Posted January 21, 2021
Hi all,
I’ve been playing ISG for a long time and still occasionally play MoO2, so I want to take this opportunity and highlight some of the main differences between the two games. In a sense, it may be easier and shorter to describe what is the same rather than what is new, but here is a brief summary.
ISG allows for far greater customisation at start. You are not restricted to setting difficulty only, (and even this can be customised), but you can also set event frequency, number of specials, resource frequency, number of planets, randomised tech, the average space between stars and their pattern of concentration.
Exploration is multi-layered and doesn’t end. You can use various methods to accomplish this such as Remote exploration, survey ships, and even your basic warships can give limited information. The main thing to understand is what you see at the start is not what you get. There are hidden black holes, entire star systems, boson stars, white dwarfs, etc just waiting to be discovered.
Leaders in ISG are nothing like their counter-parts in MoO2, these guys bring an RPG element to the game as they can evolve and level up in a non-linear fashion.
Asteroid exploitations in ISG allow you to do far more than you could in MoO2. Here you can exploit asteroids to boost production, set up science outposts, trade outposts, or even just use them as bases to extend your logistical range and aid your military
Espionage is also completely different. In ISG it is your leader characters that can be used as spies or saboteurs, while certain research and buildings can aid their efforts. In other words, you will actually be sending a unique individual on a specific mission, not dropping a number of generic spies on a row and waiting for a random outcome.
Ancient Ruins add another aspect to exploration but deserve a mention of their own. They are scattered throughout the map and an explorer with a high enough skill rating can even explore them a second time, often revealing alien technology or even an intact ship.
Tech Trees that are deeper and can be randomized by the player as an option. Techs are not mutually exclusive, meaning that you can research the entire tree if you wish, but there is an added cost for each tech researched at the same field and level
Social Engineering and cultural development that allow you to influence your race on a sociological level
Race Unique abilities, which can be triggered in-game for powerful effects
Strategic resources which can be discovered, these trigger additional research decisions and give the player more control of their fate
Deep planetary engineering system, with terraforming and eco-engineering giving you multiple paths for developing your colonies
New combat energy overload mechanic
New and expanded diplomacy options for a far deeper experience than what MoO2 offered
A much greater variety of star systems
Allien Factions that do not prefer the same planet types or biomes, this is no longer a race to homogenise the galaxy into terran worlds only.
No Doomstacks, wars are not decided by a single battle and can take more than 50 turns to resolve. It is possible to come back from serious defeats...or the opposite
Much bigger maps, with the largest one consisting of 280 MoO2 type star systems.
Events are far more fleshed out in ISG and involve making choices, with some events triggered by your own actions
No Antaran type menace at this time
Limited building slots allowed on colonies, though the player can increase those limits somewhat by actions and decisions during game play
I could go on, but in summary, this game is inspired by MoO2, it “feels” like MoO2, but it is anything but MoO2
I’ve been playing ISG for a long time and still occasionally play MoO2, so I want to take this opportunity and highlight some of the main differences between the two games. In a sense, it may be easier and shorter to describe what is the same rather than what is new, but here is a brief summary.
ISG allows for far greater customisation at start. You are not restricted to setting difficulty only, (and even this can be customised), but you can also set event frequency, number of specials, resource frequency, number of planets, randomised tech, the average space between stars and their pattern of concentration.
Exploration is multi-layered and doesn’t end. You can use various methods to accomplish this such as Remote exploration, survey ships, and even your basic warships can give limited information. The main thing to understand is what you see at the start is not what you get. There are hidden black holes, entire star systems, boson stars, white dwarfs, etc just waiting to be discovered.
Leaders in ISG are nothing like their counter-parts in MoO2, these guys bring an RPG element to the game as they can evolve and level up in a non-linear fashion.
Asteroid exploitations in ISG allow you to do far more than you could in MoO2. Here you can exploit asteroids to boost production, set up science outposts, trade outposts, or even just use them as bases to extend your logistical range and aid your military
Espionage is also completely different. In ISG it is your leader characters that can be used as spies or saboteurs, while certain research and buildings can aid their efforts. In other words, you will actually be sending a unique individual on a specific mission, not dropping a number of generic spies on a row and waiting for a random outcome.
Ancient Ruins add another aspect to exploration but deserve a mention of their own. They are scattered throughout the map and an explorer with a high enough skill rating can even explore them a second time, often revealing alien technology or even an intact ship.
Tech Trees that are deeper and can be randomized by the player as an option. Techs are not mutually exclusive, meaning that you can research the entire tree if you wish, but there is an added cost for each tech researched at the same field and level
Social Engineering and cultural development that allow you to influence your race on a sociological level
Race Unique abilities, which can be triggered in-game for powerful effects
Strategic resources which can be discovered, these trigger additional research decisions and give the player more control of their fate
Deep planetary engineering system, with terraforming and eco-engineering giving you multiple paths for developing your colonies
New combat energy overload mechanic
New and expanded diplomacy options for a far deeper experience than what MoO2 offered
A much greater variety of star systems
Allien Factions that do not prefer the same planet types or biomes, this is no longer a race to homogenise the galaxy into terran worlds only.
No Doomstacks, wars are not decided by a single battle and can take more than 50 turns to resolve. It is possible to come back from serious defeats...or the opposite
Much bigger maps, with the largest one consisting of 280 MoO2 type star systems.
Events are far more fleshed out in ISG and involve making choices, with some events triggered by your own actions
No Antaran type menace at this time
Limited building slots allowed on colonies, though the player can increase those limits somewhat by actions and decisions during game play
I could go on, but in summary, this game is inspired by MoO2, it “feels” like MoO2, but it is anything but MoO2
