Glossary

Advanced Settings: Advanced Settings allow you to toggle features such as random events, pirates, monsters, and independent planets. You can also establish eligible victory conditions.

Advisor: Advisors are experts in their fields and are usually researchers, economists, and expert colony managers.

Alkari: The Alkari are an honorable race of avian pilots, warriors, and strategists. At this point you can set the number of AI seeds and the big bang seed.

Anomaly: Anomalies are usually located just off the typical wormholes around stars. They may be anything from a derelict ship to a dense resource cluster, but they are usually worth the time to explore. In order to claim an anomaly, simply direct a ship to its location.

Artifacts: Artifacts are the remains of an ancient, advanced civilization. Those who discover artifacts are granted an immediate scientific breakthrough and those who possess that planet have improved research efficiency.

Asteroids: Asteroid belts cannot host a population (without advanced technologies), but they do have valuable mineral assets. These assets can be mined using a Space Factory.

Battleship: The Battleship is a powerful medium sized ship with a large load capacity and high hull rating.

Biome: A planet’s biome status affects the maximum population, population support costs, and the price of building maintenance. Biomes can be modified by special projects such as Terraforming or Gaia Transformation. The various classes of planetary biomes are: Arid, Barren, Desert, Gaia, Ocean, Radiated, Swamp, Terran, Toxic, and Tundra.

Black Holes: Black holes are rifts in the space-time continuum, linking together distant sectors of the galaxy. Select a fleet when orbiting a Black Hole and select “Travel” to go through it. Bulrathi: The Bulrathi are a bear-like race of gruff warriors and champions of brute strength.

Buyout: Near each colony production listing is a BUY option. If highlighted, this option will allow you to spend the necessary credits to outright purchase the rest of the work necessary to complete the item in production.

Civil Transport: Civil Transport allows for the relocation of one population unit between colonies. They carry no weapons, so an armed escort is highly recommended.

Colony Ship: A colony ship is equipped with the materials to establish a colonial foothold on any uncolonized planet in its range. All hostile threats must be eliminated from the target planet’s system before it can land. Beware, Colony Ships have no offensive/defensive capabilities on their own.

Conquest Victory: The Conquest Victory is achieved by conquering or destroying every colony of every other race in the game.

Credits (BC): BC is the representation of income in Master of Orion. Manufactured goods typically require maintenance costs which are offset by credit income generated by taxes.

Cruiser: A heavier version of the Destroyer, the Cruiser is a valuable asset at all stages of the game.

Custom Race: Choosing the option to play as a Custom Race at the beginning of the game allows you to create a race which best suits your intended playstyle. You choose the racial genetics of your race and then distribute points as you see fit.

Darlok: The Darlok are a shapeshifting race that excel at espionage.

Declare War: Once you enter a state of war with another empire, all treaties with that empire are cancelled. All fleets, colonies, and outposts are vulnerable. If a fleet of a warring empire sits unchallenged in a system colonized by the other combatant, the system is blockaded and neither sends nor receives goods. War ends when one side is defeated, surrenders, or a treaty is signed.

Destroyer: A Destroyer is a middle sized escort vessel that is more heavily armed than the smaller Frigate.

Diplomacy: When the player meets a new race, the tone of diplomatic relations will depend entirely on the emperor’s personality. The actions the player takes in the game will affect the relationship they have with the other empires in the game.

Diplomatic Victory: A Diplomatic victory requires the Galactic Council to elect the player as leader of the Galaxy. It requires two-thirds of the votes of other races, which are based on the size of empires.

Doomstar: Doomstars are the largest class of ship available in game and boast an incredible military effectiveness.

Economic Victory: An Economic Victory is assured by amassing enough currency to buy their way to total domination. Milestones are set at key amounts of credits, and whoever gets to the final figure first will reach victory. The key to this winning condition is maximizing productivity while spending as little as possible.

Espionage: Espionage is the utilization of Spy units by an empire. Spies serve as either Agents, who spy on colonies of another race, or Counter-Agents, who operate defensively within your empire.

Excellence Victory: Have the highest score in all 4 of the possible victory conditions.

Exploration: Exploration is key to success in the game. Exploration helps you discover new systems, planets, and resources for expansion.

Fleets: A fleet is ship/group of ships which you have control over in a particular location. You can click on any fleet to get more information about it or to give orders to your own fleets.

Frigate: A Frigate is a small and cheap attack vessel that is forced to be lightly armed due to its small size.

Gas Giants: Gas Giants are inhabitable planets in star system. You may built military orbits in close orbit around Gas Giants, but colonies only survive on solid planets.

GNN: GNN is the source of intergalactic news! Keep an eye out for their reports for news regarding races across the galaxy.

Gravity: Gravity is an important feature of planets you wish to colonize in Master of Orion. A high gravity planet negatively affects the production rates of a planet, just as a low gravity planet does as well. Some races have bonuses which allow them to negate gravity penalties.

Human: As culturally diverse diplomats, Humans are the most charismatic race in the galaxy.

Independent Planets: Independent Planets are inhabited by neutral factions. These planets can be allied to any faction to gain an edge in the game. There are several different types of independent planets, each with their own benefits to offer the player.

Klackon: The Klackon are insectoid race that are unified in their efforts and boast excellent production rates.

Meklar: The Meklar are defined by their cybernetic exoskeletons and excel at production.

Minerals: The density of accessible mineral resources on a planet determine the rate of production available on any given planet.

Morale: Morale directly relates to the happiness of a colony. The effects of morale can affect your entire empire. High morale populations work harder while low morale colonists cause drastic drops in production.

Movement: Movement in the galaxy screen is accomplished by left clicking on a fleet to select them, and then right clicking on an appropriate location which you want them to move to.

Mrrshan: The feline Mrrshan race are excellent warriors and prideful combatants.

Pacts: Pacts are agreements between empires that can range from research agreements to pacts of non-aggression.

Pirate: Pirates are AI controlled aggressive forces that block nearby planets and raid whatever ships and planets they have access to.

Pollution: Pollution occurs when a planet becomes increasingly industrialized. The player must use resources to clean it up or else the planet will become Polluted. Pollution occurs in three phases based on severity: Smog, Spills, and Radiation.

Psilon: The scientifically geared Psilon excel at research and are pacifist in nature.

Research Points (RP): Research Points are the direct result of your empire’s research capacity. RPs are used to track your progress towards scientific goals and technology breakthroughs.

Scientific Victory: A Scientific Victory is accomplished through devoting resources to technological advancements and the acquisition of late game advanced technologies.

Scout: Scouts are inexpensive and quick ships that are unarmed and designed for deep space exploration.

Scrapping: You can decommission and sell ships for scrap. You may choose to scrap because you can get BC from damaged ships not worth repair or it is an otherwise useless ship.

Ship Design: The Ship Design menu allows for the customization of ships, ranging from appearance, weapons buildout, and armor allotments.

Silicoid: The Silicoid are living, inorganic rock forms that crave the consumption of minerals.

Space Combat: Space combat can either be done in a Manual/Tactical or Automated/Simulated mode.

Space Factory: Space Factories are construction ships capable of building structures that provide Defenses, Resource Extraction, and Radar Expansions. They can be built in space at nodes such as entrances to Warp Lanes, uncolonized planets, and at gas giants and asteroids.

Star Types: Star types indicate the temperament and typical climate for star systems.

o Blue stars are the hottest of all stars in the galaxy.
o Blue-White stars emit extreme amounts of radiation and are the second hottest of all the stars.
o Orange stars are of average size and brightness. They are slightly older and cooler than their Yellow star cousins.
o Red dwarfs are the mature stars that remain after a star’s giant phase. They are small, dim, and old.
o White stars are young, violent stars that emit a brilliant white light.
o Yellow stars are calm, middle-aged stars with moderate temperatures.
o Yellow-White stars boast an above average temperature.

Starbase: The Starbase is an armed orbital platform which can participate in battles.

Taxes: Income is crucial to the success of your empire. The production of Trade Goods and building treaties provide some income, but the primary source is taxation. Taxes generate income at the cost of a drop in production: a 50% tax rate means 50% of a colony’s production goes to that cost.

Terran: The Terrans are an aggressive and brutal race of conquerors and soldiers.

Timeline: The timeline function helps keep track of your turn count and also helps you gauge the amount of time for construction/movement.

Titan: A Titan is a huge and resilient space craft which is larger and more heavily armed than the Battleship.

Treaties: Treaties define the diplomatic options between two empires. Treaty types include Declare War On, Make Peace With, and Break Alliance With. You may also demand annual tributes or cease spying.

Troop Transport: Troop Transports are ships capable of carrying troops and armor to other worlds.

Victory: Victory in the single player campaign can be accomplished through Excellence (Military), Technological (Scientific), Economic, and Diplomatic.

Warp Lanes (Wormholes): Wormholes are a stable twist in the fabric of hyperspace which accelerates travel between two star systems.