played a couple of different races and galaxy
settings. What you will find here are some good general tips, some of the
common questions from the GameFAQs and official boards, some reposts of
important stats from the spreadsheets, and some general strategy tips. I plan
on extending this FAQ and adding some more of the technical behind the scenes
details and hints and tips as they come up and come to my attention.
I have chosen to use [#-#] as an easy way for people to find the section they
are looking for. Something I personally hate in other FAQs is the inability to
search for information easily.
This work is copyrighted by me, and is only able to be displayed online at
<
http://www.gamefaqs.com>, <
http://www.actiontrip.com>,
<
http://www.moo3outpost.com> and <
http://www.gamenation.com.au>.
If anyone wants to contact feel free to e-mail me <
[email protected]>. I
will not reply to flames, "I hated this game", "You are stupid" or other
juvenile responses. I appreciate any corrections, both regarding grammatical
and informational errors. If you have a tip that you want included, go ahead
and send it. I promise to acknowledge you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acknowledgements [2-2]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I would like to thank my husband who preordered the game for me for Valentine's
Day 2003. I would also like to thank Clan Orko for turning me on to the MOO
series in the first place. I would also like to thank the hardworking
programmers, design team and quality assurance testers at Quicksilver and
Infograms for providing the game. Finally, the people who post both questions
and answers on the board have been great. I tried to make sure to give credit
where credit was due. If you think I didn't credit you, let me know.
I am severely indebted to many people on both the GameFAQs board and the
official boards for allowing me to beg, borrow, steal and discuss ideas. There
are really too many to list but here are the top ones that come to mind:
Da_Blade, Brawler, Alastair, Tom Hughes, Dadga, ArcAngel_Brian, Ron_Lugge,
Thranxes.
===============================================================================
Introduction to the Game - Thoughts and Overview [3]
===============================================================================
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Players new to the Series [3-1]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Master of Orion III is a turn-based strategy (TBS) game. This means you will
have a turn to do a certain number of things, deal with repercussions of past
choices and plan for the future. Some things will take many turns to complete
and some things will happen the next turn.
NOTE: It has been pointed out to me that MOO3 is a 4(5)X game: Exploration,
Expansion, Extermination, Exploit, and the fifth which I can't remember. While
I agree that this is the marketing term, anywhere that I have a turn to sit and
think is TBS to me versus StarCraft/WarCraft/C&C being RTS games.
You are playing a higher power controlling a galactic empire. You start with
one planet and a few simple ships and you want to nurture you empire into the
best that is out there. There are three main ways to win. Killing all the
competition, convincing them you really are the best. And finding five
secret Antaran X technologies. There is a lot of neat backstory that is worth
reading for any player, but it doesn't really affect gameplay all that much.
Your main opponents will be the New Orions, who start out technologically
advanced and have control of the senate. There will be other races vying to
become the most technologically advanced, but they are more on your level. This
does not mean you should ignore them, only know that they should generally be
below you. Use them and abuse them to gain colonies, technology and money to
help in your overall fight.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Players of MOO2 [3-2]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While this is Master of Orion III, and therefore follows Master of Orion I
and II, it is not the same as either one of them. Just like there were tons of
changes in both looks and gameplay between MOOI and MOOII, so are there in
MOOIII. Those of you going in and expecting to find a more graphically pretty
version of MOOII with some updates are going to be disappointed. This game is
a completely new game, and should be treated as such.
The team at Quicksilver wanted to redesign MOO for many reasons. I'm not going
to pretend I know all of them. However, one thing that was high on their list
was to really have a view of controlling a galactic empire. This is no easy
task. A galactic empire has billions to trillions worth of population to
consider yourself with. You could have anywhere from 1 to 250 systems, which
can have 1-8 colonized planets. This generally doesn't happen, as you don't
want to colonize every single planet or system, but you can easily have 100
colonized planets in mid game. Do you really want your later turns to take over
two hours to complete as you try to view each planet and give them orders? I
sure don't. So, Quicksilver introduced the Viceroy and gave the players the
option to automate much of the play. Which is representative of how an empire
should be run. Each colony shouldn't need the emperor's individual attention.
Only the ones having problems, the newly acquired ones and special production
centers should see regular visits from the Emperor.
Many of the interfaces have changed. There is no more corny Galactic News
Network announcements (for good or ill). Your scientists and spies no longer
graphically tell you what they have discovered. There is the Situation Report
(SitRep) instead. While this gives lots of good information, many people
complain that it is too abstract and they lost the feeling of connection with
their people.
You can no longer specifically choose what technology you want to research.
You have to set goals (a little like Alpha Centari Blind) and just hope you are
going down the right path. And you no longer get specific information about
how these technologies will affect your colonies in their description. This is
not necessarily a bad thing, as you have the general idea and the emperor
wouldn't understand every piece of technology his scientists discover in
reality. I realize many players want this information in statistics, and I
will endevour to find and post those.
I personally found the backstory very intriguing and I thought it was a neat
way to connect all three games in the MOO series. Some people disagree and
think it sucks to have the mystique of the races removed and to know about the
genetic experimentation, but I think it's a good thing.
===============================================================================
The Main Menu [4-1]
===============================================================================
When you first load the game (after watching the pretty cinematic) you have a
couple of choices. Obviously you can dive right in and start a new game or you
take some time to setup the options. Once you've played a game, it is from
this screen that you can load an old game or just start a new one with all
the same settings as the last played. You can also start a multiplayer game
from this screen or quit the game.
NOTE: The form of the menu will change with the code patch to prevent
accidentally hitting Quick Start when you meant to Load a Game. Rejoice.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Options [4-1]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here you can set your Music, sound and graphics preferences. However,
something very important are the Reminders. I personally think the
incorporation of the reminders is a good idea. It helps me return to reality
as this game is easy to lose oneself in, just like its predecessors. And they
are pretty unobtrusive in the game. There is a bug with am/pm as well as the
30/60 minute reminders, but this is being fixed in the data patch.
===============================================================================
Starting a New Game [5]
===============================================================================
When you chose to play a new game, you will be faced with a series of options
for your racial characteristics and the galaxy characteristics. The choices
will result in different games, so choose wisely.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Choosing a Race [5-1]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are 16 races. They are spilt into different sub-species. Each races has
certain hard coded characteristics and preferences for "ideal" planets. You can
find the list of racial characteristics in section #-# because I feel they can
be a little overwhelming to the new player.
I'm going to pretend that this is a walkthrough and concentrate on one race.
This is the race that many feel is the best race for a beginner to try. They
are the Evons (Humanoid).
The Hardcoded stats are as follows:
EVON
Max Oppressometer 3
War Tolerance -1
Research Efficiency 105%
Senate Effectiveness 115%
Relations Bonus +25%
Casus Belli Bonus +6%
Ground Combat Initiative +30
Lets look at those one by one.
The Max Oppressometer represents the point at which you will start causing
unrest with this race. The Oppressometer can be used to weed out spies, but
your population may become unhappy with the government looking over their
shoulder. So, if you set your Oppressometer above 3, there may be some unrest
caused. This can be modified via Government and research technologies. And
there is a range.
War Tolerance -1 means that the population doesn't like going to war. If you
declare war on a civilization, there will be unrest as your population doesn't
like being at war. Its not a huge deal, and you can make your population happy
other ways, but it does mean you don't want to be fighting everyone all at once.
Research Efficiency 105% means that you have a tiny boost when it comes to
research. Research costs money, and this stat means that your population will
be 5% better than the default for calculations on how much money you will need
to spend to get some research done.
Senate Effectiveness 115% means that your bills will be more likely to be
seconded in the Senate than the default. Nice if you are going for the Senate
win.
Relations Bonus 25% means that you will have a nice increase to initial
reactions from other empires as well as more chances for them to trade with you
or make non-aggression pacts. This is represented in the foreign matrix.
Caucus Beli bonus 6% means that other empire's populations will like you a
little better than most, which makes it harder for the empire to declare war on
you.
Ground Initiative +30 means that should you be involved in a war your troops
will have a major advantage over the enemy in being to strike first. Use Attack
Surprise for these guys to take the full advantage of this stat.
In addition Evons are hardcoded to prefer Moderate Gravity and a
Pressure/Temperature of 61/38, which is important in choosing planets later on.
NOTE: All humanoids share the same Gravity, Pressure, Temperature preferences so
this will be important for competition.
All in all the Evons have no hard coded disadvantages, have some good
advantages, and will ensure that empires won't go to war with you unless you
really piss them off or start the war. Which, IMO, is good for someone learning
the ropes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Customizing your race [5-2]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once you chose your race you can either accept the current picks or customize
them. Each race starts will a different set of predone customization, so you
can choose a template and go from there. In addition, some races can't pick
certain things and other races have decreased costs for certain picks. For the
beginning, I recommend just going with the standard picks your first game, but
lets continue our example of the Evons.
Okay, the Evons start out with the following stats:
Bioharvesting: Average
Mining: Average
Manufacturing: Average
Research: Average
Trade: Good
Enviornment: Superior
Accuracy: Good
Reflexs: Good
Toughness: Average
Diplomacy: Poor
Government Type: Representative
Starting Member of the Orion Senate: Random
Citizenship: Loyalty
Starting Planet Mineral Richness: Abudant
Starting Planet Biodiversity: Heterogeneous
Cunning: Dangerous
Creativity: Adaptive
Natural Engineers: No
Fantastic Traders: No
Tolerant: No
Empathic: No
Antaran Background: No
Wow... that's a lot, huh. Okay, let's go through it slowly. As a note, it cost
points to upgrade from defaults and you gain points by going down. You can
start the game with positive points (for a score bonus). You cannot start the
game with negative points.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bioharvesting [5-2a]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a measure of how productive your farms will be. The difference between
each level (poor, average, good, superior) is 20 points.
Poor means that you will have -1 efficiency for all your farms AND you will gain
15% less from any rare materials harvested. This can be hard to face if you
need food to live. It is easy to over expand early on and be starving. In
addition, while normally you can gain some bioharvesting from a Barren region in
the plains, this pick wouldn't produce anything until the bioharvesting DEA was
upgraded. So you will be limited to where you could settle since you need food.
In addition, certain specials will earn you money if there are farms there and
you will earn 15% less from those trades with this pick. Very hard for a
beginnger, unless playing the Silicoids.
Average means just that. You take no hits and no bonus and you can easily refer
to the tables to figure out where you want that bioharvest DEA. You still have
to be a little careful about expanding too fast.
Good means that you will gain a +1 to all efficiency and 15% bonus from rare
material sales. This means that you could build a farm on a Barren or Hostile
region and still gain harvest from it. The 15% bonus applies to the money
earned from rare material sales.
Superior means that you have a +2 to all calculations for efficieny. Never
worry about food again, unless your planet is blockaded. You don't care if the
soil is Hostile or Toxis, you can coax it into giving you food (though it is
still better to be on a fertile region). In addition you gain 30% on all trades
for rare material sales. Very slick. But it is over kill unless you are going
to be fast expanding. Though you will gain some cash from the sales.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mining [5-2b]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Generally follows the same idea as the Bioharvesting.
Poor means you have -1 to all mining efficiency. This means that the lowest
producing mining DEA would have to be in the mountains of a Mineral Poor planet,
and it would only produce 1 with no additions. This can be hard as is makes it
hard to supply all of your industries with minerals. This lowers the # of
production points you will gain, which means that your empire will be slower to
build things and it will be more expensive. In addition, you will have a 15%
penalty to selling those rare minerals.
Average is just average. Good enough to get by. Okay for even Silicoids and
Cybernetic as they have a hard coded bonus to mining
Good means that you will do okay (+1) even on mineral poor planets, though you
will really shine on those mineral rich planets. Sometimes you will not be able
to build industry fast enough to keep up, which is okay since the excess gets
sold. In additon, you have a 15% bonus to rare material sales.
Superior means that you can squeeze gold from dirt (+2). Okay, not really, but
you will have a massive amount of minerals and you industry DEAs will be working
overtime to keep up. And you get a 30% bonus to selling rare materials. This
is a good pick for Silicoids and/or Cybernetics, as they already have a major
bonus and they can just rake in the cash and spend it to speed up their
production.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Manufacturing [5-2c]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Again, similar to the bioharvesting and mining picks.
Poor means that you will have -0.5 manufacturing capacity for all your industry
DEAs AND your population will have a -1 per population point. Remember that
without DEAs your population still has some industry, but not much. This hit
will make it very hard to bring new colonies along as they can't build things
quickly. In addition, and craftsmanship materials will be sold at 10% penalty.
Average is just average. Yeah.
Good gains you +0.5 manufacturing capacity (more population can work there) for
your industry DEAs and your population has +1 industry per population point.
With this pick you'll be able to get new colonies up and running faster so
piracy won't be as much of an issue. In addition craftsmanship materials will
be sold at a 10% bonus.
Superior gains you a full +1 to your manufacturing capacity, so if your
population doesn't grow fast enough, you may be underusing your DEAs. But all
by themselves your population has a +2 to industry per population point and this
means that your worlds can build those ships faster. In addition, you get a 20%
bonus for all craftsmanship sales.
NOTE: Unlike Bioharvesting and Mining, you do not gain money for extra industry.
All industry goes towards reducing the cost of production points. So you don't
gain money per se.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Research [5-2d]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All the last of the four DEAs. Very similar to bioharvesting, mining, and
industry.
Poor gets you a -3 to research efficiency, meaning you are going to have to
spend more money to get those hydroponic farms. In addition, you will suffer a
-0.5 number of test tubes for each population point. No one wants to be a
scientist in your empire.
Average is just average
Good gains you a +3 to your research efficieny, making it cheaper to pay those
scientists to do their job. In addition, your empire is kinda smart so you will
gain +0.5 test tubes for each population point.
Superior nets you a +6 to your research efficiency (man, those scientists are
almost working for free) AND so many people are tinkering in their garages you
can 1 test tube per population point to put towards research.
NOTE: Unlike Bioharvesting and Mining Test tubes all go towards determining the
cost of Research Points, so you don't gain money per se.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trade [5-2e]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This related to the same idea as the previous picks, in that it affects how well
a certain DEA performs.
Poor means that your space ports (who only generate MONEY through tourism) will
have a -1 to efficiency. In addition, you will have a 10% penalty to trade
agreements, if you can get them at all. Most races will be wary of your
"creative" math and stay away from you.
Average is just average (whheee!).
Good means that your gain a +1 to your spaceports efficiency (you must have
people good in marketing). In addition, it will be relatively easy to gain
trade agreements and you will make an extra 10% off them.
Superior means that you gain a +2 to your spaceports efficieny ("You MUST see
this ball of string, its to DIE for!). Other races will seek you out to trade
with you, and you fleece them for an extra 20% (Ferengi Rules of Acquistion
anyone?).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Environmental [5-2f]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This relates to the how well your population deals with pollution. They are
offset by 20 points.
Poor will increase the negative effects of pollution by 20%. Which not only
means that you will pay more to overwork your industry (as you pay to clean up
pollution) but if you have too much pollution your population experiences
unrest. In addition you will have to 10% extra to terraform your planets.
Average is nice. Er... Average.
Good means that you will reduce the negative costs and unrest of pollution by
15% and that you will be able to terraform for 10% less than normal.
Superior means that you have integrated your industry with the world and
experience a 30% reduction in pollution production and related unrest. In
addition, you can terraform for 20% less than other empires (special on aisle
3).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Accuracy, Reflexes, Toughness [5-2g]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As these picks all stack with each other and basically do the same thing, they
are all discussed here. As a note, the difference in the picks is 10 points.
There was some debate as to whether these picks affected more than ground
combat, but I have not seen any evidence that convinces me that it doesn't do
just what it says.
Ground combat is only important if you are going to take over other races
planets rather than bombing them into obilivion. I find Ground Combat faster,
but that my research makes up for most of the determinants that these picks can
give.
Poor means that you will have -1 applied to a culmalative scale of 0 to 10
across Reflexes and Toughness.
Average means no bonus or determinants.
Good gives you a stacking +1 bonus.
Superior gives you a stacking +2 bonus.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Diplomacy [5-2h]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This affects how the other races (AI only, no promises on human controlled,
though their population may follow this) see you and will interact with you.
Poor means that other races will be slightly reduces their initial impression of
you (should have brushed your teeth) and they will be a little less likely to
make agreements with you.
Average is well, you don't smell bad.
Good improves other races attitudes toward you and they have a slightly better
impression of you (you must have worn a good purfume). This makes them less
likely to attack and more likely to make alliances with you.
Superior means that you have a greatly improved first impression and your
diplomatic skills are far beyond compare. Alliances should come flying at you,
wars only if you choose.
I suggest at least a good or superior pick if you are going after the Senate
win.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Government Type [5-2i]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This gets tricky. There are 3 types of governments, and each one has at least
two choices within it so that you can change based on your empire's needs. I
have chosen to just go over generalities here, but you can check out the
detailed stats on each government at section #-#.
They range from Absolutist (0) to Representative (20) to Collectivist (60),
numbers in () being absolute prices, but certain races have each for a default.
Absolutist includes Depostisim, Monarchy, Constitutional Monarchy and Oligarchy.
In general the Absolutist series has the idea that you switch to the government
you need at the time. So, you have to know what government you need when and to
be able to deal with the unrest the constantly changing governments can have.
Some races do well with some of the absolutist series. See Shuman's excellent
work on the official boards.
Representative governments include Parlimentary, Democracy, Corporate and
Republic. These governments do well over a race of races and play types.
Collectivist governments include Hive and Unification. It has been debated
whether or not they are worth their cost, but they generally have good
production and anti-spying techniques.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Starting Member of the Orion Senate [5-2j]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can choose random for 0 points or either preset for 10 points. Unless you
are going into a multiplayer game and both want to be the same, I say save the
10 points and just keep doing a quick game until you get the way you want.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both starting positions. I don't know
which is better for beginners, though I suspect being on the Senate is easier as
you will be able to start getting treaties sooner and have income.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Citizenship [5-2k]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These picks all have a 20 point difference. They relate to general unrest
levels.
Liberty means your citizens want absolute freedom and don't care that you upping
that oppressormeter to protect them from spies (sound like any country we
know?). This will add +5 to all unrest calculations. Can be handled by money
and certain DEA activities, but can be rough to expand due to piracy and tax
issues.
Association means your citizens want some freedom, but they understand that
sometimes you have to give to get. Default unrest calculations.
Duty means that your citizens are willing to be oppressed a little if it means
they can get on with their lives. Deducts -7 from all unrest calculations.
Loyalty means that your citizens like being oppressed. No really. You get a -
15 to all unrest calculations, so crank up that oppressometer baby!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Starting Planet Mineral Richness and Biodiversity [5-2l]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've combined these two as they are very similar.
Bascially, this refers to your home world and (peripherally) your home system.
I include home system because MOO3 does follow some rules of astrophysics and
you are less likely to find a Mineral Rich planet near a Mineral Poor planet, as
the star system will be different age. I'm not saying its gaurenteed that your
home system will reflect this choice, but it is more likely.
You can increase the mineral richness (or biodiversity) for 10 points or
decrease it for 10 points. Mineral richness affect default mining calculations,
and it can be hard to build more colony ships quickly on a mineral poor planet.
Biodiversity affects default bioharvesting calculations, which means less food
for a low biodiversity planet. On the other hand, if you are a silicoid, what
do you care? Might be worth knocking down the biodiversity and upping the
mineral richness for Silicoids and Cybernetics. I don't think its ever worth
knocking the biodiversity for the regular races, though finding a way to up the
mineral richness can be good.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cunning [5-2m]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cunning is a reflection on your spies. The picks will be reflected in all the
abilities (cloak, dagger) for your spies. The picks are 20 points apart.
Slow spies have -1 to their abilities.
Sharp spies have default calculations.
Quick spies have +1 to their abilities.
Dangerous spies have +2 to their abilities and +10 to luck (life).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Creativity [5-2n]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a measure at how curious and creative your scientists are. Even if you
have superior research, your scientists may be only REALLY good about thinking
about one thing. In addition, if they are creative, they might find things
faster. All picks are 20 points apart.
Imitative scientists aren't very creative. There will be a 5% increased chance
of your research running overtime. Sometimes with an overrun there will be a
benefit, but these scientist were too dumb to see it by a 5% chance. Finally,
your scientists don't want you to know they too so low, so there is a 5% chance
they won't tell when something is running over.
Normal scientists try to figure things our and will let you know, usually, when
things are going poorly. Average.
Adaptive scientists can often see what others cannot. So they work 5% faster
than normal, and have a 5% chance to see a new breakthrough that is related. In
addition, they are 5% more likely to tell you that they need just a little more
time to work out that one last bug.
Original scientists are really intelligent. They have a 10% decreased chance of
running over, and if they do its because they may have used their 10% chance to
see a neat related breakthrough. In addition, they're very honest. You have a
10% chance to know when things are going to take just a wee bit longer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special Atributes [5-2o]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are five special attributes. I haven't played with them much, so comments
are welcome.
Natural Engineers (30) will gain you an addition 0.5 capacity for your
manufacturing on top of any manufacturing bonus.
Fantastic Traders (10) will gain you an additional 15% for all trade agreements,
though it doesn't affect interest or how often you get those agreements.
Tolerant (20) means the negative effects of pollution are reduced by 20%. While
this does stack with the environmental picks, it doesn't affect terraforming.
Empathic (10) understand what other races think like, so their diplomacy is
increased in all areas.
Antaran Background (10) is a must if you are going after the Xs. Your chances
of discovering an X are increased by 20%.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So what were doing again?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basically, you can customize at this point. If I were going to customize the
Evon, I might take advantage of the fact that I don't care about ground combat
and put my Accuracy down to Average and my Reflexes down to Poor to be able to
up my diplomacy. But that's all I'd do for a beginner. And this isn't an in
depth FAQ on customizing and I wrote way more than I wanted about it anyways!
From the customization screen you can also go back and rechoose your race if you
want.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Galaxy Setup [5-3]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This will largely determine the type of game you will play.
**Random Event Generator**
This has three settings (rare, normal, frequent). I personally hate random
stuff in my games (even good random) so I put this to rare, but its up to you.
**Number of Computer Players**
You can set this number from 1 to 16. Keep in mind this does NOT count the New
Orions, so you can really think of this as N+1 computer opponents. The more
computer opponents the more chances for relations, good and bad. In addition,
the more competition there will be for planets. Keep in mind if you choose 16
it doesn't gaurentee that you will see all the other races because there can
randomly be two empires of the same race.
**Timer Options:**
Minutes per Game Turn (1-20 minutes) or unlimited. The timer can be an
interesting addition. You can always end a turn early, but you may caught
unawares if you didn't finish all your orders when the turn end came around. I
recommend unlimited for your first game where you are still playing around.
When/If you use the timer keep an eye on it (you can change the display of
Turns/Cycles/Time/Timer) so that you take care of all business first and ship
design last.
Minutes per Space Combat (1-10) is the max time until a draw is called for a
space combat. I have never had one take over 6 minutes, but if you want to run
your ships around and prolong fights until your reserves arrive you may want to
shorten this.
**Game Difficulty**
Easy is easy. Most races like you, they are slower at researching, more likely
to ally with you, etc. Beaten this with ease. Heard of a few people who didn't
but that was mostly because they didn't understand a lot of things, but you
reading this FAQ will be fine.
Medium is a little harder. Races may be more wary of you and they will send
more ships to defend their plants. Working on beating this now.
Hard is hard. Races won't like you and may have a bonus to researching.
Impossible isn't (or at least not that I've heard) mostly because the AI won't
attack much. So while you may be fighting a 6 front war and gifting two other
races, you can beat the computer this way. Thought I suspect the Xs would be
the easiest way. Dunno, haven't tried.
**Galaxy Type**
There are two main types, Arms and Cluster.
The Arm galaxies are large and have a center area surround by 2 or three arms.
You will have to come in a lot if you start on one of the arms to meet most of
the races.
The Cluster galaxies are smaller, circular and you have less room to expand.
In order:
2 Arm Galaxy, Large has 150 stars.
2 Arm Galaxy, Giant has 200 stars.
3 Arm Galaxy, Huge has 250 stars.
Small Cluster has 50 stars.
Medium Cluster has 100 stars.
Large Cluster has 175 stars.
Huge Cluster has 250 stars.
The size of the galaxy and the number of opponents change the difficulty. Even
if you are on EASY a small cluster with 16 opponents can be as hard as if not
harder than MEDIUM on a large cluster with 8 opponents. The less stars the more
competitive you are going to be over systems.
NOTE: The manual says a 2 Arm Galaxy, Large with 3 opponents is a nice beginners
map. I disagree. I think that is too big and you will be BORED if you don't
start in the Senate. But that's just me.
**Star Lanes**
You can chose the types of star lanes. This will affect how easy it is to get
around and long it takes to get between stars.
The types are fairly self-explanatory, so I'll present some argument for and
against certain types. The more star lanes you have the more fronts you will
have to protect. If there are only a few star lanes, you may only have to have
fleets at 2 planets instead of 6 to full cover all entrances to your space. And
the length matters for that early scouting and colonization. On the other hand,
if you can't get to the other races, they can't get to you...
**Specials**
Specials relate to the frequency of planetary specials (I think). As with
Random Events, I tend to keep this on Fewer and still find many specials.
**Combats allowed per turn**
Self-Explanatory. This is the number of combats of each type you can control.
The range is from 0-10. If you choose 0 then the AI will control all of them
<shudder>. There is also unlimited for those warmongers among you.
Victory Conditions:
Perhaps one of the most important settings. There are 3 ways to win.
One that is always on is to become the Sole Superpower (beat everyone else,
including the New Orions) into submission.
Being elected to the Orion Senate is another way to win. This can be a bad
choice if you are not in the Orion Senate to begin with in a large galaxy as one
of the AI races could do this and then you lose. Which sucks. You can still be
elected with this win condition off, but it doesn't end the game.
NOTE: There is a bug that allows you to load from the autosave of the turn where
the election happened and you can continue playing after the loss movie.
Discovering all Five of the Antaran Xs is another way to win. This is pretty
cool because you gain the nifty benefits along the way and most of the AIs don't
search for them (at least in my games on easy). You can still search for and
get the Xs with this win condition off, and its worth doing as the Xs give you
some pretty neat bonus.
===============================================================================
Your first couple of turns [6]
===============================================================================
Once you've chosen your race, customized it and chosen your galaxy settings you
are ready to roll. For your first game I recommend reading the Master's Notes
in addition to this FAQ, but you don't have to.
When you start the game you will begin with one planet, one colony ship and two
scouts. And many, many, many tabs.
If you are playing post-pathch, you will also get a message in your SitRep that
a leader has joined your empire. Go ahead and close that for now.
I hope to guide your through your first couple of turns and introduce the tabs
and help you understand what is going on.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exploration [6-1]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First things first, START EXPLORING. There are usually at least two starlanes
(grey lines coming out of the star) leading away from your home planet. Send a
scout down each one.
How you ask? RTFM. Okay, fine. Click on the hovering ship icon and a list
will pop up. Select one scout and then click on a star that is connected to
your system. You will notice a ship will start hovering on the left side of you
system. This is important. Ships that are in orbit are on the right side of a
star and ships that are traveling are on the left. Repeat the select steps to
send your other scout to another starlane.
You should have one ship remaining. This is your first colony ship. It is very
important to start expanding as quickly as possible and this is a key step. But
you don't know where yet.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your first colony ship [6-2]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Go ahead and double click on your home system. A pretty cinematic will zoom in
and you will see a sun, with a few planets and one planet that has a colored
name. This is the system view. The colored planet is your homeworld. The
other planets are possible colonization areas. Single click on each one in
progression, noting the survey results. You're looking for a Sweet Spot, Green
1, or Green 2 planet. For the first part of the game you really only want to
settle on these habitabilities. If you settle on a Yellow 1 or worse, you will
not gain a full colony from one ship and it will take time to come up and grow
slower. So look carefully.
I'm not going to go into the more detailed colonization aspects here. As long
as you have a green 2 or better planet chosen, you're set. If you have more
than one to choose from either pick randomly or read the detailed colonization
section later on [].
In order to colonize the planet, make sure you have selected the planet in your
System View. Then go to the Forces tab at the bottom of your screen. A menu
should pop up on the right. There will be a number of ship icons and then two
square buttons near the bottom and two rounded buttons at the very bottom. Find
the colony ship. The icon looks like a fleet of shipos with a Red corner icon
featuring a circle over an arc. Select it and you should see Colony Task Force
as the name. Then choose "Create Colony." A little icon will appear next to the
planet you have chosen and a Green Flag will be on the ship icon and the planet
will be settled next turn.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your HomeWorld (Planet View, brief) [6-3]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, go ahead and double click on your homeworld. This will take you the Planet
View. There is a ton of information here and much of it is hidden behind tabs
and expanding menus. Which is fine 'cause you're only going to look at a little
here.
The top area looks like the system view in miniture and can be used to jump to
other settled planets in this system, but there aren't any.
The big image on the left is a view of your planet. The ring around it is a
univalue ring, which gives you an approximate idea of how developed (relative to
your empire's max) this planet is.
The survey stats are in the center of the screen.
Glance to the lower left of the screen. This is your abbreviated Economics tab.
You can see at quick glance how this planet is doing and what Dominant Economic
Activities (DEAs) are here. The breakdown is on the left, the DEAs on the
right.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Economics Tab, in brief [6-4]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You don't really need to change anything right now, and I will explain this more
in depth later. Go ahead and expand the tab, however. You will see a fuller
listing of your DEAs here (only bioharvesting, mining, industry, research and
recreation are shown in the abbreviated) in the top right. The middle section
is your build queues. The little icons don't make much sense, but you can
expand the military or planetary queue via the tabs on the right-hand side to
see a listing and to modfiy the queue. I suggest making sure your homeworld is
building only colony ships. If you had more than one good planet in your home
system, go ahead and delete the current queue (by double clicking on the icons)
and add as many SYSTEM COLONY ships as you need to settle all green or better
planets. If there were no other good planets, then just make sure the queue is
building 3 colony ships. You can adjust the slider (spending) here if you want,
and I would bump it up to at least 5%. You can do more if you plan to micro,
but I would do this even if you want to leave everything up to the AI.
The sliders at the bottom of the economics screen are not important right now
and I wouldn't mess with them if you are a beginning. Go ahead and close the
Economics tab by clicking on the top.
The middle bottom area has three expanding tabs, but we aren't going to expand
them right now. The Classification area is important for knowing what
Development Plans are affecting this planet.
The bottom right shows you what the planet is like. The white area is sweet
spot, and the rings are habitability rings. You can expand it to see what the
planet looks like relative to other types of races, though (pre-code patch) you
can't see what it is like for magnate races.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Planetary and Regional Infrastructure, in brief [6-5]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the middle right-hand side you will see an expanding tab for "Planetary
Infrastructure." Go ahead and open it.
This is a listing of everything your planet has built. There are planetary
buildings and regional buildings. Your homeworld has 2 planetary buildings,
which have increased the size the of the maximum ship hull they can build.
Regional buildings are usually DEAs or DEA improvements. Each DEA has specific
needs and things it provides. On your homeworld there should be 2 bioharvest
DEAs, 2 mining DEAs, (at least if you are playing a non-cyber, non-geodic race;
cybers have 1 bio and 3 mining; geodics have 4 mining and no bioharvesting) 1
industry DEA, 1 Research DEA and Government DEA . One Industry DEA will be in
progress. It is good enough for right now to be able to see the different types
of DEAs and recognize which one is in progress. Later you may want to change
what DEAs are present, but for now this is okay.
To close this tab click the three dots in the upper right corner.</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Planet Supply and Demand, brief [6-6]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The upper right-hand corner of the Planet View shows the planets production and
needs. All the numbers will be white right now. But this may change in the
future. For bioharvesting and mining, white means there is a surplus and it is
being sold. Green means that there is a surplus and the surplus is being
exported to a planet that needs it. Yellow numbers (under produced) means that
the planet is importing goods. Red numbers (under produced) means that the
planet is starving for minerals or food. Industry, Production, Test Tubes and
Research points will always be white as they are planet specific.
NOTE: Your empire will automatically move a surplus to a needed area. Unlike in
MOO2, you do not have to build freighters. The only way a colony is in need is
if there is an empire wide shortage, of that planet is being blockaded.
DEA Employment is a measure of how much population is required and how many jobs
are filled. DEA productivity from population is a measure of how efficiently
people are doing their jobs. It is best if DEA Employment is an equal ratio and
DEA productivity is above or around 100%. Government DEAs allow the
producitvity to be over 100%, as do certain other improvements.
Unrest is a measure of how happy/unhappy your population is. Green is good and
no problems. Yellow means that productivity is falling. Red means that
buildings are being destroyed and there is danger of a revolt.
So, you've done a lot for your first turn. You could do more, but for now go
ahead and hit the "Turn" button.
After the loading time you will see your Situation Report (SitRep) come up. If
you found a green planet to settle, you will see two messages about your
colonization. One will be about the colony ship landing (happens regardless of
whether or not a full colony is formed) and another about the fact that you have
a full colony. There many be other messages here, especially if you are a
member of the Orion Senate. We'll deal with those later.
Go ahead and click on a link to get to your new planet. You will notice that
this looks similar to your homeworld. You can explore in here. You cannot
change the spending this turn, so the AI will take care of it. This planet will
now sit here building for a while, and you can pay attention to it later.
Hit the back button to go back to the SitRep and hit the spacebar to clear it.
Your scouts are on their merry way and don't have anything to report. So, since
you've got some down time you can explore some of the other tabs.
===============================================================================
All of those Tabs (TBA) [7]
===============================================================================
===============================================================================
Micro versus Macro [8]
===============================================================================
You'll want to decide early on (at least by Turn 10, but as early as Turn 1,
though you can change through out the game) whether you want to Micromanage or
Macromanage your empire. Micromanaging means that you don't trust your Viceroy
at all will deal with every little thing that comes up. Macromanagement means
you trust your Viceroy completely and only want to deal with the larger things
like diplomacy, wars, and general empire goals. I tend to do a combo of both.
If you want the Viceroy to stay out of your business, go to your Planet's
development screen and uncheck the "Planet Econ AI" box under your economics
tab. You will need to do this for every planet you colonize/take over if you
want to control that planets development. You will be responsible for setting
the econ sliders [see #-#], designating Military and Planetary build queues [see
#-#], setting the planetary tax, and planning the DEAs to be built on every
world. If you don't set something they won't do it. If you need something to
be changed, you have to go in and change it. It is a lot of responsibility and
a lot of work and I don't recommend it unless you like 30 minutes turns and are
very knowledgable about the behind the scenes calculations the game does. I
don't do nearly as well when I overcontrol as when I let the Viceroy do some
things.
If you don't want to deal with your colonies on a personal level, let the
Viceroy handle it. Be sure to set-up Development Plans [see #-#] for Important
planet types (New, Frontier, Secondary, All Planets, Mineral Rich, Unrest,
Starving, etc.), designate your Regional Zoning [see #-#] so that the desired
DEAs get built, and turn on auto-colonization [see #-#]. The viceroy will take
care of everything as best he can. He'll develop your worlds, colonize new
ones, build ships and ground troops, fund research, terraform, and set planetary
tax rates as well as he can given the information you supply him with. Sure,
you might end up with 100 troop ships. Sure, one of your planets might be
starving because the Viceroy didn't build any bioharvest DEAs. Sure, unrest
will run rampant as the Viceroy refuses to build military/recreation/government
DEAs (unless you are running a Balanced Zoning). But that's all good right? As
I said before, I tend to do a combo.
My personal combo is the following: I designate all DEAs on all of my planets on
the turn they become a full colony. This way, I know what's being built where
and I can set long term plans. I don't trust the Regional Zoning to do a good
job. I also set the military queue for all new planets, and whenever I'm in the
middle of a war or I feel I need something fast. The Viceroy tends to build too
many troop ships for my taste so I nip that in the bud by watching the military
queues. You can also prevent the troop ship build up by marking that design
obsolete in the Shipyards panel, but the Viceroy will just find something else
to build too many of, so I just pay attention to the queues. I will admit its a
lot of work, and sometimes I just ignore a planet too long and the Viceroy
sneaks something in. I leave the econ sliders alone, unless I want to rush a
job. I leave the Planetary build queue alone too because I find the Viceroy
does a good job there. I set up only a few Development plans, but one of my
mainstays is: All Planets; Infrastructure: Tertiary. This way I guarantee that
my colonies will have the most up to date improvements for their DEAs ASAP,
which means more efficient colonies more quickly.
Other combos I've heard about include Microing everything for the first 50 turns
to get a good empire going and then only microing the new planets, turning the
more developed ones over to the Viceroy. Its up to you. Find your balance.
===============================================================================
Copyright Info [END]
===============================================================================
Copyright 2003 Dawn Burnell (Zhaneel)
This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web
site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation
of copyright.
This is an unofficial FAQ and has been in no way sponsored by Infograms or
Quicksilver.
OLDER VERSION APPENDED
===============================================================================
Playing the Game [5*]
===============================================================================
This is mainly an overview. I will discuss possible strategies, but there are a
lot of races and many different types of players. Pick what suits you and
experiment. After all, that's part of the fun of playing a game, right?
General Tips:
*Make a system defense ship or a (beam/missile/fighter) base as your first
military project in all new systems (sometimes overriding the Viceroy).
Pick whichever one has less production points. This will get your piracy
under control ASAP.
*Set Migration to all of your new colonies until they are at 5-7 population.
This is done under the Planets Tab. You can also Set Migration to Outpost
planets (less than 1000 pop) to decrease the time until they become a full
colony.
*Watch your food (minerals too if playing Mekklar, Cynoids, or Silicoids) to
make sure your population isn't starving.
*Watch your spending. You don't gain interest on a balance, like the manual
says, but you do get charged interest for a deficet. I prefer keeping a
small (-30->100 AU) negative balance because I'm still earning +60 from the
last turn and only getting charged 3-4 AU each turn, which is worth it to me
to have more funds for research and grants.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your first couple of turns [5-1*]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There isn't a lot you can do on your first turn other than that, so go ahead and
click the turn button. On your next turn you can do a couple of things. You
can set up your tech preferences, change your finances, and deal with your
general empire outlook on like. Some specific things you'll want to do is check
on your new colony, and decide whether you are going to let the Viceroy plan all
the DEAs for your new colony or if you are going to do it yourself [section 5-
2]. If you are a member of the Orion Senate, you'll want to start cultivating
diplomatic relations with the other races. Trade treaties are great and I like
having the research boost from the research treaties. In addition, these
treaties will increase the diplomatic relations between the two empires and
allow for the possibility of alliances later on.
Always keep your scouts moving. That is your main thrust early on. Scout and
expand. Expand using colony ships [see 5-3*].
If you scout a system with a Guardian, take control of the combat and
immediately retreat. You're ship will retreat to the last system visited. Note
the system where the Guardian is so you can avoid it until you can take it on.
The map will NOT mark it for you. I note the name of a nearby system and the
color of the star where the Guardian is so I can avoid it.
Your viceroy will probably be trying to build a colony ship of some kind and/or
another scout ship. This is just fine, although you can speed this up if you
want through micromanagement or change the priority of colonization versus
exploration. If there is another green/sweet spot in your home system,
consider building a system colony ship as they are cheaper than a colony ship
(no warp drive) so you get another colony faster. If there are no other green
worlds in your home system (and you still have your original colony ship) then
step up the scout ship production to find some good planets quickly. On the
other hand, if you were able to colonize a planet you might want to just start
building another colony ship as your scouts should be able to find something by
the time it builds (they take a while early on). The idea here is to colonize
the good worlds first and out-expand the other empires. This will help you
later on as you'll have more planets to produce from and more votes in the Orion
Senate. However, be careful not to over-expand. If you have too many planets
you may lose some to starvation or to warlike enemies.
I also recommend getting spies started training during your early turns. But be
warned, this is an unplanned budgetary expense, so try to leave at least a 100
AU surplus the turn you first request training to start or you'll find yourself
severely in debt. If I'm in the Orion Senate, I start training spies on turn 1,
if I'm not, I wait until turn 5 so that I can concentrate on early development.
But the timing is up to you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The SitRep [5-1a*]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
During your first couple of turns get used to using the SitRep. It is very
handy. On the other hand, there are things it won't tell you and sometimes
there are things you'll wish it wouldn't tell you.
The first thing to understand is that you can filter the SitRep. I don't think
the filters are the best in the world, but there is something to be said for
being able to shorten this late game.
Red Items: These are very important. Tech break throughs that result in
positive overruns, tech that will be running late, responses to diplomacy
offers, new spies and unrest problems will show up under this setting.
Yellow Items: All DEA and DEA improvement upgrades, all planetary & military
contruction, techs availabilities and prototypes, slight unrest problems, colony
founding, enemy/offensive/defensive spy activity, system exploration and
planetary migration will show up here.
Green Items: Task Force deployment, task force delay, tech level breakthroughs,
new techs and discovered specials, available to view will show up here.
You can also filter just to see Tech Breakthroughs, Task Force Info, and [blank]
There are certain things you cannot filter. Declarations of War, results of any
combats, Antares X Mission reports (losing a ship, task force loss, archelogic
discovery, change in status) and landing of a colony ship (whether or not it
makes a fully colony) will always show up with an opaque background.
I tend to leave them all on then sort by type rather than level as I disagree
with the red/yellow/green levels. I will also do a quick scan of it all (even
in late game with over 40 lines) to make sure I don't miss anything. And then
there are turns where I just don't care, so I only check red items and spy
activity. How you use the SitRep is up to you, but you should use it. There is
a lot of information there and if you are playing a macromanage style you need
this information to maintain your empire.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colonizing and Expanding [5-3*]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: I play with Autocolonization Off, so all of my notes reflect this method.
Expanding your empire is a necessary part of playing MOO3. If you don't expand
you become stagnant and able to be easily conquered (witness the New Orions).
In addition you will have fewer planets to build a navy from, which means longer
ramping times. Finally, your votes in the Orion Senate are based on your
population. No population = no vote. So, now that you know how important it
is, lets look at how to do it effectively.
There are 7 ways to gain a new colony in this game. They are via system colony
ships, via starship colony ships, via outposts, migration of your people, via
conquering an enemy planet, gaining a planet as part of a demand or tribute from
another race, and the special "Splinter Colony." Each of these methods are
discussed below.
For now, lets talk about what are the best places to colonize. Each planet you
know about has a survey done on it. This will tell you many things about the
planet, and help you decide if you want a colony there or not. The first thing
to pay attention to is the desirability of the planet. This desirability range
is (from better to worse): Paradise, Sweet Spot, Green I, Green II, Yellow I,
Yellow II, Red I, Red II. The desirability affects not only how well your
population can manage once the colony is established (building maintenance,
population growth, DEA effectiveness, what DEAs can be built) but how easily you
can settle a planet. Paradise, Sweet Spot and Green planets allow the full
complement of your colonists to land. This means that if you send a colony pod
bearing ship, 1000 colonists will drop to establish a full colony. If you send
an outpost pod bearing ship, 250 colonists will drop, giving you a quarter of a
population. However, when landing on a yellow planet only half of the
population will survive to establish an outpost/colony. This means that 1
colony pod is only worth 500(125) population. You can solve this problem by
building bigger ships that carry more than one pod. A Red Planet is even worse,
however. Only a quarter of population from a pod will survive the trip down
(250 for colony, 60 for an outpost) and the maintenance costs are prohibitive.
Still, sometimes its worth it, and terraforming is always an option. Also, keep
in mind that NO bioharvest DEAs can be built on Yellow II, Red I, or Red II
planets, unless you get biomorphic fungi and/or mineralmorphic bacterial.
Other important considerations for colonizations are the Fertility rating (which
affects the default bioharvesting rates, the Mineral Abundance (the
effectiveness of Mining DEAs, the biodiversity (affects Bioharvest DEAs and
maybe Research DEAs), the size (how many regions the planet has and how much
population it can support) and the gravity (which affect maintenance costs and
ground combat if different from native), and of course the specials. Good
specials include Magnate Race (ALWAYS COLONIZE), Rare Gems, Ancient Artifacts,
etc. Bad specials include Active Volcanoes, Ancient Battle Damage, Pollution,
Hostile anything, Erratic anything, etc.
Sometimes a Mineral Rich Yellow I planet can be worth colonizing if you need
minerals, or a Green Planet with Active Volcanoes worth skipping depending on
your empire's needs and desires.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colony Ships [5-3a*]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Colonizing via System Colony ships and Star Colony ships are very similar, so we
treat them together. If you find a planet in a star system that is not a colony
of another race, you can colonize it via a Colony Ship. If the planet is in the
same system as another colony you have, it is in your best interest to build a
system colony ship from that planet. System colony ships, as designed, are
cheaper and quicker to build than Star Colony Ships because they are smaller and
have no warp drives. The only exception to this rule is if you really want to
control that planet quickly and your in-system colony is still new and under
development. Then building and sending a Star Colony Ship is justified. Star
Colony Ships can travel the starlanes to colonize frontier worlds and newly
discovered systems.
You'll notice I said building and sending. It is not enough just to build the
ship. You must tell it where to go (or have autocolonization turned on and let
Viceroy send the ship). There are 2 ways to send a colony ship out. The first
is to pre-mark all the planets you want to colonize. In order to do this either
select the planet from the system screen, click on the "Forces" tab at the
bottom of your screen, and then the "Send Colony" button OR go to your Planets
tab from the Galactic Screen and find the desired planet among your list
(remember to filter and sort appropriately in order to easily find the planet)
and select it, go to the "Orders" tab at the bottom, and then the "Send Colony"
button from there. Either way you do it there will be a new icon by the planet
indicating your order. When the next colony ship is built it will automatically
form into a task force and head to the planet and colonize it. The other method
for ordering a new colony is to build the colony ship, organize a task force
[see 5-6*], order the task force to system, and order the ship to colonize the
planet when it gets there.
There are pros and cons to both methods. The presetting method is good because
you don't waste a turn to create the task force once the ship is built and
another turn once the ship arrives at the system. However, if you have many
planets preset and several colony ships built, all the colony ships will head to
the same planet until it is colonized, at which point all NEW ships will go to
the next one while the other ships continue to the planet. Once they get there,
you will receive a message in your SitRep that will let you know they tried to
colonize but couldn't, so you have to go in and clear the AI order and redirect
them manually. However, if you are paying attention, you can clear the AI
orders before the ship arrives in the system and redirect the ship to a
different potential colony. Another Con is sometimes the Viceroy decides to
colonize in a different order than you would prefer. Obviously the pros to the
manual method is complete control over where you are colonizing. But the con is
wasting at least one turn to create the task force, more if you forget that the
ship was built.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Outpost Ships [5-3b*]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Outpost ships function similar to Star Colony ships, except that they only carry
a quarter as many colonists. When a planet is settled with less than 1000
people (by any method) it become an outpost. Outposts are good just for
establishing a presence in another system. In addition, outpost ships are
cheaper than colony ships, so you can settle the planet and then set migration
to it to speed up the colony without spending the time/money on a colony ship.
There is a rumor (rumor because I haven't bothered to verify this) that if an
outpost is put on a red II planet, then the full colony (if allowed to grow
naturally) will come up as a yellow II planet.
Sometimes you will gain an outpost when you haven't sent a ship to that planet.
This is a result of your population migrating on their own. Perhaps this new
planet is good for them (ie: Magnate/Conquerered race) and/or one your planets
is getting full. These are hard to keep track of. The way I follow it is by
using the Planets Tab, sorting by population with the Uncontrolled; Within
Borders filters on. This will put any outposts you have at the top of the list.
Then you can set migration to them to speed up the process. Look for the white
circle around the planet to determine if you have a settlement there or just
look at the orders tab to see if you can migrate there.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acquiring Colonies from the enemies [5-3c*]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are two methods of acquiring a colony from another race. First, you can
demand that the race give you that planet. If you are overpowering them or are
good friends or whatever, they may give it to you. I've never managed to get
this to work, but then I haven't really tried.
The other way is to conqueror a planet through ground combat. If you win a
ground combat and there are no ground combat troops of
the enemy left, you will gain the planet with any intact developments and
population.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spying [5-5*]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spying is a very important part of MOO3. Other empires will spy on you, which
means they could steal valuable technology or destroy buildings or kill your
leaders. Conversely, you can spy on them and do the same thing. I will discuss
offensive spying, then defensive spying. But first, some general tips.
If start of as a member of the Orion Senate, start training spies immediately
and never stop. You have contact with a large number of races and they will
start sending spies against you as soon as you become more powerful than them.
If you start training spies immediately, you will always have some available to
you for offense and defense. If you do not start off as a member of the Orion
Senate, I suggest waiting until around turn 20 to start training spies. This
saves you money, which can be spent on planetary improvements and colonization,
but still gets you started in time to have spies when you do make contact.
Again, once you start training spies, don't ever stop.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Offensive Spying [5-5a]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In order to spy on other empires, you must already have contact with them. You
must also have trained spies. Head to the Personnel tab, the Spies subtab and
look at the righthand side. This side consists of two more subtabs. Active and
List of Spies. The Active tab will list the empires where you have active spies
and how many you have in each empire. The "List of Spies" is just that, and
where you activate spies for duty. In order to activate a spy, select the spy
by their name and look at their stats. There will be a "Insert Agent" button,
which will expand out to allow you to choose which empire to attack. The Spy
will attempt to enter the Empire during the next turn. If they succeed the
following turn they will attempt their mission. If they fail, they will keep
trying. When entering they can be caught and then you have to wait to see if
they come back or die. If the enter they will continually try to sabotage the
enemy. You will get updates on their progress in your SitRep, yellow stuff near
bottom. You can pull an agent back at any time by going to the Personnel Menu
and Selecting the Empire and "Recall Agents" button.
There are 6 different Types of Spies, who have different missions.
Military: These spies will sabotage building fleets, shipyard buildings and
ground troop support buildings.
Diplomatic: Coded wrong currently, act as Military spies.
Scientific: These spies will either steal tech or sabotage research efforts.
Political: These spies will try to assisinate any leaders the enemy has.
Social: These spies will create unrest in colonies to slow down production.
Government: These spies will blow up government buildings of the enemy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Defensive Spying [5-5b]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other empires blowing up your buildings? Terrorizing your citizens? You can
protect yourself. If you have unassigned spies, they will attempt to protect
your citizens and catch spies. You can also catch spies by increasing your
oppresometer. But be careful, your population may resent having you invade
their personal space and become unhappy. Consider increasing your spending
toward unrest to prevent production falling. After the spies are caught, reduce
your oppressometer, if over maximum. Some people recommend keeping your
oppressometer at max at all times, but I think that can reduce research and you
don't have to do it all the time.
===============================================================================
Economics (by Designer) Tom Hughes, designer, MOO3 [6*]
===============================================================================
Briefly, Food and Minerals - are the basic commodity needed to nourish the
population and fuel the economy.
Industry and Test tubes - are used as governors for the final price (in AUs) of
production points and research points respectively
Production Points and Research Points - are used as the cost for any
construction and research respectively(I.e. a ship that costs 1000 means it
costs 1000 PPs - the number of AUs needed depends on the Industry base of the
planet and your Industry overdriving efficiency)
And AUs make the worlds go around (pun intended)
COMMODITY
Bioharvest(food)
WHAT PRODUCES IT
Bioharvest DEA
2 regional blds (Hydroponic Farms and Subterranean Farms)
WHAT USES IT..........WHAT IS CREATED BY CONSUMPTION
Population (except Geodic).....=>..life, Industry, and AUs
Industrial DEA (/w bio blds)....=>..Industry, and AUs
excess food sold off..........=>..AUs
COMMODITY
Minerals
WHAT PRODUCES IT
Mining DEA
WHAT USES IT..........WHAT IS CREATED BY CONSUMPTION
Population (only Geodic & Cybernetiks).=>.life, Industry and AUs
Industrial DEA.........................=>.Industry and AU's
excess minerals sold off................=>.AU's
COMMODITY
Industry
WHAT PRODUCES IT
Population
Industrial DEA
WHAT USES IT..........WHAT IS CREATED BY CONSUMPTION
AUs (Industry determines cost of PPs).=>..Production Points(PPs), Pollution
COMMODITY
Test Tubes
WHAT PRODUCES IT
Population
Research DEA
WHAT USES IT..........WHAT IS CREATED BY CONSUMPTION
AUs (Test Tubes determines cost of RPs).=>..Research Points(RPs)
COMMODITY
Production Points
WHAT PRODUCES IT
Industry + AUs
WHAT USES IT..........WHAT IS CREATED BY CONSUMPTION
Building anything(the cost is in PPs)..=>.construction of building, troop, or
ship
COMMODITY
Research Points
WHAT PRODUCES IT
Test Tubes + AUs
WHAT USES IT..........WHAT IS CREATED BY CONSUMPTION
R&D of tech.(the cost is in RPs)..=>.any tech discoveries
COMMODITY
AUs
WHAT PRODUCES IT
Population
Bioharvest DEA
Mining DEA
Industrial DEA
Spaceport DEA
Recreation DEA(with game patch)
WHAT USES IT
maintenance
pollution cleanup
Production Points
Research Points
terraforming
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ECONOMICS 101 (part 2.1) Mining DEAs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mining DEA's produce minerals (and the AU's from using those minerals) and AU's
from rare byproducts.
All DEAs require pop to run. There are three levels of pop requirements, high,
med, and low.
There are also three cost basis for DEAs, high med, and low.
Mining DEAs have a LOW pop requirement and a LOW cost basis. Therefore, they are
an attractive DEA to build on young colonies.
1) MINERAL OUTPUT
The formula for determining the mineral output of a mining DEA is as follows:
(Base efficiency + Base efficiency mods ) * Efficiency mods * DEA Capacity
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BASE EFFICIENCY - This is the basic mineral output of the mining DEA before any
mods affect it. You can think of this as the starting productivity of the DEA.
The base efficiency of a mining DEA depends on which region it is placed (only
mining and bioharvest DEAs are so effected) and is as follows:
Displayed as mineral richness by terrain type
__________Very Poor______Poor_____Abundent(average)______Rich_______Very Rich
Plain_________1____________1____________2________________3____________5
Broken_______1____________2____________3________________5____________8
Mountain_____2____________3____________5________________8____________12
A mining DEA placed in a region with mountain terrain on a planet with a mineral
richness of abundant would have a base efficiency of 5. That mining DEA would
produce 5 minerals if no other mods affected it.
BASE EFFICIENCY MODS are mods that directly affect the base efficiency of the
DEA and are added to the base efficiency before any other mods take effect. They
consist of:
(species mods + race picks + mining DEA buildings + mining DEA planetary builds
+ mining achievements)
species mods
Elder Civilization (Antarans) EFFICIENCY +2, RARE 1.3
Silicoid_________________EFFICIENCY +4 (This might be a typo..seems pretty high)
Bulrathi_________________EFFICIENCY +1
race picks (Mining)
EFFICIENCY____RARE
Superior (+2)_____1.3
Good (+1)_______1.15
Average (0)______1
Poor (-1)________0.85
Below is a table for the rest of the mods organized by increasing techs. The
numbers in () represent the mod to base mining efficiency. Don't be fooled by
the small numbers. These mods can have a MUCH greater impact on the final output
of the mine because they are factored in FIRST before any other mods. A +1 could
give a net boost of 25 to mining output late in the game.
cost___Tech Lvl___________DEA Bld_________Planetary Bld______Achievement
25___Economy 11____Automated Mine (+1)
60___Economy 21____Robo Mining Plant (+2)
60*__Physics 24_______________________Orbital Lithoscanners (+1)
0____Math Computers 29______________________________Geo Harmonic Principles(+1)
100__Economy 31____Nanotech Extractors (+3)
175*_Physics 40_______________________Mineral Analysis Network (+2)
* the cost is multiplied by the square root of the number of regions on the
planet. Therefore the multiplier has a range of 1-3.46. Weigh the benefit/cost
before building one of these planetary buildings because the cost is the same
regardless of the number of mining DEA present on the planet (I.e. don't build
one if there are no mining DEAs on the planet).
EFFICIENCY MODS are mods that usually affect all DEAs on the planet and are
(Infrastructure*Gravity*Leaders*Government type*Morale*Pollution*Specials*Moon
mod*
DEA productivity from population)
I will cover this later since it pertains to all DEAs on the planet.
DEA CAPACITY is from the DEA (always one) and any capacity buildings present.
All Capacity buildings require additional population to run and represent the
"extensiveness" of the DEA facilities. These buildings generally give a greater
boost to mineral production than efficiency buildings but cost more and require
population to run.
Cost___Tech Lvl__________Capacity Bld____________________Pop requirements
50_______0_____________Mine DEA----- (1)_________________________0.33
40____Physics 6________Deep Extraction Mining (+0.5 or +50%)______0.33
100___Physics 16_______Full Crust Mining (+1 or +100%)___________0.33
180___Physics 26_______Complete Mantle Mining (+1.5 or +150%)____0.33
300___Physics 36_______Deep Core Mining (+2 or +200%)___________0.33
If you have all 4 capacity buildings present in a mining DEA the total capacity
would be 6 and the pop requirements to run at 100% would be 1.65 pop
2) AU's FROM MINERALS PRODUCED
The amount of money earned from the usage of minerals depends on how they are
used.
Consumed as food - 30 AUs/mineral
Consumed by Industrial DEAs to create Industry - 15 AUs/mineral
Any excess sold off - 7.5 AUs/mineral - this is multiplied by (100% - the
unemployment rate) to simulate supply and demand for the excess minerals.
Below is the money earned by a mining DEA producing only the minerals from its
base efficiency (all other mods having no effect in this example) and having ALL
of the minerals produced consumed by Industrial DEAs on the same or shipped any
other planet.
__________Very Poor______Poor_____Abundent(average)______Rich_______Very Rich
Plain_________15___________15___________30_______________45___________75
Broken_______15___________30___________45_______________75___________120
Mountain_____30___________45___________75_______________120__________180
DOUBLE these numbers if all the minerals are consumed as food and HALF them if
all are sold off as excess.
3) AU's FROM RARE BYPRODUCTS
This represents any exotic/rare minerals (like gold, gems, etc) found during the
mining process and gives a bonus to AU's produced by the mine without affecting
its normal output.
The formula is: AUs = minerals produced * mineral richness factor * 4 * race
pick
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This formula is illustrated below assuming a mining DEA with only it's base
efficiency:
__________Very Poor______Poor_____Abundent(average)______Rich_______Very Rich
Plain_________1____________1____________2________________3____________5
Broken_______1____________2____________3________________5____________8
Mountain_____2____________3____________5________________8____________12
times
__________Very Poor______Poor_____Abundent(average)______Rich_______Very Rich
_____________1____________2____________3________________5____________8
times
tuning variable of 4 * race pick
gives a result of
__________Very Poor______Poor_____Abundent(average)______Rich_______Very Rich
Plain_________4___________8____________24_______________60___________160
Broken_______4___________16___________36_______________100__________256
Mountain_____8___________24___________60_______________160__________384
The ratio of (AUs produced from using minerals : AUs from rare byproducts) is
determined by the mineral richness of the planet. As you can see the bonus from
rare minerals is trivial for Very Poor planets but is very significant for
planets that are Very Rich (being equal to the AU's earned from consuming all
the minerals as food - the max price for minerals).
The main purpose of the rare mineral bonus(and a similar bonus to bioharvesting)
is to give an incentive to place mining or bioharvesting DEAs on planets with
very good regions for these DEAs regardless of the need for the minerals or
bioharvest they produce. As the game progresses the need for mineral and
bioharvest DEAs will diminish and I don't want these DEAs to become rather
useless like farmers did late game in MOO2. This rare bonus will allow mining
DEAs to be viable choices for planets with good mineral richness even late in
the game and especially desirable when the need for minerals is significant.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ECONOMICS 101 (part 2.2) Bioharvest DEAs [6-2*]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bioharvest DEAs produce bioharvest(food) (and the AU's from using that food) and
AUs from rare byproducts.
All DEAs require pop to run. There are three levels of pop requirements, high,
med, and low.
There are also three cost basis for DEAs, high, med, and low.
Bioharvest DEAs have a MED pop requirement and a LOW cost basis. Therefore, they
are not quite as attractive as mining DEAs (but could be more necessary to avoid
starvation) to build on young colonies because of the higher population
requirements.
1) BIOHARVEST OUTPUT
The formula for determining the bioharvest output of a bioharvest DEA is as
follows:
(Base efficiency + Base efficiency mods ) * Efficiency mods * DEA Capacity
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BASE EFFICIENCY - This is the basic bioharvest output of the bioharvest DEA
before any mods affect it. You can think of this as the starting productivity of
the DEA. The base efficiency of a bioharvest DEA depends on which region it is
placed (only mining and bioharvest DEAs are so effected) and is as follows:
First, bioharvest base efficiency is affected by the fertility and terrain of
the region it is placed in. To get a better picture of just what exactly
determines the fertility of a region I have included a table below.
Displayed as ecosystem density on top by habitability ring along the side
Maple leaf color_grass-green__green-brown__brown______red-brown_______red
_______________Very Dense__Dense______Average_____Sparse_____Very Sparse
Paradise_______Lush_______Alluvial______Fertile_______Arable______Hardscrable
Homeworld_____Alluvial______Fertile______Arable_______Hardscrable_Subsistence
Green 1________Fertile ______Arable______Hardscrabble_Subsistence___Barren
Green 2________Arable______Hardscrabble_Subsistence___Barren_______Hostile
Yellow 1_______Hardscrabble_Subsistence__Barren_______Hostile_______Toxic
Yellow 2_______Subsistence__Barren______Hostile_______Toxic________Toxic
Red 1__________Barren______Hostile _____Toxic________Toxic________Toxic
Red 2__________Hostile _____ Toxic ______Toxic________Toxic________Toxic
Fertility is a measure of how favorable the region is for supporting life
compatible to a particular species. Fertility affects the base efficiency of a
bioharvest DEA placed in and the maximum population growth rate of that region.
Ecosystem Density is the measure of the biomass of the region. It has a range
from very dense (dense tropical forest) to very sparse (desert). And is shown by
the color of the maple leaf on each region of the planetary infrastructure
display. The ecosystem density of a region doesn't change with respect to
species(I.e. it is the same no matter who is looking at the planet). The region
with the best ecosystem density has the best fertility. Also, if a region has a
grass-green maple leaf (very dense ecosystem density) it has the best fertility
allowed for a planet of that habitability ring.
A quick rational for regions having the same fertility but different
habitability/ecosystem density levels. A Green 2 planet with Very sparse region
is able to support about the same amount of compatible life as a Red 2 planet
with very dense region hence they both have the same fertility (hostile). The
second planet region can support more total biomass but only a small percentage
of that biomass would be compatible.
The habitability ring is determined by the location of the planet on the
habitability display (temperature and atmospheric density) and the distance of
that planet to the ideal habitability of a particular species.
Each horizontal row represents a planet habitability ring with the full range of
fertility allowed for that habitability ring. Ecosystem density is the only
factor that gives a variance to the fertility of the regions on a planet in a
particular habitability ring.
If a planet is terraformed one level, all regions will improve one fertility
level (except some toxic regions - I don't distinguish between toxic levels of a
region; if exposure to a region that is toxic harms in 5 minutes or 60 minutes,
it matters very little as in either case you're hurt )
If a region is regionally terraformed one level (one ecological infrastructure
building added improving the ecosystem density of that region one level) its
fertility will also improve one level (again, except some toxic regions).
Now, lets talk about biodiversity. Biodiversity is kind of the bioharvest
counterpart of mineral richness. But you tend to find higher biodiversity with
older solar systems (the opposite of mineral richness) Biodiversity has two
effects in the game. 1) Affects starting ecosystem density of the planet. Each
region has the same chance of starting with any ecosystem density on a planet
with a biodiversity of Heterogeneous. Higher biodiversity increases the chance
of each region starting with a higher ecosystem density. 2) Affects the amount
of AUs generated by rare byproducts from bioharvest DEAs on that planet.
OK, now that I have given you a glimmer of how planet development works (I'll
explain more when I cover solar system creation), here's bioharvest base
efficiency:
Geodic Species Table
____________Regional Dominant
Regional_____Terrain Type
Fertility____Mountain__Broken__Plain
Lush_________14_______12_____10
Alluvial_______10________8______6
Fertile ________6________5______4
Arable ________4________3______2
Hardscrabble___3________2______1
Subsistence____2________1______0
Barren ________1______0.5______0
Hostile________0________0______0
Toxic_________0________0______0
Cybernetik Species Table
____________Regional Dominant
Regional____Terrain Type
Fertility____Mountain__Broken__Plain
Lush_________12______12______12
Alluvial________8_______8_______8
Fertile ________5_______5_______5
Arable ________3_______3_______3
Hardscrabble___2_______2_______2
Subsistence____1_______1_______1
Barren________0.5______0.5_____0.5
Hostile________0_______0_______0
Toxic_________0_______0_______0
All Other Species Table
____________Regional Dominant
Regional____Terrain Type
Fertility____Mountain__Broken__Plain
Lush _________10______12______14
Alluvial ________6_______8______10
Fertile_________4_______5_______6
Arable_________2_______3_______4
Hardscrabble ___1_______2_______3
Subsistence ____0_______1_______2
Barren_________0______0.5______1
Hostile_________0_______0 ______0
Toxic__________0_______0_______0
Note: Remember, this is base bioharvest efficiency. Having a "0" only means that
building a bioharvest DEA on that region needs a building or achievement to
raise the bioharvest efficiency above zero.
A bioharvest DEA placed in a region with plains terrain and alluvial fertility
(the first region on all homeworld planets) would have a base efficiency of 10
for most species except for cybernetik (8) or geodic (6). That bioharvest DEA
would produce 10,8,or 6 bioharvest (depending on which species occupies that
region) if no other mods affected it.
BASE EFFICIENCY MODS are mods that directly affect the base efficiency of the
DEA and are added to the base efficiency before any other mods take effect. They
consist of:
(species mods + race picks + bioharvest DEA buildings + bioharvest DEA planetary
builds + bioharvest achievements)
species mods
Elder Civilization (Antarans) EFFICIENCY +2, RARE 1.3
race picks (Bioharvest)
EFFICIENCY____RARE
Superior (+2)_____1.3
Good (+1)_______1.15
Average (0)______1
Poor (-1)________0.85
Below is a table for the rest of the mods organized by increasing techs. The
numbers in () represent the mod to base bioharvest efficiency. Don't be fooled
by the small numbers. These mods can have a MUCH greater impact on the final
output of the farm because they are factored in FIRST before any other mods. A
+1 could give a net boost of 25 to bioharvest output late in the game.
cost___Tech Lvl___________DEA Bld_________Planetary Bld______Achievement
25___Bio Sc 10_______Automated Biocare (+1)
60___Bio Sc 20_____Byproduct Reprocessing (+2)
60*__ Bio Sc 23_______________________Orbital Biomonitoring (+1)
0____ Bio Sc 28 (+Phys 25)_____________________________Biomorphic Fungi(+1)
100__Bio Sc 30_______Genetic Engineering (+3)
175*_Phys 39 (+MC 36)__________________Helio Regulator (+2)
0____Bio Sc 45 (+Phys 42)________________________Mineralmorphic Bacteria(+2)
150__Antaran_______Dyno Mutant Victuals (+4)
Any secondary tech requirement is shown as "(+tech lvl)". That secondary tech
lvl, if present, must also be satisfied before you can develop that tech.
* the cost is multiplied by the square root of the number of regions on the
planet. Therefore the multiplier has a range of 1-3.46. Weigh the benefit/cost
before building one of these planetary buildings because the cost is the same
regardless of the number of bioharvest DEAs present on the planet (I.e. don't
build one if there are no bioharvest DEAs on the planet).
Note: both bioharvest achievements (Biomorphic Fungi and Mineralmorphic
Bacteria) do more than just add to the base efficiency of bioharvest DEAs. They
also expand the range of habitability rings that will allow bioharvest DEAs to
be built. Normally, you can't build a bioharvest DEA on a planet with a Yellow
2, Red 1or Red 2 habitability ring. But one or both achievements will reduce or
eliminate this restriction.
Biomorphic Fungi__________expands bioharvesting 2 rings
Mineralmorphic Bacteria_____expands bioharvesting 1 ring
EFFICIENCY MODS are mods that usually affect all DEAs on the planet and are
(Infrastructure*Gravity*Leaders*Government type*Morale*Pollution*Specials*Moon
mod*
DEA productivity from population)
I will cover this later since it pertains to all DEAs on the planet.
I will partially explain two of these mods now because of player requests and
the fact that they influence the output of DEAs on your homeworld from the
beginning of the game.
DEA productivity from population - that number is shown on the planet screen and
represents the multiplier used to increase the efficiency of all DEAs on the
planet.
Government type -
Gov series____________Gov type______Bioharvest__Mineral__Industrial__Research
ABSOLUTIST_________ Despotism_________0.8______1.0______1.2_______0.95
___________________ Monarchy__________0.8______1.0______1.3_______0.9
___________________ Oligarchy__________0.9______0.9______1.0_______1.2
___________________ Const.Monarchy____1.0______1.0______1.0_______1.0
REPRESENTATIVE_____ Corporate_________1.2______1.2______1.1_______1.05
___________________ Democracy________1.15_____1.1______1.1_______1.05
___________________ Parliamentary______1.0______1.2______1.3_______1.05
___________________ Republicanism_____1.0______1.2______1.2_______1.05
COLLECTIVIST_______ Hive____________1.15______1.2______1.1_______1.05
____________________Unification_______1.1_______1.15_____1.05______1.2
There are additional areas that Gov mods affect but because of format
restrictions I will post the rest later.
DEA CAPACITY is from the DEA (always one) and any capacity buildings present AND
any FLUs present( I forgot to include FLUs in mining capacity - it is the same
as presented here). All Capacity buildings require additional population to run
and represent the "extensiveness" of the DEA facilities. These buildings
generally give a greater boost to bioharvest production than efficiency
buildings but cost more to build/maintain and require population to run.
Cost___Tech Lvl__________Capacity Bld____________________Pop requirements
50_________0___________Bioharvest DEA--- (1)_______________________0.67
40_____Bio Science 5____ Soil Enrichment (+0.5 or +50%)_______________0.67
100___ Bio Science 15___ Controlled Environment Farming(+1 or +100%)___0.67
180___ Bio Science 25___ Soil Rejuvenators (+1.5 or +150%)_____________0.67 </pre><pre id="faqspan-3">
300___ Bio Science 35___ Ecosystem Controller (+2 or +200%)___________0.67
If you have all 4 capacity buildings present in a bioharvest DEA the total
capacity would be 6 and the pop requirements to run at 100% would be 3.35 pop.
Up to 6 organtic FLUs could also employed.
Organic FLUs - the capacity of DEAs can also be increased by employing organic
FLUs. For each full integer capacity a DEA has one FLU can be employed (I.e. a
DEA with a capacity of 6 could employ a maximum of 6 organic FLUs). The benefit
to the DEA employing FLUs depends on the number employed and the FLU
Oppressometer setting. Each organtic FLU employed at a DEA increases the
capacity of said DEA by 0.1 times the Oppressometer setting (0-10) giving a net
benefit of 0.0 - 1.0 capacity increase for each FLU employed. Theoretically,
assuming maximum FLUs employed and maximum oppressometerare setting, organic
FLUs could double the capacity (and hence the production) of most DEAs.
Robotic FLUs - I will talk about this later.
2) AU's FROM BIOHARVEST PRODUCED
The amount of money earned from the usage of bioharvest depends on how they are
used.
Consumed as food - 20 AUs/bioharvest
Consumed by Industrial DEAs to create Industry - 10 AUs/bioharvest
Any excess sold off - 5 AUs/bioharvest - this is multiplied by (100% - the
unemployment rate) to simulate supply and demand for the excess minerals.
Note that the prices for bioharvest are lower than minerals. I did this for two
reasons. 1) Most species consume bioharvset as food (getting the better price).
2) Regional fertility can be improved by techs, allowing the eventual
possibility for all regions to be terraformed to the best fertility (lush).
Mining has no such benefit.
Below is the money earned by a bioharvest DEA producing only the bioharvest from
its base efficiency (all other mods having no effect in this example) and having
ALL of the bioharvest produced consumed by Industrial DEAs on the same or
shipped any other planet.
Regional Dominant
Terrain Type Ordered
By Species Preference
Geodic_____Mountain___Broken_____Plain
Cybernetic_____________ALL
All Other______Plain____Broken __Mountain
Regional___ Favorable__Neutral__Unfavorable
Fertility
Lush_________140______120______100
Alluvial_______100_______80_______60
Fertile ________60_______50_______40
Arable________40_______30 _______20
Hardscrabble __30_______20 _______10
Subsistence ___20_______10________0
Barren________10________5________0
Hostile_________0________0________0
Toxic__________0________0________0
DOUBLE these numbers if all the minerals are consumed as food and HALF them if
all are sold off as excess.
3) AU's FROM RARE BIOHARVEST BYPRODUCTS
This represents any exotic/rare compounds from life forms found during the
bioharvesting process and gives a bonus to AU's produced by the farm without
affecting its normal output.
The formula is: AUs = Bioharvest produced * biodiversity factor * 2.5 * race
pick
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This formula is illustrated below assuming a bioharvest DEA with only it's base
efficiency:
Regional____Terrain Preference of Species
Fertility____Favorable_Neutral_Unfavorable
Lush__________14______12_______10
Alluvial________10_______8________6
Fertile _________6_______5________4
Arable_________4_______3________2
Hardscrabble ___3_______2________1
Subsistence ____2_______1________0
Barren_________1______0.5_______0
Hostile_________0_______0________0
Toxic__________0_______0________0
Times biodivestity factor
______Very Similar_____Simular____ Heterogeneous____Diverse_____Very Diverse
___________1___________2___________3_____________5____________8
times
tuning variable of 2.5* race pick
gives a result of
Regional
Fertility
Lush___35_30_25____70_60_50___105_90_75___175_150_125____280_240_200
Alluvial_25_20_15____50_40_30____75_60_45___125_100__75____200_160_120
Fertile__15_13_10____30_25_20____45_38_30____75__63__50____120_100_80
Arable__10__8_ 5____20_15_10____30_23_15____50__38__25_____80__60_40
Hardsc__8__5__3____15_10__5____23_15__8____38__25__13_____60__40_20
Subsist__5__3__0____10__5__0____15__8__0____25__13___0_____40__20__0
Barren __3__1__0_____5__3__0_____8__4__0____13___6___0_____20__10__0
Hostile __0__0__0_____0__0__0_____0__0__0____0____0___0______0___0__0
Toxic____0__0__0_____0__0__0_____0__0__0____0____0___0______0___0__0
Note: the table above lists the AUs from rare bioharvest for each biodiversity
level and each terrain preference (favorable, neutral, unfavorable) of the
species.
The ratio of (AUs produced from using bioharvest : AUs from rare byproducts) is
determined by the biodiversity of the planet. As you can see the bonus from rare
bioharvest is trivial for Very Sparse planets but is very significant for
planets that are Very Dense (being equal to the AU's earned from consuming all
the bioharvest as food - the max price for bioharvest).
The main purpose of the rare bioharvest bonus (and a similar bonus to mining) is
to give an incentive to place bioharvesting or mining DEAs on planets with very
good regions for these DEAs regardless of the need for the bioharvest or
minerals they produce. As the game progresses the need for bioharvest and
mineral DEAs will diminish and I don't want these DEAs to become rather useless
like farmers did late game in MOO2. This rare bonus will allow bioharvest DEAs
to be viable choices for planets with good biodiversity even late in the game
and especially desirable when the need for bioharvest is significant.
Regional bioharvest buildings.
There two buildings that produce bioharvest (but no rare bioharvest) at the
regional level without the need for a bioharvest DEA in that region. They are:
cost___Tech Lvl____________________Regional Bld________Bioharvest produced
15___Bio Science 02________________ Hydroponic Farms__________0.5
45___Physics 18 (+Bio Science 15)____ Subterranean Farms________1.0
These buildings allow planets to produce a nominal amount of bioharvest without
needing to devote a DEA slot to bioharvesting. This benefit is significant on
planets that are unable to place bioharvest DEAs because of poor habitability. A
little food is a LOT better than no food when it comes to starvation.
===============================================================================
Victory [8*]
===============================================================================
You can be victorious several ways, depending on what settings you chose in the
setup.
If you are the sole empire active, and all others (including the New Orions)
have surrendered to you, you win. This is something you cannot turn off. You
must be very combat oriented to be able to win this way.
If you are elected to the Senate as President, you win (Dipolmatic Victory). In
order to do this, you have to have a balance of combat and diplomacy. If you
have this victory marked, however, you can lose if some race other than the New
Orions is elected. So, make sure to get in the Senate fast and prevent this
from happening. Work on discrediting your strongest opposition and making
allies out of the weaker races.
If your empire finds all five of the lost Antaran Xs (and researches them, I
think) you can win. In order to do this, you must send out Expeditions. You do
this from the Victory Tab. Once there, there is a subtab for the Antaran
mission. You have to click to send an expedition. The computer will take ships
from your reserves pool until it decides it has enough and sends out the
expedition. I think it is a good idea to wait until you have a large number of
ships in reserves before hitting this, because otherwise you might lose valuable
ships. Many people recommend waiting until you have a large number of 1-2
rounds of upgrades obsolete ships to put into reserves. That way those ships
are doing something useful and your newer ships won't have anyone dragging them
down. Some people recommend putting research labs on your ships, so that when
they find an X they start researching it as they carry it back to your empire.
NOTE: You can still search for the Xs without this victory condition. And it's
a good idea, as you get many benefits from the Xs (see section #-# for more
info).
===============================================================================
Stats, Techs, and Numbers [9*]
===============================================================================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Preset Race Modifiers [9-1*]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Outdated due to data patch, I believe. Confirm?
From the OrionSector Encyclopedia Mod. Which they got from the spreadsheets.
HUMAN
Max Oppressometer 3
War Tolerance -1
Research Efficiency 105%
Senate Effectiveness 115%
Relations Bonus +25%
Casus Belli Bonus +6%
Ground Combat Initiative +30
EVON
Max Oppressometer 3
War Tolerance -1
Research Efficiency 105%
Senate Effectiveness 115%
Relations Bonus +25%
Casus Belli Bonus +6%
Ground Combat Initiative +30
PSILON
Max Oppressometer 3
War Tolerance -1
Research Efficiency 130%
Senate Effectiveness 115%
Relations Bonus +25%
Casus Belli Bonus +6%
Population Growth Penalty 10%
Ground Combat Initiative +30
MEKLAR
Max Oppressometer 6
Manufacturing Efficiency +40%
Ground combat Initiative +10
Ground Combat Accuracy +20
Uses Bioharvest Output 50% and Mining Output 50% to Feed Population
CYNOID
Max Oppressometer 6
Manufacturing Efficiency +40%
Ground combat Initiative +10
Ground Combat Accuracy +20
Uses Bioharvest Output 50% and Mining Output 50% to Feed Population
SAKKRA
Max Oppressometer 6
Polution Tolerance +25%
Population Growth Bonus +10%
Ground Combat Initiative +10
Ground Combat Attack Strength +20
RAAS
Max Oppressometer 6
Polution Tolerance +25%
Population Growth Bonus +10%
Ground Combat Initiative +10
Ground Combat Attack Strength +20
GRENDARL
Max Oppressometer 6
Polution Tolerance +25%
Population Growth Bonus +15%
Ground Combat Initiative +10
Ground Combat Attack Strength +20
TRILARIAN
Max Oppressometer 7
Ground Combat Initiative +20
Ground Combat Evade +30
NOMMO
Max Oppressometer 7
Ground Combat Initiative +20
Ground Combat Evade +30
IMSAEIS
Max Oppressometer 4
Ground Combat Initiative +20
Ground Combat Attacks +1
EOLADI
Max Oppressometer 4
Ground Combat Initiative +20
Ground Combat Attacks +1
SILICOID
Max Oppressometer 4
Population Growth Penalty 25%
Mining Effeciency +40%
Ground Combat Armor +20
Ground Combat Hit Points +2
Uses Bioharvest Output 0% and Mining Output 100% to Feed Population
KLACKON
Max Oppressometer 4
Population Growth Bonus 30%
Ground Combat Initiative +10
TACHDI
Max Oppressometer 4
Population Growth Bonus 35%
Ground Combat Initiative +10
ITHKUL
Max Oppressometer 6
War Tolerance +1 (More likely to have war declared)
Senate Effectiveness 60%
Ground combat Initiative +10
Ground Combat Rally Chance +2
Ground Combat Rout Chance +2 (Less Routs)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Magnate Race Modifiers [9-2*]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the OrionSector Encyclopedia Mod. Which they got from the spreadsheets.
AJADAR - Protoplasmic
Max Oppressometer 4
Ground Combat Rating 3
Ground Combat Hit Points +4
ALKARI - Avian
Max Oppressometer 4
Ground Combat Rating 3
Ground Combat Initiative +40
Ground combat Evade +60
AUDRIEH - Plant
Max Oppressometer 3
Polution Per Population 25%
Ground Combat Rating 5
Ground Combat Evade +30
BRYE-EHTS - NonCorporeal
Max Oppressometer 6
Ground Combat Rating 4
Ground Combat Initiative +30
Ground Combat Evade +60
BULRATHI
Max Oppressometer 5
Mining Efficiency +10%
Ground Combat Rating 7
Ground Combat Initiative +20
Ground Combat Attack Strength +20
Ground Combat Armor +10
Ground Combat Hit Points +2
Ground Combat Morale +2
Ground Combat Rally +2
DARLOCK - Metashifters
Max Oppressometer 6
Senate Effectiveness 85%
Ground Combat Rating 3
Ground Combat Initiative +30
Ground Combat Attack Strength +20
ELERIANS
Max Oppressometer 5
Unrest per Region -30
Ground Combat Rating 3
Ground Combat Initiative +10
Ground Combat Accuracy +10
Ground Combat Evasion +10
Ground Combat Rally +4
GNOLAM
Max Oppressometer 5
Trade Level +1
Space Port Efficiency +20%
Trade Efficiency +20%
Ground Combat Rating 3
Ground Combat Initiative +10
Ground Combat Rout +2
MRRSHAN
Max Oppressometer 6
Military DEA Efficieny +40%
Ground Combat Rating 4
Ground Combat Initiative +30
Ground Combat Accuracy +40
Ground Combat Evade +10
Ground Combat Morale +4
PHAIGOUR - Fungal
Max Oppressometer 4
Military Maintenance 85%
Population Growth Bonus 15%
Ground Combat Rating 3
Ground Combat Initiative +10
Ground Combat Evade +120
RHEA - Gargantua
Max Oppressometer 4
Ground Combat Rating 9 (Best)
Ground Combat Attack Strength +20
Ground Combat Armor +10
Ground Combat Hit Points +2
Polution Per Population 200%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Initial Diplomacy Modifiers [9-3*]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the list of initial starting relations. This is how YOU see the races.
If you want to know how a race feels about you, look for them and then their
reaction to you. If there is no modifier, the starts off as neutral (0). So,
all humanoids are neutral towards each other. (note: Thanks Thranxes)
New Orions, -20 every race.
Harvestors, -150 every race except new orions, -10
(NOTE: Apply above to all below)
--Humanoid--, -38 Geodic, -60 Cybernetik, +50 Ichthytosian, +14 Insectiod, +30
Saurians,
--Etherian--, +40 Geodic, -65 Cybernetik, +40 Ichthytosian, +14 Saurian,
--Geodic--, -38 Humanoid, +40 Etherian, -80 Cybernetik, -64 Insectoid, +30
Saurian,
--Cybernetik--, -60 Humanoid, -65 Etherian, +38 Geodic, +38 Ichthytosian, -14
Saurian
--Ichthytosian--, +50 Humanoid, +40 Etherian, +38 Cybernetik, -140 Saurian
--Insectiod--, +14 Humanoid, -64 Geodic, -24 Saurian
--Saurian--, +30 Humanoid, +14 Etherians, +30 geodic, -14 Cybernetik, -140
Ichthytosian, +24 Insectiod
Example: You are playing Psilions (Humanoid). There are the New Orions, The
Harvesters, the Cynoids, the Silicoids and the Klakkon in your universe. Your
starting views on these races would be as follows:
New Orions: -20
Harvestors: -150
Cynoids (Cybernetik): -60
Silicoids (Geodic): -38
Klakkon (Insectoid): +14
Ow... this would be a very hard game with that many races hating you at first.
You would want to cultivate a relationship with the Klakkons immediately, to
raise your relations and get some treaties. Then you would probably want to
gift the Silicoids to raise them until you can start getting treaties, etc.
Unless you are just out to kill everyone, in which case it doesn't matter.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Government Stats [9-4*] From Shuma (Official Boards)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HIVE
Bioharvesting: 115% (Good)
Mining: 120% (Superior)
Industry: 110% (Average)
Research: 105% (Average)
Military: 140% (Superior)
Recreation: 85% (Poor)
Spaceport: 85% (Very Poor)
Heavy Foot of Government: 90% (Superior)
Oppressometer Cost: 88% (Superior)
Oppressometer Range: 3 to 7
Forced Labor Range: 2 to 6
UNIFICATION
Bioharvesting: 110% (Good)
Mining: 115% (Good)
Industry: 105% (Below Avg)
Research: 120% (Superior)
Military: 130% (Good)
Recreation: 100% (Average)
Spaceport: 95% (Below Avg)
Heavy Foot of Government: 90%
Oppressometer Cost: 90%
Oppressometer Range: 2 to 6
Forced Labor Range: 2 to 6
CORPORATE
Bioharvesting: 120% (Superior)
Mining: 120% (Superior)
Industry: 110% (Average)
Research: 105% (Average)
Military: 80% (Very Poor)
Recreation: 80% (Very Poor)
Spaceport: 120% (Superior)
Heavy Foot of Government: 95% (Good)
Oppressometer Cost: 96% (Good)
Oppressometer Range: 2 to 6
Forced Labor Range: 2 to 6
DEMOCRACY
Bioharvesting: 115% (Good)
Mining: 110% (Average)
Industry: 110% (Average)
Research: 105% (Average)
Military: 90% (Poor)
Recreation: 120% (Superior)
Spaceport: 100% (Average)
Heavy Foot of Government: 99% (Average)
Oppressometer Cost: 112% (Very Poor)
Oppressometer Range: 0 to 4
Forced Labor Range: 0 to 4
Government DEA Unrest Modifier: 150%
Military DEA Unrest Modifier: 50%
PARLIMENTARY
Bioharvesting: 100% (Average)
Mining: 120% (Superior)
Industry: 130% (Superior)
Research: 105% (Average)
Military: 100% (Poor)
Recreation: 100% (Average)
Spaceport: 105% (Good)
Heavy Foot of Government: 102% (Poor)
Oppressometer Cost: 109% (Poor)
Oppressometer Range: 1 to 5
Forced Labor Range: 0 to 4
Government DEA Unrest Modifier: 150%
Military DEA Unrest Modifier: 50%
REPUBLIC
Bioharvesting: 100% (Average)
Mining: 120% (Superior)
Industry: 120% (Good)
Research: 105% (Average)
Military: 120% (Good)
Recreation: 100% (Average)
Spaceport: 95% (Poor)
Heavy Foot of Government: 102% (Below Avg)
Oppressometer Cost: 111% (Very Poor)
Oppressometer Range: 1 to 5
Forced Labor Range: 1 to 5
DESPOTISM
Bioharvesting: 80% (Very Poor)
Mining: 100% (Poor)
Industry: 120% (Good)
Research: 95% (Poor)
Military: 130% (Good)
Recreation: 95% (Below Avg)
Spaceport: 100% (Average)
Heavy Foot of Government: 104% (Poor)
Oppressometer Cost: 93% (Good)
Oppressometer Range: 5 to 9
Forced Labor Range: 3 to 7
Government DEA Unrest Modifier: 50%
Military DEA Unrest Modifier: 150%
MONARCHY
Bioharvesting: 80% (Very Poor)
Mining: 100% (Poor)
Industry: 130% (Superior)
Research: 90% (Very Poor)
Military: 110% (Average)
Recreation: 95% (Below Avg)
Spaceport: 105% (Good)
Heavy Foot of Government: 105% (Poor)
Oppressometer Cost: 94% (Good)
Oppressometer Range: 3 to 7
Forced Labor Range: 2 to 6
Government DEA Unrest Modifier: 50%
Military DEA Unrest Modifier: 150%
OLIGARCHY
Bioharvesting: 90% (Poor)
Mining: 90% (Very Poor)
Industry: 100% (Poor)
Research: 120% (Superior)
Military: 100% (Poor)
Recreation: 100% (Average)
Spaceport: 105% (Good)
Heavy Foot of Government: 99% (Average)
Oppressometer Cost: 101% (Below Avg)
Oppressometer Range: 2 to 6
Forced Labor Range: 2 to 6
CONSTITUIONAL MONARCHY
Bioharvesting: 100% (Average)
Mining: 100% (Poor)
Industry: 100% (Poor)
Research: 100% (Below Average)
Military: 100% (Poor)
Recreation: 120% (Superior)
Spaceport: 100% (Average)
Heavy Foot of Government: 101% (Below Avg)
Oppressometer Cost: 100% (Average)
Oppressometer Range: 2 to 6
Forced Labor Range: 0 to 4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Antaran X Benefits [9-5*]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Must be found AND researched for benefits.
From Tentacle on the boards:
Antaran X 1: Social Structure
-Reduces Unrest by 7 in ALL regions
-Lower Heavy Foot of Government by .75
-Raise Oppressometer upper limit by 1
Antaran X 2: Antaran Outlook
-Raise Oppressometer upper limit by 1
-Increase Space Port taxes by 20%
-All spy abilities increase by 1
Antaran X 3: Scientific Approach
-Increases Population Research effects by 1
-Increases Overruns by 10 in all cases
*From Freekill
Antaran X 4: Genetics
-Increase Luck for ALL leaders and spies by 10
-Population growth +25%
-Reduce terraforming costs by 20%
Antaran X 5: Antaran Mystery Solved
-Improves Mining, Bioharvesting, and Manufacturing by 20%
-Reduces Pollution by 50%
===============================================================================
Multiplayer: [8]
===============================================================================
This section is to help people setup those Multiplayer games as the manual is
next to useless. There are 3 different ways to play this game over the
internet: LAN (local Area Network), IP (One player hosts and others join) and
through GameSpy (GameSpy lists the games). The two easiest are LAN and GameSpy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAN Games [10-1*]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAN means that you and all other players are on the same Local Area Network,
connected through a hub or switch. You do not have to be connected to the
internet to play this way. Generally used when friends get together for a LAN
Party or two friends bring their computers together for a weekend. One player
creates the game, and the rest of the players join.
For the Creator: Select LAN as your option, then hit create game (First box).
Fill in your Player Name and you Game name, then hit create again (second box).
Wait for players to request to join and allow them. You'll see a list of the
players in the third box. When everyone has joined, hit Launch. Everyone picks
their race and the creator picks all the Game settings (universe size, specials,
etc.)
For the Players: Select LAN as your option. Wait for the Creator to create the
game. You should see it listed in your third box. Click on it, fill in your
user name and hit "Request Join." The creator will accept or deny your request
and then (if accepted) you'll be able to chat with the other players until the
game is launched. Pick/customize your race and wait for the Creator to set all
the settings.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IP Games [10-2*]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I haven't gotten this to work. All comments welcome!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GameSpy Games [10-3*]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are two ways to create and find games through GameSpy. You must have
installed GameSpy Arcade in order to use the games hosted using this method.
Using GameSpy Arcade:
Start up GameSpy Arcade. DO NOT LAUNCH MOO3. Once you've logged in, pick
Master of Orion III from your list on the left. This should bring up a listing
of the current games and from here you can join a game or create one. You can
even password protect your games through this method if you want. Once everyone
is in a game room and marked ready, the creator can launch the game, which will
cause MOO3 to load and bring you directly to the multiplayer screen. DO NOT
change any settings or back up, or you will lose the connection to the game.
Just wait until the creator launches again from here to be able to pick your
race. The Creator will be in charge of the game settings.
From in the Game:
I haven't been able to join a game through the server listing, but I'm behind a
firewall and didn't have the arcade installed at the time of testing. Comments
Welcome!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Playing a Multiplayer Game [10-4*]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The only thing I'm putting here is THE CHAT BOX. It is hidden up a the top of
your display, under your summary area. It is a small dropdown tab that you
can't see unless you are looking for it. Find it, expand it down and chat that
way. You cannot chat between turns and the scrolling is broken (IMO). And the
box is very small. But at least its something. The chat box will be on top of
all your tabs/menus, so you will have to close it occasionally.
How you chose to do a multiplayer game is up to you. If you want to play
cooperatively, make sure to both be in the Orion Senate. It is the only way to
gaurentee the ability to have communication from the beginning.
===============================================================================
FAQs: [11*]
===============================================================================
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*What are the different DEAs and what do they do?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quicksilver wanted to encourage diversification and balance. So each region can
only support 2 DEAs (and a Spaceport DEA).
Each DEA increases the effeciency and amount of different points you can gain.
Farming DEAs make more food, which feed your people. They are best in Plains,
Fertile (Lush) and Green areas.
Minings DEAs make more minerals, which supply your industry. They are best in
Mountains. I don't think biodiversity matters, but I could be wrong.
Industry DEAs use minerals and help make more production points. They also
increase your efficiency for making military and planetary installations.
Military DEAs help reduce unrest and will fight invaders. You must have a
military DEA to build any military infrastructure, such as a Mobilization
Center.
Government DEAs help reduce unrest. You need these to be able to build a system
seat or any other government based planetary infrastructure.
Recreation DEAs reduce unrest. They benefit from biodiversity, IIRC.
Research DEAs produce test tubes, which increases your efficiency for research
spending to make Research Points (RP).
Spaceport DEAs (which you can't choose to build) trade with other planets
spaceports and general revenue (AU).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*What is the best race?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My first response is it depends on what type of game you want to play. Choose
a race based on that. If you want to out research everyone, pick a race strong
in research (or make one). The Psilons are a good choice without
modificatioins. If you want to have a race that will just out expand everyone,
pick the Klakkons. If you want to never worry about food, give the Silicoids a
try (they only eat minerals, so expansion could be slow and be aware that a
diplomatic victory will be hard) or the Meklar or Cynoids (they eat half food
and half minerals). If you want a diplomatic victory, try the Humans or Evons.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Why aren't I getting interest on my treasury balance?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was an errata in the manaual. For a full list of the errata in the
manual, read the README.TXT file or see section [#-#] of this FAQ.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*How do I turn off the Viceroy?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can turn off the Economic AI in each, individual planet screen. This will
prevent the Viceroy from resetting your economic sliders as well as filling
anything into the queue. I believe this also prevents him from decided which
DEAs to build. However, you cannot prioritize your DEA build orders, other than
through Development Plans [#-#].
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*I just got Hydroponic Farms [or other DEA improvement], how do I build them?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can't. The DEAs and Viceroy will get around building these improvements
as the money (via the economic slider) is available. Also, your development
plan will influence which improvements are built first.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*What do the three classifications of the regions mean?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Planets Screen, there is a development tab where you can see a break
down of each region. The first Picture by a region is an indication of terrain.
There are 3 types: Mountains, Broken and Plains. In general, farms do best on
Plains, farms and mines do okay on broken, and mines do best in the mountains.
However, the manual indicates that certain races will have benefits that change
this general rule. The second icon is an indication of the biodiversity. The
greener the leaf, the more diversity. Biodiversity will help with farming,
research and (maybe) mining. The third listing is an indication of how fertile
the land is, ranging from barren to lush. The more fertile the land, the better
the farming is.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*What are the planetary Specials?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can find them in the README.TXT file on your hard drive or on the 2nd CD
of the game. I will include a listing later.
NOTE: You can import a mod from <
http://www.moo3mods.com/> to mod your
encyclopedia to include the planetary specials and the racial modifiers. The
current version is v3.0.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*What do I do about Unrest?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are several things that cause Unrest and several solutions. You can
find out specifically what is causing your unrest in the planet's demographic
tab, and the Unrest Subtab. Lets look at the different types of unrest and how
to solve them.
Empire Unrest: This is most often caused by a Heavy Foot of Government (HFG),
which is defined by your oppressometer (found in the Empire Tab) and racial/tech
modifiers. If it is set too high, your citizens get annoyed about being watched
so closely. Another cause of Empire-wide unrest is high Empire-wide taxes. The
setting for the taxes is found in the Finance tab, and the [blank] subtab. A
seldom cause is a recent government change. A final cause could be you have
violated a law passed by the Orion senate (if you are a part of the senate),
which can cause unrest.
System Unrest: Caused by too high of a system tax or pirates. You can change
the system tax in the Empire tab. Pirates will plague your system if you have
more colonies than ships. In order to get rid of the unrest start building a
system defense ship, usually pretty cheap. You can also move an old task force
to the system until the ship gets built to keep those Pirates at bay.
Colony Unrest: Caused by too high a colony tax, decrease it to help (found on
the planet screen). Also, if you have a certain level of military funding
designated (through the Finance Tab) and you are spending more than the allowed
funding on military (yes, including colony ships) the colony will have unrest.
You can also build recreation, military and government DEAs to reduce unrest.
Building military units (infantry, etc.) may also help, especially if the colony
is shared between you and another race. Finally, if you are working your
colonists too hard (dark red spending bars) they become unhappy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Why does my planet keep building out of date plans?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even though you've marked the ship design obsolete, the viceroy had already
planned to build ships, many turns in advance. So, if you want to make sure
there are no obsolete ships being built, mark the design obsolete. Then go
through every planetary military queue and delete the old ships out and put in
your new one. Or let the viceroy chose after you've cleared out the queue and
hit the turn button. Or mark the design obsolete many turns before you want
that design to stop building, depending on the number of planets you have.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*What does the whole tech tree look like?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You will never get the full tech tree in any game. At most (without spying or
trading) you can get 60-70% of the tech in a game, and that is only if you are
very creative and get lots of retro-research. Some techs are gaurenteed to
every race. These include the ship chassis, the system drives, the warp
engines, and probably some other things [comments welcome]. All of the other
techs have a percent chance to be researched. In addition, the level of the
tech is a range. Each tech has a base level, but it can be discovered +/- 2
levels from that baselevel. So some games you get things sooner, some later,
some never at all. It is for these reasons that a full tech tree listing is
unlikely, though I will try to get a listing of the Major required techs and
their base levels in a future FAQ.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Why did they kill off my favorite race?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't know. They felt like it? It made a good story? There are a couple
of theories and rumors, but I don't particularly care. Regardless, there is a
chance to find a colony of these old races that you can use as forced labor or
Magnate Colony.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*How do I make contact with other races?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You must have a full colony within two starlanes of one of their colonies. If
you are a member of the Orion Senate, you automatically have contact with all
other members of the Orion Senate. But you will lose these contacts if you
leave the Senate or are kicked out and don't meet the above condition.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Why did the race I already had a trade agreement as for another one?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They are either improving the treaty or re-upping it to make sure they don't
lose that income. Its worth your while to check on these and instigate them on
your own.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*What do the different colors on the sliders mean?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They are a representation of how efficiently your money is being spent. A
green, for every AU you spend you get a production (or research) point. At
yellow, its 2:1. And the oranges and reds are worse. This information can be
found in your manual.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*What can I do with my old ships?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) You can scrap them for some money, which can use for one time grants or
extra funds.
2) You can send them to your new colonies to help fight pirates while your
colonies build their first system defense force/planetary bases.
3) From ThrawFett (on the boards): I just thought of a cheap way to get X's.
Put all military ships (not troop, colony, or outpost) into Task Forces. Put a
lot of cheap ships (or use obsolete) in reserves and send your expeditions. This
will let you get rid of obsolete ships while sending out strong expeditions.
Also, the computer randomly selects military ships from the reserves when it
creates an expedition. To keep a ship 'safe', just put it in a task force.
NOTE: You cannot refit older ships as in MOO2.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*I've built tons of Research DEAs, but I'm not researching any faster. What
should I do?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Research DEAs don't produce research in of themselves. They produce Test
Tubes, which increase the efficiency of your research spending. You must fund
the research using your economic sliders. This will produce Research Points
(RPs) which will go towards your projects.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*How do I defend against spies? (thanks to dakgm for most of these tips)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Set the Oppression meter to maximum (after you make your first contact) and
leave it there for the entire game. In the Victory tab, you can see the rating
of your oppression as "Heavy-footed government". The higher the number, the
better your defense. You will also have high unrest, so be prepared to counter
it beforehand (increase spending against unrest in the finance tab).
Start making spies on the very first turn and never stop. When you meet the
first race, you're already prepared. You have a screen full of spies to use as
defense if necessary. In the Victory tab, check what rating your opponent has
for heavy-footed government. Send your spies in when the rating is low. They are
never prepared for the results! Then extract your spies and prepare for the
counterattack.
While you are doing all of this, research all of the spy tech. The spy tech is
mostly in the Biology and Social schools. There's also some scattered in the
Mathematics school. All the spy tech has an icon with a looking glass in the
picture.
You can always tell when the opponent is trying to send in spies. Watch for a
message in the Sitrep. The message will either say your spies killed one of
their's, or it will say your spies are putting the squeeze on all captured
spies. This is your clue.
If you kill spies, it will tell you who sent the spies. There is no political
message like in MOO2 where you can tell them to stop spying, but there is a
message that does the exact same thing. Go into the screen and "Threaten" the
race that is sending spies. This will usually cause them to stop (unless your
race is weak in military), but it can lead to war.
Remember to always keep the Oppression meter at maximum. This irritates your
population and helps to find the spies. But if you have it at the max from the
beginning, your population does get used to it over time.
If you're sending in spies in large numbers to enemy territory, before long, you
will usually get a leader that is really, really helpful for spies.
Another helpful idea is to send it multiple spies at once. You are more likely
to get in at least one to do some damage. Always extract them the turn after
they do damage. Don't leave them there to die.
Finally, look at the stats on each of your spies. High Luck spies are better
sent out than low luck. High Cloak means that your spy will be able to hide
easier. This helps in getting the spy into a mission and back out again. High
Dagger is a representation of how likely the spy is to get away if captured.
Finally, there is Loyalty. This is how loyal the spy is to your empire. Low
Loyalty spies can be double agents! It is a good idea to retire low loyalty
spies before they cause you damage.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How do I initiate Ground Combat:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Make Infantry/Marines/etc. at a System that has a mobilzation center or your
home system.
2) Make sure you have a Troop Ship in reserves or make one so you'll have one.
3) Go to "Ground Force Creation" from the Galaxy screen in the system you are
wanting to pull troops from.
4) Create an army of your choice from your Infantry/Marines/etc. according the
rules provided.
5) Click Create Force, which will take you to your space task force creation
screen.
6) It will pull as many troops ships as it needs for all of your army. If you
don't have enough it won't let you accept.
7) The next turn your Troop Task force will come up.
8) Send it to the system you want to invade. There should be no enemy ships in
the region, and I prefer to have a military task force there while I'm invading.
9) When you transport arrives, you will have to choose the following when the
combat screen comes up:
System Combat: Control Combat/Assualt Planet [if no ships in system, you will
get an auto victory] NOTE: You must control the combat here to be able to land
troops
Planetary Bombardment: Control Combat, again you must control here if you want
to land troops.
Go ahead and bombard at this point if you feel like it, to reduce the ground
forces on the planet. Then choose one of the following: Land Troops or Land all
Troops
Land Troops will land one of your armies. Land all Troops will land all (duh).
At this point, the troop transport that were carrying those troops will disband
and head to the delay box.
Ground Combat Scheduler: I think at this point you can either let the AI handle
it or do it yourself. I prefer doing it myself. And from here you can start
debating the points of how to run the combat.
See pages 138-140 for the Planetary bombardment and Ground Combat screens and
info.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
System Tax:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary:
* System tax works
* It is calculated of GDP and trade just like planetary tax but for all planets
in the system.
* The planet with the system government always gets the money.
* The system tax income is not specified but is added to the planets balance
each turn.
===============================================================================
Mods and Links [12*]
===============================================================================
http://www.moo3mods.com/
This has a ton of mods available. I personally really only like the
Encylcopedia mod, so that the planetary specials and the race info is easy to
have at hand.
