History VideoGame / MasterOfOrion

* ObviousBeta: The third game was released with many bugs, and in spite of multiple patches issued to try to fix it there were still issues that could impair gameplay. The game is more or less playable now, after many official and unofficial patches, but it's considered "too little too late" by most fans.

''Master Of Orion'' is a turn-based FourX strategy game set in space. Players select a race and make decisions that would spell either the supremacy of their race or its destruction. They are not alone in the [[SpaceIsAnOcean vast ocean of space]], with other races controlled by the AI (or other players) attempting to do the same.

** Played straight with Mercenary leaders in [=MoO 2=]. You may only have a total of four colony leaders and four starship leaders at a time. Mercenary leaders stop approaching your empire after you reach the limit, so if you're unhappy with one of your current leaders you will have to fire them before a new one can appear to be hired.

* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Generally averted, since the game allows you to have more ships than your command points allow, although it comes at a hefty economic penalty. Played straight with Doom Stars in ''Conquer the Stars'', where any player is limited to one at a time. This prevents players from having a fleet entirely made up of Doom Stars.

* ArbitraryMaximumRange: In ''[=MoO 2=]'', lasers and almost all other energy weapons have range-based damage penalties due to bloom, but mass drivers, gauss guns, Disruptors, and the [[WaveMotionGun Stellar Converter]] do not. However, all weapons in the Master Of Orion series do have a maximum range that's not a direct function of ship's hit probability.

* WingedHumanoid: Averted with the avian Alkari in the first game, who appear to be wingless. Played straight in [=MoO2=], where they morph into a [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs pteranodon-like form]]. The 2016 version is much more humanoid and wingless.

* SiliconBasedLife: The Silicoids, naturally. Their appearance varies from game to game, although it tends to keep them vaguely humanoid (two arms and two legs), except for the third game, where they appear to be a strange mish-mash of purple crystals with tendrils. In the 2016 game, they return to their appearance from the first game, including the strange glowing rocks floating around in their head cavity. Due to their nature, they consume inorganic matter, so food is useless to them. However, this also means that their production is reduced because they eat the ore. They are also much more resistant to hostile biomes. In the 2016 game, they are the only race, who can terraform Volcanic planets.

* CleavageWindow: In the first game, the Mrrshan ambassador has an outfit that does little to hide her... vast tracts of land, including one of these. The 2016 game goes with AbsoluteCleavage instead for the Mrrshan Empress.

* CosmeticallyDifferentSides: Played with the humans and the [[PlanetTerra Terrans]] in the 2016 game. Their stats, abilities, and goals are different, but their ship designs are virtually identical, except regular humans use the EverythingIsAnIPodInTheFuture [[https://masteroforion.eu/uploads/filer_public/4e/21/4e214a96-0236-470f-af2e-5183bb6473e7/human_ship.jpg color scheme]], while the Terrans use [[https://masteroforion.eu/uploads/filer_public/a3/66/a36646ae-e01f-40ee-8981-0d7fcee04725/terran_ship.jpg darker shades and add menacing red lines]].

A FanRemake of the original game, called [[VideoGame/RemnantsOfThePrecursors ''Remnants of the Precursors'']], is also in the works. It's currently in open beta and available [[https://rayfowler.itch.io/remnants-of-the-precursors here]].

* PointBuildSystem: Although used for building a race instead of a character, the second and third games give you a set amount of points to distribute as the player wishes, with positive and negative attributes. For the second game, a later technology, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Evolutionary Mutation]], allows the player to add four extra points, though there are some restrictions on what racial traits can be modified. Obviously enough, no amount of genetic alteration is going to add {{Precursor}} ruins to your homeworld.

A FanRemake of the original game, called ''Remnants of the Precursors'', is also in the works. It's currently in open beta and available [[https://rayfowler.itch.io/remnants-of-the-precursors here]].