Changes and additions to the Master of Orion Technical Supplement:
Someplace near the title, add a notation to indicate this is the supplement for v1.2.
System Requirements: Change DOS version 3.0 to version 3.3, as the box label says.
Your First Game: Change the last line to recommend "Play as the Klackons; their special advantage is the easiest for new players."
Game Controls: add the following
Tech Screen: '=' - sets all research allocations to the same amount.
Under Main Screen, add the following Function keys. (move the F2 & F3 references from where they are now. They only apply from the Main Screen)
F2 = Next Planet
F3 = Previous Planet
F5 = Next Planet with a newly built ship in orbit.
F6 = Previous Planet with a newly built ship in orbit.
F7 = Next Planet with enemy fleets approaching (requires Improved or Advanced Scanners.)
F8 = Previous Planet with enemy fleets approaching.
B = Scrap Planetary Missile Bases
C = Report on Spies Caught
<ALT>R - changes all RELOCation destinations to the selected planet.
Changes to Weapons Reference Tables:
Power for Lasers is now 25, Heavy Lasers 75. Maulers 300.
Power for all Bombs and Biologicals is now 10.
Scatter Pack V has power rating of 50.
Sizes have changed on the following Weapons:
Nuclear Bombs 40
Fusion Bombs 50
Death Spores 100
Anti-Matter 75
Omega V 140
Doom Virus 200
Neutronium Bomb 200
Bio Terminator 300
Auto Blaster 90
Scatter Pack VII 170
Add the following sections to the supplement, after the main text, and before the tables.
Additions and Changes to the Manual for version 1.2:
- If you have Improved or Advanced Space Scanners, the control screen will display red lines to enemy ships approaching the currently selected star system. (pages 10, 64)
- A "+" displayed next to a planet's maximum population indicates that you can increase its maximum size by terraforming. (pages 13, 68)
- Ships that have been given orders but are still in orbit (on the left side of the planet) can now be selected and have their orders changed. They can also be ordered to stay at the home planet by selecting the planet as destination. (page 16)
- If you are the first race to discover an Artifact Planet, your scouts may find some technology there. (page 18)
- As a condition of Alliance, any troop transports sent to an ally's colony are automatically destroyed upon arrival. (page 27)
- If you have both standard and scatter pack missiles, you may change which type your planetary bases fire by using the MISSILES button in combat. In Auto-Combat mode, the computer automatically selects the more effective type. (page 34)
- The High Council is formed when 2/3rds of the planets have been colonized, not 1/2 as stated in the manual. (page 35)
- Completely eliminating another race hurts your relationships with all other races. (page 39)
- The Bulrathi's Ground Combat bonus has been increased to +25. (pages 45, 60)
- The Sakkra now reproduce at twice the rate of other races. (page 47)
- Defenders in Ground Combat get an automatic +5 bonus. (see page 60)
- Soil Enrichment and Advanced Soil Enrichment increase your planets' base populations by 25% and 50% respectively, in addition to the increased growth rates. (page 68)
- Star Gates cost 3000 BC to build, not 2000. (page 69)
Special Thanks:
The Master of Orion team would like to thank the following people who provided design suggestions, caught bugs, and otherwise helped to polish v1.2 of the game:
Don Aldrich, Gail & Patrick Barnes, Tom Holsinger, Tim Jordan, William Kutscher, Marvin Lamb, Kelly McCauley, Stephen Mintenko, Jerry Pournelle, and David Weinstein.
Quick Start Questions and Answers
If you are familiar with mouse-based interfaces, and want to leap immediately into the game without reading the manual, the following answers cover many of the basic "how to" concepts you'll need to play Master of Orion.
How do I send my ships to another planet?
Select one of your ship icons in orbit around a planet. The right panel will display which ships are in orbit around that world. Use the arrow buttons by each ship type to change the number of ships you will send. Choose a destination planet for your fleet, then select the ACCEPT button. See page 16 of the manual for more information.
How do I create a new colony?
Send a colony ship there (i.e. a ship equipped with a special colony base device). If the planet is habitable (see pages 17-18 of the manual), you will automatically be asked if you want to land and establish a colony there. Your colony ship is disassembled and its parts used to establish the colony. Once you have set up your colony base, you should immediately transport more colonists to that planet, to help it grow more quickly.
How do I TRANSport my colonists to another planet?
Select the planet you wish to transport your people FROM. Select the TRANS button from the panel on the right, then select the planet you wish to send your people to. After you have chosen the destination planet, you can use the slider bar on the right panel to decide how many people you want to send, up to half the population of your source planet. Note that you cannot send people to a planet that has not yet established a colony base, and you cannot transport to a planet you have not yet explored.
If you are sending transports to an enemy colony, you do the same thing. The people you send to an enemy world are automatically armed with the latest technology for ground combat. Note that enemy ships and missile bases can destroy your transports before they can land. This combat happens automatically when your transports arrive at their target world, and you see only the results. For more information, see pages 20 and 60 of the manual.
Why can't my colony ships travel as far as my scouts do?
Your scouts are equipped with a special device called "Reserve Fuel Tanks" that let them travel to planets 3 parsecs farther away than your other ships can. At the start of the game, your scouts can reach any star within six parsecs of any of your colonies, but your other ships can only reach planets 3 parsecs away.
Note that when you are moving ships from one planet to another, all that matters is how far the destination star is from the nearest friendly colony. Your ships do not actually stop at one of your colonies to refuel.
How do I change the destination of my fleets in space?
At the start of the game, once your ships have left orbit to go to another planet, their destination cannot be changed. If you change your mind during the same turn you gave orders, you can select the ship icon in orbit at the LEFT of the planet, and direct it to a new planet or back to its original planet. Once you develop Hyperspace Communications (34th level Computer Technology), you can change the orders of any ships en route to other planets.at any time.
I just signed a Non-Aggression Pact with another race, and he attacked my planet the very next turn. What gives?
Just like you, the other races cannot change the orders of their ships and transports en route. The attacking forces were probably sent to your planet before the pact was signed, and did not know that you are now on friendly terms.
I just got the technology for Controlled Barren (or Tundra, Inferno, etc.) Landings. Why can't my colony ships land on those planets now?
Once you discover the technology for landing on a hostile planet type, you must design a new type of colony ship with the special base device for landing on that environment. However, that new type of colony transport can also land on any less hostile planet. For instance, a ship equipped to land on inferno planets can also colonize dead, tundra, barren, and standard planet types.
How do I conquer an enemy's planet?
You do not need to send a colony ship. You just transport enough people to that planet to defeat the populace there and capture their colony. However, since missile bases and enemy ships in orbit can destroy transports before they land, we recommend that you send battle fleets to your target planet first, to eliminate any threat to your transports.
What does RELOC do?
The RELOC button lets you automatically send the ships that one planet builds to another planet. This is useful to assemble your fleets at one common staging point. To RELOCate your ships' destination, select the RELOC button, then select the planet you wish to send your completed ships to. A blue line will appear, connecting the worlds. To cancel the RELOCation, select the RELOC button, then select the same source planet as the "destination" (i.e. relocating your ships to where they started.)
Can I refit my existing ships to use new technologies?
No. If you wish to equip ships with new technologies, you have to design a new class of ship to use them. If you already have six classes in use, you may have to make a tough choice to scrap some older ship types to make room for the new design.
What is this Guardian thing that keeps destroying my ships?
Legends hold that the Ancient Ones built terrible automated war machines to protect Orion from invaders. So, if you find a planet protected by The Guardian, you have probably found Orion. Needless to say, you will need a large fleet with advanced technology before you can defeat the Guardian, and capture Orion.
Why can I research some high level technology, when I did not get a choice to discover lower level advances? For instance, I can research "Deuterium Fuel Cells (Range 5)", but I never got to choose "Hydrogen Fuel Cells (Range 4)"?
The technologies that your scientists can research are partially based on random chance (the muse of scientific inspiration is fickle). If you cannot research a particular device, you may have to acquire it through espionage or diplomatic exchange. You can also get new technology by capturing enemy planets, provided that you have left some of their factories intact. The more factories, the greater chance of finding technology.
When does the High Council meet?
Once 2/3rds of the planets in the galaxy have been colonized (not one half, as stated in the manual), the High Council will have its first meeting. After that, it will meet every 25 years, on the years that are even multiples of 25 (i.e. 2400, 2425, 2450, etc.)
