06-21-2003, 05:47 AM
I've been haunting the MOD forums there, and Sirian tried it for a bit, along with a few other lurkers that I have met.
Firstly, the game sucked out of the box. There has just been a patch, and now the AI will actually attack (sometimes). Some of the modders have/are trying hard to make the game more playable, but there are still serious sode issues that need to be resolvved. The biggest problem after the patch is that the AI is still a moron.
Let me list some of the ways the AI sux:
1) Autobuild of ships - The way it autobuild ships is sad, very sad. It does a maximisation of a single variable, so you can mod a ship type to maximise range, or accuracy or tech level of weapon, or fire rate etc. but it will only consider one of these. If you mod the tech tree so that the first weapon in the tech tree has massive range, quick rate of fire, and very pathetic damage, the AI is screwed (so of course modders try to do the opposite, but it leads to very bland changes, you can't vary weapons much because you will cripple the AI). Also the ships will be built with completely direct fire, completely missiles, completely fighters, or completely sensors etc.
2) Diplomacy - You have no idea what is going on with diplomacy, and the options available are pointless. You can get advanced research and trade agreements, but you have no idea of their worth, and have to renegotiate them every 5(?) turns... with each opponent. The AI will threaten you out of the blue with no other info, supposedly these are triggered by you allying with one of their foes, or building up too many ships at their borders etc., but you can't tell. The AI will happily trade away its planets, even if it is its second to last one, yet it will not let go of tech without at least a defensive alliance and a three to one offer. If it wants one of your techs however it will offer you three to one. It will merrily go to war even if it has no ships to attack you with, or they are already otherwise engaged. It will sit its' huge armadas of thousands of ships in a system until the last planetst are destroyed (since the patch I have seen big fleets that could have steamrolled me, but the game mechanics for 'bombing' means that the AI cannot actually bomb when the pop gets below 1k, and has to wait there for 20+ turns for the pop to starve).
I don't think the 'steep learning curve' is an issue, I mean if the game has meat it would be fine, that is what it is trying to be after all, a strategy game. The problem however is that it is called MoO3 and most people will have expected a MoO2 game. If it had been called Pax Imperia 2 or something people would have called it an improved game (if the AI wasn't gamekillingly dreadful).
Anyway, I hope I have scared you away from MoO3. Don't get me wrong, I am on their boards trying to help out (since I can't get refunded here ;) ), but there is no way I would recommend the game to anyone in its' current state. The patch may have improved the game a ton, but if I had recieved it out of the box in this state I would still have felt ripped off.
I will update you if it becomes fun, but I think 1.10 will be released before then.
P.S. another reason to be thankful for Blizzard, for all their bugs and imbalance, at least their games are enjoyable, rather than work.
Firstly, the game sucked out of the box. There has just been a patch, and now the AI will actually attack (sometimes). Some of the modders have/are trying hard to make the game more playable, but there are still serious sode issues that need to be resolvved. The biggest problem after the patch is that the AI is still a moron.
Let me list some of the ways the AI sux:
1) Autobuild of ships - The way it autobuild ships is sad, very sad. It does a maximisation of a single variable, so you can mod a ship type to maximise range, or accuracy or tech level of weapon, or fire rate etc. but it will only consider one of these. If you mod the tech tree so that the first weapon in the tech tree has massive range, quick rate of fire, and very pathetic damage, the AI is screwed (so of course modders try to do the opposite, but it leads to very bland changes, you can't vary weapons much because you will cripple the AI). Also the ships will be built with completely direct fire, completely missiles, completely fighters, or completely sensors etc.
2) Diplomacy - You have no idea what is going on with diplomacy, and the options available are pointless. You can get advanced research and trade agreements, but you have no idea of their worth, and have to renegotiate them every 5(?) turns... with each opponent. The AI will threaten you out of the blue with no other info, supposedly these are triggered by you allying with one of their foes, or building up too many ships at their borders etc., but you can't tell. The AI will happily trade away its planets, even if it is its second to last one, yet it will not let go of tech without at least a defensive alliance and a three to one offer. If it wants one of your techs however it will offer you three to one. It will merrily go to war even if it has no ships to attack you with, or they are already otherwise engaged. It will sit its' huge armadas of thousands of ships in a system until the last planetst are destroyed (since the patch I have seen big fleets that could have steamrolled me, but the game mechanics for 'bombing' means that the AI cannot actually bomb when the pop gets below 1k, and has to wait there for 20+ turns for the pop to starve).
I don't think the 'steep learning curve' is an issue, I mean if the game has meat it would be fine, that is what it is trying to be after all, a strategy game. The problem however is that it is called MoO3 and most people will have expected a MoO2 game. If it had been called Pax Imperia 2 or something people would have called it an improved game (if the AI wasn't gamekillingly dreadful).
Anyway, I hope I have scared you away from MoO3. Don't get me wrong, I am on their boards trying to help out (since I can't get refunded here ;) ), but there is no way I would recommend the game to anyone in its' current state. The patch may have improved the game a ton, but if I had recieved it out of the box in this state I would still have felt ripped off.
I will update you if it becomes fun, but I think 1.10 will be released before then.
P.S. another reason to be thankful for Blizzard, for all their bugs and imbalance, at least their games are enjoyable, rather than work.