Find answers to common questions about Master of Orion, including speech, map controls, difficulty levels, council meetings, ship icons, ship design power, and system requirements.
Q: Is there any speech in the game?
A: No, there is no speech. The speech component of some soundcards is used for special effects, not for spoken dialogue.
Q: How do you move the center of the map?
A: Point at a blank part of the screen you want centered and click the left mouse button. For keyboard controls, refer to page 4 of the Technical Supplement and Reference. With the 1.2 patch, ALT-C re-centers the map on the currently selected planet.
Q: What are the differences between the difficulty levels?
A: Difficulty levels affect opponents' production rates, expansion rate, technology development, and willingness to ally with you. It also influences the size of your initial fleet. Specifically, it impacts the cost of developing new technology, calculated as Tech_level^2 * Difficulty_Factor * Race_Factor. The Difficulty Factors are: Simple (20), Easy (25), Average (30), Hard (35), and Impossible (40).
Q: When does the council meet?
A: The council first meets when two-thirds of the planets have been colonized. It then convenes every 25 years, on years 24, 49, 74, and 99. If you eliminate all but one race, the vote will cease, and you will receive the "Tyrant" ending.
Q: How do I change the ship icons? The icons remain the same even when I change races.
A: The ship icons available to you are determined by the color of the flag you select at the beginning of the game.
Q: What effect does power have in ship design?
A: Power is integral to ship design. When you select a new component that requires power, the number of engines of the selected type will increase to meet the demand. This also increases the cost and space required for engines, in addition to the cost and size of the new item.
Q: What are the system requirements to run the game?
A: You need 2 MB of memory. Reports indicate the game can run on a 286-12, though a 386 is recommended. Mouse response issues may occur on older systems but can be improved with patches. The game is not a significant CPU hog.
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