Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

Just be sure that it has no name. It'll feel good to get out of the rain. In the desert, you can't remember your name, for there ain't no one for to give you no name, na-na na na-na-na-na-na...

OK, I'll stop. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

Doors rules !

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Actually, I think that was America. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

Yes, but...

"People are strange, when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone
Women seem wicked, when you're unwanted
Streets are uneven, when you're down

When you're strange- faces come out of the rain
When you're strange- no one remembers your name
When you're strange, when you're strange, when you're str-ange " http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sigh, the good Atari name has been passed around like a porn mag in a prison. Until someone who cares about the name gets it instead of some corporate monster grabbing it to turn it out for tricks, it will never gain its former glory. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

About real-time combat, noone remembers the "true real time" timescale of Sid Meier's Antietam! (it was written with the "!")?
By the way, it was only published by Sid Meier (i.e., Firaxis) - the developer was Breakaway Games, and the latest game of that series is now published by Shrapnel Games.

Basically, it was really "true real time": a minute of game time was equal to a minute of real time. The whole battle Lasted about 12 hours, IIRC... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
Unfortunately, the game had a few bugs, or at least my PC ran out of memory... Anyway, you get the point: Dune II & co. should be called "frenzied-time" rather than real-time http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

PS: wow, this is my 100th post! (in about 2 1/2 years...) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
PPS: about Infogrames... well, I like their stuff since North & South (hey, that was real-frenzied-time, too!), I won't change my opinion just for MoO3.

[ June 01, 2003, 20:09: Message edited by: Lisif Deoral ]

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

Pfft... call me a kiddie who doesn't know the glory of the TRUE old-school (before Nintendo) but the only thing "Atari" says to me is "outdated games with crappy graphics"... say, that sounds kinda familiar http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">And I thought I had very few Posts for the time I've been a member http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif ( 199 Posts in 2 1/2 year)

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

199 Posts? Hey Henk, make one more post and we can throw you a promotion party!

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

I need water!!!
I'm still drunk from Last nite's party. Wow, Lost Paradise rocks, or is it Paradise lost? Those Brits are always playing with words. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
The new Marilyn Manson's album rocks, and I thought that guy's 15 minutes were over.....
They also played Behemoth, Grave, BoySetsFire, Paparoach, Iced Earth, Overkill, Grunstruck, Rammestein, Sea of Green, Slipknot, Testament, Slayer, and a zillion bands I don't know http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif .
I need water!!!

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

As you can see, MOO3 is so bad it can't even stay the focus of attention on its own thread. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">But that would be my third http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif post today..

But okay, free beer for everyone! (and water for Aloofi) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

a horse, not a horse, of course.

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

Just got MOO3 (for free). Beautiful stuff, lots of detail. I have no idea if it is playable or playworthy, but it is certainly pretty!

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

Ooooooh. Look at the pretty game! *pets the game* Now, I wonder what tricks it knows...

...(twelve hours later)...

What? Jump through the hoop? *jumps through a hoop*

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Who, you or MOO3? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes, that is all it is. Nice looking eye candy. No substance.

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Me, of course. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif You think MOO3 would do any tricks I wanted it too? Oh, it does tricks, just not on request. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

Since we're on the topic of shareware...

I hate to just throw games in the garbage. So in the true spirit of shareware, I'll send my copy of MoO3 to anyone who would like to try the game. Just send me an email with your name and address, and I'll put my lightly used copy in the mail to you. No need to return it. I may ask for the cost of shipping, but only if it's more than $3 or $4. Anyone interested? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Edit: Well, there was at least one person interested, and I have just found a happy home for the game. So, my offer is now closed. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ June 06, 2003, 03:02: Message edited by: Chronon ]

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

MOO3 for free ? ?

Sorry, no. That is too expensive. The game is not worth that much http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

I collect games. Should I keep MOO3 in the wrapper? Or should I try to play it?

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

Well, I did order it. But I got a 15% off combo deal with another game that I already wanted and the shipping was free. So even after postage for the rebate, they are still giving me $2.50 to take it off their hands. I might eventually open it if I get really bored AND good news comes out on the patch front.

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

2.50$ given for taking MOO3 ? ?

Ah, the price is slowly aproaching the real value of this "game". http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ah, but what is time worth? It takes time to put the reciept in an envelope with a name and address to have the check sent to. It takes time to take the check to the bank to deposit it. How much is this time worth? If, all told, it takes half an hour, then that works out to $5 an hour, well below minimum wage in many parts of the United States of America; still not necessarily worth it.

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Didn't think I'd be defending MOO3 in any forum, let alone this one, but I do think that you're being unduly harsh.

I haven't played SEIV all that much yet, but I readily agree that I like SEIV much, much more than I will ever like MOO3. That said, though, I've a mind to add some comments into the 'Tell Aaron what you'd like for SE5..." thread and when I stop to think about it, I find that a lot of my comments would boil down to "make it more like MOO3".

This is because MOO3 is in fact packed full of cool ideas even if the execution is horrible and the result an undigested mish-mash of many different peoples' ideas.

(True Fact: I was browsing around the MOO3 forums earlier today and one of the programmers was saying that they couldn't fix the part of the diplomacy system that generates the famously cryptic speeches made by AI controlled empires because it's a black box that nobody understood anymore.)

These ideas include: planets divided into regions with individual characteristics, an economic and planetary modelling system that I feel is far superior to the SEIV Version, better, more interesting ground combat, task forces with specific, designated roles for ships within them, and yes, even real-time combat.

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Anathema! Begone, heathen! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

I more or less agree with you, MOO3 has tremendous potential. I daresay it's probably one of the most ambitious undertakings in gaming history. Problem is, it's just not even close to being finished yet. Will it ever be finished? Who knows. The long awaited first code patch comes out tomorrow, so I'm kind of looking forward to seeing if it helps me to enjoy the game more (any amount of enjoyment at all would qualify as "more" at this point).

It's still got quite a ways to go if it ever has any hope of competing with SEIV for hard drive space on this 4Xer's computer, though.

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

A little sidebar:

I know it's a little while off and Aaron hasn't done much work on it yet, but I believe that Space Empires V is going to be an incredible game. You wouldn't believe the volume of excellent ideas that have been generated already for the game and most importantly, the influence that our fine community can inject into the development process. I'm completely serious and being privy to some non-public Posts on the subject - let me assure you that Aaron is very receptive to our input!

[ June 06, 2003, 07:17: Message edited by: Captain Kwok ]

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

I, too, think MoO3 has some great ideas - mostly the same ones deccan has pointed out - but it just wasn't put together very well. Perhaps it can be improved, but probably not to the point where it would be as much fun as SE4 on PBW. My major reason for abandoning the game is lack of time. In the hour that I have everyday to play, I want to play the best games I can find. These days it's SE4 (on PBW) and Hearts of Iron (solo).

Cpt. Kwok, I am looking forward to SE5 and Star Fury. If SE5 is going to be a good empire building game like SE4, with a fun real-time combat component (using the Star Fury system, or something similar), I'm all for it! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

MOO3 could have been a good game, but all those cool ideas (except how they have real time combat done) boil down to little more than eye candy because you can't really get past the AI and the GUI to actually make good use of them. Well, the ground combat might not be as useless, but with how the rest of MOO3 plays out, it is overwhelmed. Now, how they did real time combat is not very good, and should not be emulated for se5. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

[quote]Originally posted by deccan:

Quote:

...and yes, even real-time combat.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Really I can agree in some of your comments, but NEVER will accept that the Moo3 real-time combat is good (or better than the SE4 tactical combat)!

I don't hate the Moo3 real-time combat because is real time... I hate it because think is one of the WORST tactical engines that I knew!
GOD, with those tiny ships, confuse orders, and withouth the "pause" button, is really hard try to play this thing...
Even OLD games like Pax Imperia2, Ascendancy and Rebellion, had better real time combat engines!! And this is not an opinion... it's a simple fact to everyone who has played those games and played Moo3 can see.

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

OK so MOO3 sucks. I must be dim but I still think I'd like to try it for myself. Surely someone has some positive coments or can direct me to a forum of MOO3 fans (there must be a few http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif )

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

The 'official BETA patch' has been released on the Moo3 website and fileplanet. Yes, 'beta' is in the actual name/description of it. I guess they are now so paranoid that they won't call it a 'real' patch until it is proven successful with the public. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif But this represents a fairly extensive revision of many aspects of the game. Many bugs fixed, many common-sense features add (ability to rename star systems, ability to refit ships)... Looks like it will require a re-assessment of MOO 3.

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

I do not believe that the MOO3 patch added the ability to refit ships.

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I never meant to say that the MOO3 combat engine is good. I hate it too. I meant that the idea of real-time combat is good. Even MOO3 ground combat as implemented sucks, but the idea behind it is good.

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

Has anyone here actually played with the patch? It's a whole new game.

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I plan to but I'm having slow time downloading it.

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

[quote]Originally posted by deccan:

Quote:

I never meant to say that the MOO3 combat engine is good. I hate it too. I meant that the idea of real-time combat is good. Even MOO3 ground combat as implemented sucks, but the idea behind it is good.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">K. Sorry! I misunderstood you...

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The reaction on the 'official' forums is quite positive. I won't have my 'original' copy for a week or so yet. Couldn't resist the 'free' option, though, so I'll have it soon. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Then I can d/l the patch and have the good Version right from the start. Being forewarned that it's really a completely different game than the '4X'* we expect of the MOO series, I'll hopefully be able to approach it in the right frame of mind and learn how to play it.

* (I mean, even in respect to the '5X' marketting blurb. It's not '4X + something else' it's completely different from traditional 4X games)

[ June 07, 2003, 23:11: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Poke around on www.ina-community.com, the official Infogrames forums, provided they haven't reshuffled their website since they changed to Atari... I used to frequent there but ever since MOO3's release I haven't bothered... it would be too depressing http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Now anybody can get it for the "real value". Amazon just lowered the price to $18.00. Group it with something else you were already going to get (to get free shipping), spend $0.37 on your rebate form, and voila... you are compensated $1.63 for leasing out some shelf space to a poor, lonely, otherwise-unsold copy of MOO3. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

--Raynfala

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

So, how many copies do you have to order to pay for the shipping and handling?

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Now anybody can get it for the "real value". Amazon just lowered the price to $18.00. Group it with something else you were already going to get (to get free shipping), spend $0.37 on your rebate form, and voila... you are compensated $1.63 for leasing out some shelf space to a poor, lonely, otherwise-unsold copy of MOO3. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

--Raynfala</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hang on - I think I mentioned something about that earlier in this thread - I did! I did!
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

Last night I dreamed that I met Rantz Hoseley and he offered me a job at Quicksilver... and while I acted elated to his face, I was considering turning down the position just because I didn't want to be associated with that company! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Two, but that's not gonna work. The rebate is only good for one copy per household. Not sure if somebody else could file the rebate off the other copy, as the proof of purchase has your name on it... *shrug*

--Raynfala

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

... of course, you could always look for another software title that's free after rebate. You'd be surprised how often that happens at Amazon.

--Raynfala

[ June 09, 2003, 21:55: Message edited by: raynfala ]

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes, but...
less than three months after it's released?
what was supposed to be the "game of the future"?
the "next installment of the greatest 4X series ever"?

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

game and movie sequels are both difficult to get right

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">They got it about right with Moo2

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

... and Civ 2... and Warcraft 2... and Homeworld 2... and IW 2... EU 2... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

A game like MOO3 is extra tricky because it's pretty much one of those rare gaming milestones that only comes along every few years. Lots of people have lots of fond memories of playing the first two. And most of those people don't want some outsider fooling around with a tried and true formula (remember the backlash when Coca-cola changed THEIR formula? hehe). If I was CEO of QSI, I probably wouldn't have touched the MOO license with a 10-foot pole. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

The new patch makes MOO3 a much more satisfying experience, and well worth some of the prices I've seen it going for. Still not quite a great game, IMO, but good. I think this whole fiasco has taught Atari/QSI a valuable lesson: Do NOT trifle with OUR classics. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Moo3 is a shareware now
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Would you care to elaberate? What did the patch do that made the game better?