Master of Orion II

(hints)

A comprehensive treatment of tactical combat in Master of Orion II (MOO2) could fill a good-sized book, but if you're feeling bewildered by all the choices the game allows you, the advice presented here should provide a starting point for experimentation.

Actually, good things come in large packages
In MOO2, concentration of force is important; the more weapons that can be brought to bear against the target, the better. Given the choice of building more ships or larger ships, it is usually better to build larger ships. They can withstand more damage and carry more of the weapons and specials that will help them to survive. Although costlier, larger ships are much more efficient in their use of command points (CP), as shown in Table 1. On the flip side, larger ships take longer to build, move more slowly in combat, and represent a greater loss of resources to your empire if destroyed.
An interesting note: a Doom Star is over twice the size (and well over twice the cost!) of a Titan-class ship. However, its extra size does not make a Doom Star's hull more durable; it has exactly the same number of armor and structure points as a Titan. If you have command points to spare, consider building a pair of Titans instead of a Doom Star.
The order in which weapons are specified in the Ship Design screen will determine the order in which they are fired, unless you manually control the firing of individual weapons during combat. Weapons that attack shields should generally appear first, to increase the effectiveness of the weapons that follow. For example, start with a group of Heavy Fusion Beams, followed by Ion Pulse Cannons. If the Fusion Beams knock out the facing shield, 100% of the Pulse Cannons' damage is applied to the target's internal systems, instead of being wasted against the shield.
Because MOO2's movement rules allow most ships to turn on a dime to adjust their facing, it is generally a waste to specify anything other than F (forward) firing arcs for most weapons. The main exception to this rule is point defense weapons, which should have a 360-degree firing arc; when your ship is being swarmed on all sides by small, agile targets, being able to aim weapons without turning is a necessity.

Pilots, to your fighters!
The performance of your fighter squadrons (Interceptors, Bombers, and Heavy Fighters) depends heavily on available technology. For example, Interceptors carry one copy of the best available point defense (PD) beam weapon. Table 2 shows how well an attack by six squadrons of Interceptors will succeed against fully charged shields, using different PD weapons.
The best PD weapon available in the early game is the Mass Driver. The combination of Fighter Bays (80 RP) and Mass Drivers (250 RP) allows an effective early game assault force to be created, for a very small research investment. An empty Destroyer hull can hold two Interceptor squadrons; four such ships, launching all squadrons at once, can take out a guardian Space Amoeba.
Fighters are most effective in large swarms, concentrating their firepower on a single target. Such massed attacks have their disadvantages, however. If the target's engines are destroyed, the resulting blast may destroy all of the attacking fighters. Massed fighter attacks are also vulnerable to a Pulsar, Lightning Field, or Spatial Compressor, which can simultaneously damage all fighters lingering near the target. Use these devices in your own anti-fighter defenses. Another defensive tactic is to build ships stuffed with PD weapons and deploy them as escorts, using their close-in capabilities to shoot down incoming fighters and missiles.
The less time fighters spend traveling to and from their carrier, the fewer opportunities the enemy will have to shoot them down. It is therefore better to launch them as close to the target as possible, preferably from point blank range.
Don't waste bombers against planets. Regular ships can also carry bombs, and they're much more durable. Instead, use your bombers against other ships, where you'll get the most "bang for the buck."

Send in the Marines
Ground combat and boarding actions both benefit from technology advances like the Plasma Rifle or Personal Shield, which bestow fighting bonuses on troops,. If you intend to board Antaran ships, you will need large numbers of well-equipped Marines to succeed, because of the Antarans' large defensive bonus. You can also use the Neutron Blaster or the Death Ray to try to kill defending enemy troops before you board.
It is difficult to deliberately immobilize an enemy ship by shooting out its engines, because of the danger that the engines will receive too much damage and explode. To stop ships in a more controlled manner, you need Tractor Beams. Larger ships require more than one beam, so make sure you have enough on hand. Six beams will stop even a Doom Star in its tracks.
Teleporters can be used to board a moving target, but it may be tricky to knock down its facing shield for boarding. This problem can be avoided by using Assault Shuttles. Each one of these specialized fighter squadrons can transfer four Marines to a moving target, even through shields. Don't forget that Assault Shuttles can only be used to capture ships, not raid them.
During combat, Telepathic races may use ships as soon as they are captured. Captured starbases can be used to fire directly at planetary defenses, though the game does not let you keep the starbase, even if you capture the planet. When attacking planets as a telepath, include at least one ship in your fleet that is Cruiser-sized or larger, so that you can mind control the population once you have defeated the planet's defenses. Being Telepathic means never having to land ground troops.

Charging to victory
It is possible to win games with a limited strategy that uses only a handful of the available weapon systems. In the early game, Fighter Bays and Mass Drivers provide a cheap but effective offensive capability. After two Chemistry advances, Nuclear Missiles with the MIRV modification can be placed on ships. These do four times the damage of a regular nuke, at only twice the cost. Later, you can improve upon MIRV nukes with the Emissions Guidance System. Emissions Guidance (EG) is like a silver bullet, applying all damage that gets through the shields directly to the target's engines. When the engines blow, the ship explodes. Even Antaran ships aren't safe from EG missiles.
The Ion Pulse Cannon (IPC) is the beam cousin of the EG missile. Any damage that penetrates the shields goes directly to the target's internal systems, making the IPC a frightfully effective weapon. However, be careful; this weapon has no effect against Antarans and space monsters. If the IPC is your best beam weapon, your starbases and ground batteries will be "upgraded" to use it, which will cause trouble for you if the Antarans attack.
The next weapon that comes into play is usually the Gyro Destabilizer (GD). This technology is almost laughably easy to research, considering its effectiveness. The GD damages internal structure directly, without offering the target a way to defend against the attack. The larger the target, the more damage it does. A modest fleet of multiple-GD-equipped ships can defeat the Guardian relatively early in the game, giving the player an enormous leg up in captured Orion technology-not to mention a lush Gaia planet, ready for colonization.
With Orion in your pocket, you're well on your way towards being able to win via military conquest. To put the icing on the cake, dash through the Physics technologies until you obtain the game's ultimate weapon: the Plasma Cannon. This weapon's major drawback is its doubled range penalty for damage, which can be partly overcome with a Heavy Mount modification. In its favor, the Plasma Cannon hits all four shields at once, and miniaturizes very well at higher levels of Physics technology, allowing obscene numbers of these weapons to be crammed into Titan or Doom Star hulls. The Disrupter Cannon is also a very good weapon; both are immensely better than the bloated Stellar Converter, which is very powerful, but limited to firing at one target each combat round.
You can get the most out of your beam weapons by equipping your ship with an Achilles Targeting Unit, High Energy Focus, and Structural Analyzer, which greatly increase inflicted damage. Hyper-X Capacitors, Fast Missile Racks, and Time Warp Facilitators allow weapons to be fired multiple times in a single combat turn. However, the outcome of the game is often decided long before you obtain these powerful toys. Beam weapons become so deadly and have such long ranges in MOO2 that you don't need bombs or missiles; ships can simply stand at a distance and beam a planet into molten slag.
Here ends our brief foray into MOO2 tactical combat. There are many weapon systems and specials not mentioned here, each with its own set of strategies. Exploration is the name of the game; experiment, and above all, have fun!



Table 1
Ship Class Hull CP/ CP/ Base cost Base cost/
Space ship 100 space 100 space
-------------- -------- ------- ------------- ------------- -------------
Frigate 25 1 4.0 35 140
Destroyer 60 2 3.3 100 167
Cruiser 120 3 2.5 320 267
Battleship 250 4 1.6 760 304
Titan 500 5 1.0 1865 373
Doom Star 1200 6 0.5 4905 409


Table 2
PD Weapon Damage/ Damage/ vs. Class I vs. Class vs. Class vs. Class vs.Class
weapon 24 ships shield III shield V shield VII shield X shield
------------------ ------------ ------------ ------------- ------------ ------------ ------------- ----------
Laser Cannon 1-4 24-96 0-72 0-24 0 0 0
Fusion Beam 2-6 48-144 24-120 0-72 0-24 0 0
Mass Driver 6 144 120 72 24 0 0
Phasor 5-20 120-480 96-456 48-408 0-360 0-312 0-240
Particle Beam 10-30 240-720 216-696 168-648 120-600 72-552 0-480

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