# What Moo3 SHOULD HAVE looked like **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 2, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659 "2009-12-02T02:41:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/1 "2009-12-02T02:41:16Z")
Someone really should call these fools [http://moo3.quicksilver.com/about/team.html](http://moo3.quicksilver.com/about/team.html) The architects of the atrocity against gaming called master of orion3 and show them this > **[Home | Gratuitous Space Battles](http://www.positech.co.uk/gratuitousspacebattles/index.html)** > > homepage for the indie space strategy game 'gratuitous space battles Basically if Moo3 had this engine for its combat system, the Moo2 collective would have borne them children, paid $199/copy for the game and probably hand ground altars to their loving gratitude, and offering free rimjobs to their unborn greatgrandchildren for creating a work of gaming art. But no…we got paper rock scissors in space… Maybe this should be in the pit, but meh. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/2 "2009-12-02T03:24:14Z")
Bah! MOO 3 was terrible before you even got to fighting anyone. Planets divided into DEAs? Prohibitively expensive terraforming upkeep? Heavy foot of government negating any benefits of expansion? Tech advances that hardly give any benefit? _Fuck that._ I still play MOO 2, and it is still sublime. Pity they lost all of that magic in MOO 3. MOO 3 was a essentially a Pax Imperia ripoff, and Pax Imperia was terrible. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/3 "2009-12-02T05:40:53Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > Bah! MOO 3 was terrible before you even got to fighting anyone. Planets divided into DEAs? Prohibitively expensive terraforming upkeep? Heavy foot of government negating any benefits of expansion? Tech advances that hardly give any benefit? _Fuck that._ > > I still play MOO 2, and it is still sublime. Pity they lost all of that magic in MOO 3. MOO 3 was a essentially a Pax Imperia ripoff, and Pax Imperia was terrible. Ok plug that battle system into moo2 … nerdgasms ensue. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/4 "2009-12-02T07:01:17Z")
I tried MOO3 and it was craptacular. Almost as incomprehensibly designed as a Sims game. I’d like to try GSB, because it sounds like fun, but alas, he has no Mac version. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/5 "2009-12-02T09:28:14Z")
Personally, I always wanted MOO2 with the _Homeworld_ combat engine. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/6 "2009-12-02T09:29:30Z")
On a related note: _Master of Magic_ with the _Total War_ combat engine. ---
**Author:** ![Zoinks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zoinks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoinks)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/7 "2009-12-02T10:05:45Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Personally, I always wanted MOO2 with the _Homeworld_ combat engine. Yeah, I’d say Homeworld is the best for simulating giant space battles. I wish I could get the Battlestar Galactica mod to work but I could never figure out what was wrong. I believe there’s also a Gundam mod out there. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/8 "2009-12-02T13:43:12Z")
> [@Zoinks](#): > > Yeah, I’d say Homeworld is the best for simulating giant space battles. I wish I could get the Battlestar Galactica mod to work but I could never figure out what was wrong. I believe there’s also a Gundam mod out there. There was also a B5 mod, you don’t even bother attacking earth alliance destroyers with small craft, they are like a fracking bug light for fighters/bombers. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/9 "2009-12-02T14:28:35Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > Ok plug that battle system into moo2 And you still have a game with WAY too much micromanagement. I’m sorry, MOO2 was good in its day in no small part because it had no competition. There’s no way I’d want to go back to building a hydroponic farm on every planet at this point. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/10 "2009-12-02T15:27:12Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > On a related note: _Master of Magic_ with the _Total War_ combat engine. I forgot about MoM and now I miss it. The game would rock with an updated combat engine. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/11 "2009-12-02T15:31:23Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > I forgot about MoM and now I miss it. The game would rock with an updated combat engine. But (in my ideal imaginary world) not a real-time one, pretty please! (I’d be more interested in something like the Battle for Wesnoth turn-based system, though I doubt anything like that would be commercially viable). ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/12 "2009-12-03T01:33:27Z")
You guys _stopped_ playing Moo2? ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/13 "2009-12-03T04:05:41Z")
“Stop” is a relative term. After all, when you are playing Civ IV, you can’t be playing MoO 2, now, can you? 😕 Or EU2, or RRT3, or SoaSE, or … ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/14 "2009-12-03T04:51:55Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > And you still have a game with WAY too much micromanagement. I’m sorry, MOO2 was good in its day in no small part because it had no competition. There’s no way I’d want to go back to building a hydroponic farm on every planet at this point. I gotta disagree with you on that one. The autobuild ain’t great, but it works. Rush build a defensive or production building on a new colony’s first turn, and forget about it until it starts building trade goods. A few dozen “fire and forget” colonies will develop into a new galactic heartland sooner than you’d think, with minimal player effort. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/15 "2009-12-03T14:33:09Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > I gotta disagree with you on that one. The autobuild ain’t great, but it works. Rush build a defensive or production building on a new colony’s first turn, and forget about it until it starts building trade goods. A few dozen “fire and forget” colonies will develop into a new galactic heartland sooner than you’d think, with minimal player effort. MOO2 had Autobuild? I don’t even _remember_ that feature. What I do remember is that the AI you’re competing with is such ass that it probably couldn’t do any better than that for itself anyway. I find the game, in hindsight, having played other products, to be micromanagey, unbalanced, and, well… lets just say it hasn’t aged well. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/16 "2009-12-03T17:42:32Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > MOO2 had Autobuild? I don’t even _remember_ that feature. What I do remember is that the AI you’re competing with is such ass that it probably couldn’t do any better than that for itself anyway. > > I find the game, in hindsight, having played other products, to be micromanagey, unbalanced, and, well… lets just say it hasn’t aged well. Name another space-based turn-based strategy game that was better? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/17 "2009-12-03T21:27:17Z")
Also, MOO2 was massively epic scale if you had a dedicated group to play multiplayer with. Turn down the research rate, huge galaxy, and damn that was a semester worth of fun at two hours a night or so. ---
**Author:** ![Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/18 "2009-12-04T01:38:17Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Name another space-based turn-based strategy game that was better? :dubious: Galactic Civilizations II ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/19 "2009-12-04T01:54:36Z")
Great, but you’re off by about 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659/20 "2009-12-04T02:17:28Z")
> [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](#): > > Galactic Civilizations II Seconded. GalCiv 2 is everything that I ever wanted from MOO3. MOO3 might have been my biggest gaming disappointment of all time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-moo3-should-have-looked-like/519659.md?page=2)