Master of Orion II Battle at Antares


Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares (MOO2) was the first sequel to Master of Orion. Like the original, it was developed by Simtex; Steve Barcia and Ken Burd designed it. The Windows 95 and MS-DOS version of the game was published by Microprose in 1996, while the Apple Macintosh version was published a year later by MacSoft. Master of Orion II won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1996, and most reviews by critics and players were very favorable.

Forge an empire to span a universe. Colonize unknown planets and trade with other races for their knowledge. Conquer alien star systems by war or diplomacy to secure their resources. Only then can you guarantee your galactic supremacy. Multiple game settings let you select such factors as your adversaries' intelligence, the size and age of the galaxy, and the level of civilization. There are multiplayer options for up to eight players. You can play using modems, a network, a hot seat, or TCP/IP. The game also includes 13 predesigned races, each with its own abilities, and the means to create your own.

Long before the time in which the game starts, two extremely powerful races fought a galaxy-wide war. The Orions won and, rather than exterminate the Antarans, imprisoned them in a "pocket dimension". The Orions then departed from the galaxy, but left a very powerful robotic warship, the Guardian, to guard their homeworld. Whoever beats the Guardian gets: some military technologies which players cannot research for themselves; the allegiance of the last remaining Orion, who commands a very powerful battleship; the opportunity to colonize the Orions' homeworld, which is as good as a planet can ever be.

Some time after the start of a game, the Antarans begin sending small fleets against players' colonies, simply to destroy rather than to invade.

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