Hi guys was a big fan of MOO2 back in the day but skipped MOO3 after the lackluster reviews it received.

Was thinking about picking it up now at the promo and was wondering what you guys think about it and how it holds up vs the more recent space 4X ie GalCiv2 ?

I've heard rave reviews about it, especially the AI. Although there are also some reports of gamebreaking bugs...

MoO3 is trash, while GalCiv2 is a very fine game that mainly is just lacking some personality. There's really no reason to get MoO3 at all unless you're planning on getting all the games in the sale this weekend half off rather than 30% off.

GalCiv 2 is actually pretty great. However, it's also kind of dry in some spots. Whereas, I have never played MOO 3, and considering the almost unanimous amount of internet hate that game gets, I don't think I will. They really aren't comparable.

Well finally got in to GalCiv 2 and I love it so far!
Grabbed the $8 deal on impulse and the expansions 2 days later

Another game to consider, also available on Impulse, is Sword of the Stars. As a 4X game it is quite good, especially with all the expansions.

However, MOO3 plays on most netbooks. If you are a road warrior, or just need to play on a small, light platform, MOO3 works fine once patched. There are still still some major deficiencies in the game, but it is worth playing on graphics light systems.

I'm pretty sure I own every 4X in space game there has been.

I second Sword of the Stars + Expansions. It's got a very MOO1 + Homeworld feel about it. With extra functionality. I'm looking forward to SOTS2 also.

MOO3 gets better using some fan patches and mods, it's a shame I liked some of the hype around it particularly the stuff about having to deal with inefficient admirals, govenors, imperial bureaucracy.

The Galciv series has its moments also, but just seems to lack something.

Just a very personal opinion: GalCiv2 (Ultimate I assume) VS MoO3 (even with the great modding abilitys from the tropical patch team) is like putting Mike Tyson in his prime against Stephen Hawking in the boxing ring.

GalCiv2 with all of the expansions, or at least the first expansion, is awesome and highly polished. And still being supported (new patches)! Go to galacticcivilizations2.com


MoO3 is basically well-intended garbage that tears at your soul that it could have been great.

Basically, what he said.

I gave MOO3 a good hard run. The game basically sucked. You fleet designs were REALLY restrictive. If you want X amount of ships, then you must have 5 classes that all fit this cookie cutter, and if you don't match it, they cant be made a fleet and can't fight. Also, missiles=win, no if's and's or but's. The racial interaction was soso, how the building system worked was just inferior to MOO2, and regardless of what you wanted, the local governors worked against you. It looks as if they went out of their way to make it NOT fun.

GalCiv2, is a great game, not awesome IMO, but great. I LOOOOOVE the ship design system in it, although I wish there were more MOO2 like mods for them, like HyperX Capacitors, Range Master units, High Energy Focus etc. I rather liked the Armor vs Shields vs AMS systems, really excellent idea. The tech tree was solid, while more realistic than MOO2 in as much as it was non purely non linear progression, I do still have a soft spot for MOO2's way of doing things. Also, the commentary on the tech tree is frequently rather amusing.
If you dug the MONSTER fleet aspect of MOO2 late game, GalCiv will leave you wanting as the fleet sizes are pretty restrictive. Very doable, and any config you want, but it is limited to your command points.
The economy in GalCiv is a lot trickier than any of the MOO games. At times, overly seemingly meaningless events, your economy tanks and can be a pain to get it going again, and some of the info is counter-intuitive in as much as it isn't always easy to find, or to get all in one place, which if you make a mistake in the learning curve, it can be a challenge to find what is wrong to know how to fix it.

3 complaints about Galciv2.
1) No co-op. I know to some, who cares, but me and a friend from Highschool have been playing MOO2 hotseat for 15+ years, and would love that, or even internet play. Don't care about PVP, but co-op in these games is a blast, and GalCiv does not have it.
2) You cannot control your ships in combat. It crunches the numbers and gives a video of it. I would love tactical combat that gave a movie option after..... but there are fights I KNOW I could have won, but the AI couldn't.
3) Starbases are cannon fodder for the most part. You can gear them up and make them soso, but they are basicly social centers and static buffs. I prefer the MOO2 way of a base is a tough ship, and fights along with the fleet and planet.

GalCiv2 just too easy. No challenge at all and it just seemed to me that in a free-form game you never had to use all the new and different features it had in it compared to other 4X games. Just a really simple game. Just my experience.

I actually preferred GalCiv 1 to 2. 1 was simpler than 2 in a lot of ways, but I think it worked better because of it. For instance I felt the Civ-style combat worked better than GC2's thing, for reasons already mentioned. GC2 DID bring some cool ideas to the party, for instance, different government types having broader effects, tourism income based on culture, and various other neat features; on the other hand, passive gameplay seemed less viable, the new map structure never sat well with me and made the game area seem really tiny, and some of the global events were sort of... questionable.

I really enjoyed MOO 1&2, but never found GalCiv2 or MOO3 to be my cup of tea, personally. I'll echo the others suggesting Sword of the Stars (with all expansions). It's the only fairly recent space strategy game to really grab me. Definitely try the demo at least.

GalCiv2 is *far* superior to MOO3.

I bought MOO3 despite the reviews (it was on sale, for REAL cheap). I was, and continue to be, a longtime MOO2 fan - I've played it off and on since it was first published, and LOVE the game.

MOO3?

It was off my hard-drive and IN THE GARBAGE within four hours of getting it home. Think about that.

Meanwhile, GalCiv2 (and it's expansions) is a game I also keep periodically going back to.

I personally never go by reviews, i have learnt that bad reviews doesn't really mean its a bad game, its like Alien Vs Predator (the dx11 version) got very low reviews, but i love the game, its fun to play and i play it atleast once per week.

But, in this case, to me, MOO3 outright sucks, all the developers really needed to do was just upgrade MOO2 graphics and compatibilities for modern hardware.

GalCiv2 can be a fun game to play, but the fact that you have 3 different defences and 3 different weapons and you HAVE to have all 3 defences to be fully protected, which is quite annoyingly ineffective, it has more random events, which helps its case, but overall, if you can run MOO2, stick with that.