#SID MEIERS STARSHIPS RESOLUTION DRIVERS#

While IвЂ™m griping, I might as well point out that there is only a single style of ship you can build. You build these technologies into your ships, but there is no concern about space allocation inside the ships вЂ“ all the systems you want will fit inside (something MOO had in 1993). You can research level 12 lasers and leave armor at level 1 for the whole game if you like (in fact, from a strategic standpoint this kind of approach works quite well because the AI is completely unprepared to deal with it). Also, none of the technologies are dependent upon any of the others, which is to say calling it a tech tree is a complete misnomer.

It feels less like research into new and exciting technologies that greatly expand your strategic options and more like just piling on numbers. Technology advances take the form of increasing levels, so you can research going from level 2 lasers to level 3 lasers. These correspond to the nine systems that you can put into your starships (engines, shields, armor, sensors, cloaking, fighters, short range weapons, long range weapons, torpedos). The tech tree has only nine technologies in it. And so begins the cornucopia of bad decisions that ultimately became Starships. Gameplay is split into two halves вЂ“ a tactical map of the galaxy where you perform tech upgrades, build ships, improve your planets, call diplomatic meetings, and decide where your fleet will go, and a hex-tile-based map where ship combat is resolved. You set the size of the galaxy and the game difficulty, and youвЂ™re off to the races. You get to choose your ruler and sort of their philosophy they have different bonuses to production and starting position. ItвЂ™s not like Civ ever had a plot either. ThereвЂ™s no plot to speak of вЂ“ your race is expanding into the galaxy and runs into other races вЂ“ and IвЂ™m fine with that. The game actually starts in very MOO-like fashion. And for those of you with short attention spans, let me distill this review down for you вЂ“ he failed. The thought then that my personal demigod Sid Meier would try to distill the ten gallon 4X Civilization experience down into a high-octane shot glass set my heart all aflutter.

#SID MEIERS STARSHIPS RESOLUTION DRIVERS#

But running MOO these days is a kludgey mess of Dosbox and homebrewed sound card drivers (havenвЂ™t tried the GOG version вЂ“ perhaps thatвЂ™s easier). It had a huge research tree, an infinite number of ships that could be designed, and a succulent simplicity to both diplomacy and planet management that allowed you to complete most games in about two hours (some, in small galaxies set on impossible difficulty, could be over one way or another in well under an hour). For me, that was where Master of Orion came in (again, the first one вЂ“ for some reason the later ones were never as good IMHO). And while you can hit save on a game of Civ 5 and come back to it later, weвЂ™ve all heard the Bataan death march drum beat of capturing one more city, building one more military unit, researching one more technology, completing construction of that wonderвЂ¦ and, crap, the sun has come up. But there are times, and IвЂ™m sure the 4X gamers among you will agree, when you donвЂ™t have twenty hours in one big chunk to devote to conquering the world, or you have to actually be coherent the next day and canвЂ™t game until the dawnвЂ™s early light. I spent more hours playing Civilization (the first one, you damned kids, now get off my lawn!) back in graduate school than mankind has collectively devoted to trying to cure cancer. I dedicated my PhD thesis to him, my wife and I have named our two daughters Sid and Meier (for which they never will forgive me), and I have a tattoo of his name on a spot on my body none of you will ever get to see (though weвЂ™re thinking of having a contest at the venerable GO Network, so that could change for a few lucky among you). Let me start off by saying IвЂ™m a huge fan of Sid Meier. The Bad: And does a really crappy job of it! The Good: Sid Meier does Master of Orion!

Sid meiers starships resolution