Really loved MMO2 despite not being able to play it until quite a long time after it's release. However MMO3 was so boring for me I could hardly bother playing it where I could play MMO2 for days and nights. And I did play MMO3 before MMO2 so it's not some kinda "nostalgic first time preference"

Like Ultima 9, Moo3 is one of only 2 games that broke my wee little heart due to their horrible failures to meet my expectations. Moo3 was not a very good game, at least when it was released. Even after installing the patches it remained a mediocre experience at best. To be fair, maybe some of the mods have improved this, but I don't have enough faith in it, not at the $10 price point, and certainly not when the highly superior Moo/Moo2 combo pack is also available from GoG at a lower price.
I think even GoG knows Moo3 kind of stinks: read between the lines of their description of the game, and you get a sense they almost had to add this game, especially with the timing of the first 2 Moo games being recently added to the GoG catalogue..
As an alternative to Moo3, I highly recommend Distant Worlds from Matrix Games. It nailed the macromanagement of a large interstallar empire in a huge galaxy without becoming an overwhelming task, and the whole game itself has more of a soul than Moo3 ever did.

Well, let's look at the bright side: after Blood 2 and MoO 3, there are no more bad Atari sequels to games already on GoG. Right?

*Pouts*
I was hoping for another one of the Sierra city builders.

I remember reading all the highly critical reviews of MOO3 and staying well away from this game. The GOG description/sales pitch has actually piqued my interest somewhat, though, as a macromanagement-oriented empire simulator could be much more to my taste than the traditional 4X game.
Of course, seeing as I thought MOO2 - its undeniable strengths nothwithstanding - was such a painfully dry and detached gaming experience, a sequel described as a "spreadsheet" might not be my cup of tea after all...

I was thinking about picking this one up just to complete my set. However, having never played this game I am afraid, VERY AFRAID. I shouldn't have to consider a game of any series "not bad if you take it as it is."
My instincts tell me I should trust the general feelings of our community on this one.
After all "They say that experience is the best teacher but I think the experience of others is a superior headmaster."

That would have made me a very happy puppy.

I think this game is great. Bought it on CD not too long ago and I didn't regret it.
When I played MOO1 years ago, I couldn't go far in normal difficulty, I was always destroyed mid-game. I adjusted much better to MOO3.

Though I have some gripes with this game and never really liked it I might get it someday... will have to think it over.
Anyway the dev team should have gotten 1-2 more years to rework it, but atari pushed :) So this is what we get (and the death of moo franchise).
edit: Or was it Infogrames at that time still?
No matter, this is what it is. Get the strawberry mod at least though. And no need for dosbox heh.

yeah. it is pretty bad MOO sequel but as a stand alone game...
I like the concept. Running interstellar empire. instead of micromanaging it.
Bought the game. Played once. failed completely (my army got wiped out in few turns by enemy. on medium difficulty. cause i tried to play it like MMO2) then final exams and i moved to australia.
so need to rebuy it someday. wonder what the patched changed. if it made game more accessible: yay. if it simplified the game then no. I prefer to suffer for the accomplishment than win by having patch make stuff simple
again: cause i really like the concept.
thx for the game. probably ill buy it around september.

blood 2 bad....
i resent you so much.
:P

I'm curious, shouldn't the acronym for Master of Orion be MO not MOO?

The problem with MOO3 for me was that the actions of the player never had any correlation with what happened in the game. The game was so screwed up that there was stuff that the player could manage that literally did NOTHING in game. how about them apples.
Apparently, the last team to take over the game (there were three I believe) couldn't make heads or tails out of large sections of the code, so they just left it in.

O.K. Guys, here's the deal. Not sure why GoG didn't include this full-conversion mod as an extra, because anyone who's followed Moo3's continued development in the last 7 years knows about it. There are a lot of mods for Moo3, but the most popular are the full conversion mods that basically bring Moo3 up the standard it should have been released in the first place. The biggest and only one that is still being developed and supported to my knowledge is the "Tropical Mod v1.3.10" . It evolved from the "Strawberry mod", which evolved from the "Vanilla mod". With this full conversion mod, Moo3 would be well worth a $5.99 price tag. Keep in mind, this mod has only been tested with the CD version and the download version from Atari so maybe someone can test this with the Gog version.
Get Tropical!
[url=]http://www.mediafire.com/file/tmmdmyzykbm/UOP_Tropical_V1.3.10.zip[/url]
Tropical's forum thread at Atari
http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=517077

Are you sure? As far as I know there was only one team. There were 3 publishers though :)
The devs were just too ambitious and then when they found out game aint fun they tried to fix it. But ran out of patience with the last publisher. Thats just how I remember it, though it is 7-8 years ago now :)