MOO3

[Captain Kwok]

SE IV is not simply a game, it is a lego set to make your own Universe the way you like and then add every single piece of Sci-Fi you like.

Oleg - That is exactly it! I couldn't put it any better than that. I always wished that I could make my own 4x space game but since I lack the skills for such a task - SE IV gives me enough control to the point where it feels like my own game. If I want phasers - then I just type in some info, draw a pic, and bam I got phasers. This is why SE IV and SE IV Gold are the only games I have bought in the Last year and a half.

Plus, what other game do you know where you can actually influence what new features are added or get your name listed in the credits?

[ 09 May 2002, 19:32: Message edited by: Captain Kwok ]

[capnq]

The problem with SE IV's diplomacy is that the AIs have no memory of the past beyond the current and proposed treaty status, their Mood towards the other race, and the time since the Last proposal or war. (I think that's all of the factors.) It's the same problem as with most of the other failings of the AI, not retaining information.

The basic diplomacy model in Civ1, Civ2, and Alpha Centauri is pretty much the same, and not all that different from MOO1 or SE IV. They just get progressively more sophisticated in terms of what choices you have. I expect the same pattern holds for Civ3 and MOO2, which I haven't played.

Getting back to the original point, the reason to buy SE IV now rather than wait for MOO3 is that you can buy SE IV now. If your disposable income is so low that you can't afford to buy both, you probably won't be in any better shape by the time MOO3 is released, anyway. (If it is. I know quite a few people who think MOO3 is getting more vaporous every day.)

It's like buying computer hardware, if you wait for the Next Big Thing, you'll never buy anything. Buy what you need when you need it.

[ 09 May 2002, 19:57: Message edited by: capnq ]

[Captain Kwok]

<BUMP?>

[Atilla the Pun]

Thanks for all the feed back gang! This is waaaaay more info than I got from the same request on the Apolyton Boards. Where I might add that MOO3's lead designer used to post before he got canned.

AtP

[Dogberry]

Originally posted by Atilla the Pun:
Thanks for all the feed back gang! This is waaaaay more info than I got from the same request on the Apolyton Boards. Where I might add that MOO3's lead designer used to post before he got canned.

AtP

Do you mean Alan Emrich .. or someone else ? If Alan got the axe... the hopes of a decent game have gone way down. & of an eventual MOM .. have vanished.

Dog

P.S. They can be arrogant as hell over there at "Poly" sometimes... Ming is ok tho ( just in case he hears about this )

[ May 14, 2002, 07:08 AM: Message edited by: Dogberry ]

[oleg]

AFIK, Alan is still in charge of Moo3. There were some rumors, but he posted himself that he took a short break for personal reasons and is back now.

[Baron Munchausen]

Originally posted by oleg:
AFIK, Alan is still in charge of Moo3. There were some rumors, but he posted himself that he took a short break for personal reasons and is back now.

Alan is gone. He is technically available as 'consultant' but he is no longer a QS employee. They are in 'meet deadline' mode now and just trying to put together a game that works without trying to meet all the lofty and very ambitious goals that Alan had originally set for the game. Some people are calling it 'MOO 2.5' instead of MOO 3. And yes, much of the originality has been abandoned. This is put down to corporate ruthlessness by the grumblers, of course. No one thinks of just how hard it would have been to actually do all the things Alan wanted to do with the game. They would have to set the release date back to 2010 if they wanted to implement all the things he had originally planned.

[ May 14, 2002, 12:32 PM: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]