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MoOving In: A Detailed Preview of Master of Orion III
PART 2: FOR CUSTOMIZATION'S SAKE (Page 4)
By Daniel Quick | Apolyton CS Co-Owner/Administrator

The 'Race Picks' screens are your chance to review your preliminarily selected race to play in practical detail without having to open the game manual. You do not have to accept for any race you wish to play what MoO3's designers decided their construct would be. In each screenshot of these, you will notice in the upper-middle portion a “Selected Pick Options For…” heading followed by your current selection, e.g. “Starting Planet Biodiversity”. To the left of each option, usually grouped in a set of four or more, you will see a radio button. To the right each option are numerical values. The null value, '0', denotes the default setting. Negative values indicate that by choosing it you are decreasing the natural ability of a particular race in that particular area. Positive values indicate the converse. The larger the positive or negative value, the more the gameplay result deviates from the default setting.

In the lower-right hand portion of each of the 'Race Picks' screenshots summarize your current selections with a one-word comment beside each pick option describing that area's general outlook. The column to its right lists “Point Total” which is the sum of all values discussed above. When I attempted to make changes to these values after selecting the Human race, I quickly realized that not just any combination of modifications were permitted. You have so many Pick Points: when they run out, you're done. If you try to confirm a configuration that is utilizing more than this allotment, you are told in no uncertain terms (non-flashing bold red text) that your wish is not a command it can permit. Naturally I was frustrated with this limitation but at the same time realized the importance of it: if you stack the deck too highly in your favour, there is no effectual competition to your dominance. If you are feeling especially suicidal, however, you can always stack the deck greatly to your disfavour though and place bets on or against yourself how long you will last -- not that I would have any first-hand knowledge in this regard, however. You can have as high a positive a total of 'Race Picks' as you want but not any negative total. I will now re-word the above for clarification purposes. Having positive race points left over means you still have points that you can use to improve upon your race's default abilities. If you have negative race points, you have tailored your race too favourably from its default settings.

There are a number of items to discuss here that are for the most part reflected in the screenshots accompanying this article. That said, for those who for one reason or another would rather not look at them, the bulleted list below lists the different 'Race Picks' categories and the options within each. Those items that do not list option types were deemed straight forward enough not to warrant additional space in this write-up. Click on over to the next page to read-up on additional details for those with options presented below. The directory below is alphabetized, although this is not so within the game itself. Note that the radio buttons that are shaded in these screenshots denote the default settings for only the Human race as suggested by the larger 'avatar' in the lower right-hand corner of each image.

• Accuracy
• Bioharvesting
  • Superior
  • Good
  • Average
  • Poor
• Citizenship
  • Loyalty
  • Duty
  • Association
  • Liberty
• Creativity
  • Original
  • Adaptive
  • Normal
  • Imitative
• Cunning
  • Dangerous
  • Quick
  • Sharp
  • Slow
• Diplomacy
• Economics
  • Investors
  • Monetarists
  • Specie
  • Barter
• Environmental
• Government Type
  • Absolutist
  • Representative
  • Collectivist
• Manufacturing
• Mining
• Reflexes
• Research
• Special Attributes
  • Natural Engineers
  • Fantastic Traders
  • Tolerant
  • Empathic
  • Antaran Background
• Starting Member of The Orion Senate
  • Random
  • Yes
  • No
• Starting Planet Biodiversity
  • Diverse
  • Heterogeneous
  • Similar
• Starting Planet Mineral Richness
  • Rich
  • Abundant
  • Poor
• Trade