ATTN: MOM Fans

[Axxon]

I went to the stardock website and they have a poll up. Basically they are considering making MoM2. They want to update it, keep it top down, make it 3-D ( I don't care ) and give it the old stardock AI update ( dream come true ).

They are taking a poll to see who would be willing to preorder the game just based on this info and their reputation. They said in order to make it feasable for them to get involved with this, they'd need at least 5k preorders. I'm not sure how they count the maybe's but if you don't trust stardock but want this game I'd suggest you still vote and go maybe. Couldn't hurt.

Personally, I'd preorder a straight up port that worked on Win XP and looked halfway decent. An AI upgrade would be fantastic. Anyway, I know that not everyone liked GalCiv but it did show the work they can do with AI and I need kleenex thinking about playing against some tough wizards using a stardock created AI.

Right now, the absolutelys are in the lead but only 700 folks have voted. If you're interested in seeing this pulled off, visit www.galciv.com. :)

I support a lot of games but this is literally the only game I'd start a thread like this for. I know MoM fans are fanatical. Lets make them make this happen. :)

[Axxon]

Dola, this is from Brad at stardock about why they're making this request. Personally, I think he's overly worrying but it isn't my cash. :) I can understand the concern about footing the bill.


But the reason the risk ON US would be high for doing a MOM2 would be precisely because Stardock would have full control over the game.

That's the trade off. Stardock would self-fund the project (i.e. 7 digit budget). The reason Galactic Civilizations was done in the way it was was because we self-funded that. That gives us a lot of flexibility. But that flexibility comes with a price.

5k pre-orders at $45 apiece would be less than a quarter of the game's budget. But at least it would give us a good inkling that there was a demand for this game still. After all, some might argue that Age of Wonders and HOMM and other games have filled this niche (I don't personally agree with that).



I don't agree either. I've played all of these games to death and love them all but MoM was the absolute best and most ambitious. It was too ambitious maybe and that hurt it as did Microprose's demise. Still, times have changed and I think it is time for MoM to regain it's spot as coolest 4x game ever made. :)

[sachmo71]

I don't preorder anymore. Sorry!

[Fidatelo]

I'm a fan of your mom.

[Bee]

I've been playing a ton of AOW:SM lately and having a blast with it. I enjoy these type of games, but I'd really have to have a lot more info before I pre-ordered.

[Calis]

You know, I missed MoM when it came out, what exactly did it do differently than say AoW:SM?

Just curious what all the fuss is. I'd also have a hard time pre-ordering a game before knowing some real details on it..but I think Stardock would probably do a pretty good job.

[JeeberD]

I love Mom beacause she cooks me breakfast and she does my laundry and she makes my bed and...

Wait? What in the hell are you guys talking about?!?

[bbor]

Man of the Match is a very important aspect of CM :D

[thealmighty]

Teaching Math of Money is very boring, except at tax time, when you can have your students do them as a class project...and flunk them all if you are audited. :D

[sachmo71]

You know, I missed MoM when it came out, what exactly did it do differently than say AoW:SM?

Just curious what all the fuss is. I'd also have a hard time pre-ordering a game before knowing some real details on it..but I think Stardock would probably do a pretty good job.

I've never played Aow, so I can't say anything about it, but I thought it was real-time "strategy". MOM was turnbased.

MOM just had some really cool features, such as making your own magic items and other things, but I think most people liked it because you could beat the game pretty easily! :)

[Bee]

AOW:SM is turn based (and actually a game you'd probably enjoy sachmo).

It's been a long time since I played MOM, but at the time I remember it doing things that no other games were doing at the time. I wasn't a huge fan, but did enjoy the game. My concern with this game is the same concern I have with most remakes. While MOM was a great game back then, I'm not sure how well the game will hold up without a significant amount of updates (thus my need for more information before I would consider a pre-order). I was very excited about the Bard's Tale remake (that being one of my favorite all time games), but once I tried the Devil Whiskey demo I was disappointed. They held true to the original, but to the detriment of the game IMO. There are certain things I have grown accustomed to in modern computer games that weren't available in earlier games of the same genre. Even average modern day games have advanced well beyond the great games of yore and while the memories are great, playing them again with limited updates can often lead to disappointment in my experience.

[Abe Sargent]

I would pre-order it, post order it, paste my office in Master of Magic wallpaper and sell it to kids like crack if it'd get the game released.

-Anxiety

[Eaglesfan27]

I'd also preorder. I'm visiting the website now.

[Axxon]

Some things I love about Masters of Magic in no particular order nor all inclusive.

1. Node Busting. This was the first and one of the only games where the most fun thing wasn't winning. I know I'm not alone when I say I'd hold off killing the last enemies just to take another crack at the last pesty node. Node busting was far more dangerous and infinitely more fun than defeating the AI.

2. Air Elementals

3. Phantasmal Warriors

4. Flying hasted Paladins oh my.

5. Creating magic items.

6. The Myrran realm.

7. Ambushing units that passed through the portals between the realms.

8. Mithril and Adamantium.

9.Node busting. :)

10. The personalities of the various wizards.

11. Negotiating with said wizards.

12. Banishing their butts from the mortal realm.

13. Dealing with their attitudes once they came back.

14. Tactical battles and watching the little army guy graphics getting munched on.

15. Dragonians.

16. Dwarves.

17. Dark elves nightmares

18. Node busting.

19. Creating your own wizard.

20. All death magic wizards. :eek:

21. The air magic spells.

22. Trolls.

23. Warrax the chaos Warrior!!!!!

24. Torin the Chosen.

25. That monklike hero that I don't remember the name of.

26. Much, much more.

[sachmo71]

27. Halfling Slingers

[Axxon]

27. Halfling Slingers

Most definitely. Can't believe I forgot those little guys. They belong high on the list, right up there with flying hasted paladins. :)

[Blackadar]

You know, I missed MoM when it came out, what exactly did it do differently than say AoW:SM?

Just curious what all the fuss is. I'd also have a hard time pre-ordering a game before knowing some real details on it..but I think Stardock would probably do a pretty good job.

Good question. It's similar on the surface to AoW, but vastly different underneath the hood.

MoM was really a Civ-style game with AoW magic thrown in. Like AoW, you researched spells, built structures, explored, etc.

However, you also built cities from the ground up, engaged in diplomacy, and had a heck of a good time doing it. Yes, I know you can do these things in AoW, but not to the free-form extent of MoM (at least it seems to me). The maps were much more free-form than AoW too.

Combine:

The random worlds of Civ.
The city-building and exploration of Civ.
The diplomacy of MOO.
The magic of AoW.
Tactical combat of HOMM and AoW.
Building city structures like HOMM.

And I'd say you'd have a pretty good start. If memory serves me right, magic also played a larger part in MoM than in other (HOMM or AoW) games, though I could be wrong. I know you could win by researching "the ultimate spell". I guess another way of saying it is if AoW had decent random maps and more free-form expansion with more diplomacy.

[Axxon]

28. The best strategy guide ever printed. I still have mine. :)

[Calis]

Sounds awesome.

AoW just never really clicked for me..I'm not sure what it was, but I didn't play it long.

Sounds like Dominions 2 took a lot of inspiration from Mom? That's a big bonus in my book..makes me think I'd love to see it remade.

I might see if I can scrounge up this game somehow, does it run in XP at all?

[Axxon]

Good question. It's similar on the surface to AoW, but vastly different underneath the hood.

MoM was really a Civ-style game with AoW magic thrown in. Like AoW, you researched spells, built structures, explored, etc.

However, you also built cities from the ground up, engaged in diplomacy, and had a heck of a good time doing it. Yes, I know you can do these things in AoW, but not to the free-form extent of MoM (at least it seems to me). The maps were much more free-form than AoW too.

Combine:

The random worlds of Civ.
The city-building and exploration of Civ.
The diplomacy of MOO.
The magic of AoW.
Tactical combat of HOMM and AoW.
Building city structures like HOMM.

And I'd say you'd have a pretty good start. If memory serves me right, magic also played a larger part in MoM than in other (HOMM or AoW) games, though I could be wrong. I know you could win by researching "the ultimate spell". I guess another way of saying it is if AoW had decent random maps and more free-form expansion with more diplomacy.

Well, I know you don't mean it but you can't say what I bolded above. It's misleading. :)

AoW was definitely built off of MoM. None of the other games above were. AoW tried to be MoM 2 without the name. I have bought all the AoW's and still play Shadow Magic regularly but it failed in being a MoM2.

It took a lot from the game but what it added somehow wasn't an improvement. The tactical battle isn't as fun, the spellbook isn't as cool, the heroes and enemies have less character and the 4x side is woefully inferior.

AoW is a good game and if you don't compare it to MoM it may well be a great game. I consider HoMM a great game for example, but really, it can't be compared to MoM as they aren't the same type of game at all though they are in the same genre.

Magic is indeed at the heart of every MoM game though some of the best fighters don't need it, you won't play a game and not be using magic like crazy. You have to use it to survive and you do most certainly play the game based on your magic/race choices and some don't work too well together hehe.

[Axxon]

I might see if I can scrounge up this game somehow, does it run in XP at all?

Mostly no, but I swear I had it running on one of my first xp boxes a few years ago. Definitely have to disable sound and I'm not sure if I had to use dosbox or not. In any case, it'll take fidgiting and work.

I'm tempted after all this discussion to reinstall that puppy ( I have an old 486 laptop sitting in my house. :) ) but I don't want to lose what little semblance of a life I still have left. :)

It'd go right next to x:com on that laptop. Talk about a golden oldie 1-2 punch. :)

[Blackadar]

Mostly no, but I swear I had it running on one of my first xp boxes a few years ago. Definitely have to disable sound and I'm not sure if I had to use dosbox or not. In any case, it'll take fidgiting and work.

I'm tempted after all this discussion to reinstall that puppy ( I have an old 486 laptop sitting in my house. :) ) but I don't want to lose what little semblance of a life I still have left. :)

It'd go right next to x:com on that laptop. Talk about a golden oldie 1-2 punch. :)

Now with X-Com, you can get it to work on XP. At least I did. :)

STILL the king. I can't figure out why someone just doesn't improve the graphics and re-release it. It's a no brainer. And yet people try and keep screwing it up by trying to change the gameplay. In terms of strategy games, I think X-Com is probably tied with Civ for Best of All Time.

[Calis]

Oh it's THAT old...well heck, I just got an old 486 with Win 3.11 on it(old childhooh computer, was going to get thrown away. I had to save it!)...I guess I didn't realize it was a native DOS Game.

I need to put X-Com on there also! Sheesh, can't believe I haven't done that.

[Axxon]

Oh it's THAT old...well heck, I just got an old 486 with Win 3.11 on it(old childhooh computer, was going to get thrown away. I had to save it!)...I guess I didn't realize it was a native DOS Game.

I need to put X-Com on there also! Sheesh, can't believe I haven't done that.

Have fun! If you want any advice or information on the game don't hesitate to ask. :)

[Axxon]

Now with X-Com, you can get it to work on XP. At least I did. :)

STILL the king. I can't figure out why someone just doesn't improve the graphics and re-release it. It's a no brainer. And yet people try and keep screwing it up by trying to change the gameplay. In terms of strategy games, I think X-Com is probably tied with Civ for Best of All Time.

Wasn't that a ported rerelease though or did you get the original to work on XP??

[Axxon]

Now with X-Com, you can get it to work on XP. At least I did. :)

STILL the king. I can't figure out why someone just doesn't improve the graphics and re-release it. It's a no brainer. And yet people try and keep screwing it up by trying to change the gameplay. In terms of strategy games, I think X-Com is probably tied with Civ for Best of All Time.

Dola, I agree about X-Com. I can remember so many amazing and amazingly frustrating moments in that game. Talk about atmosphere, talk about immersion, wow!

I'm not so sure about Civ however. I liked Civ2 better and there's a lot of games that are on the level of the original Civ for me, MoM and Moo included. Still, we're only talking about a tiny step down but it's hard to be the best. :)

[editted to add]

One of my favorite moments was one of my worst. We'd just landed and my first guy out of the lander was immediately, and I do mean immediately mind controlled. I really wasn't thinking when I planned this mission.

He turned around and shot his ROCKET LAUNCHER right back in the lander. :eek: End of Mission. :)

I was mad, frustrated and amused all at the same time. I learned the value of bringing along an unarmed scrub for every mission that day. ;)

[Blackadar]

X-Com still has at least 3 of my "Top 10 Moments of Gaming". We're talking about over 25 years of gaming - from Pong to the C-64 to the Atari 2600 to the Intellivision...and so forth.

In no particular order...

1. The first time I came across a cryssalid. Pumped rifle round after rifle round at the thing and it wouldn't drop. After converting half my squad in two turns, the rout was on...only the 2 soldiers that were close to the dropship when it started made it alive.

2. Plasma blasts at night out of the darkness. They still make me jump...just watching them float across the screen at my guys. Will they hit? Please, please, please...damn.

3. In darkness, a full rout by some psi aliens. It was just a mission gone bad and it got ugly. It ended up being a full retreat across a corn field with plasma blasts and rifle shots (from mind-controled soldiers) going over the heads of the remainder of my demoralized squad. Had to leave one good soldier behind just to get the ship out of there before I lost that too.

[Axxon]

X-Com still has at least 3 of my "Top 10 Moments of Gaming". We're talking about over 25 years of gaming - from Pong to the C-64 to the Atari 2600 to the Intellivision...and so forth.

In no particular order...

1. The first time I came across a cryssalid. Pumped rifle round after rifle round at the thing and it wouldn't drop. After converting half my squad in two turns, the rout was on...only the 2 soldiers that were close to the dropship when it started made it alive.

2. Plasma blasts at night out of the darkness. They still make me jump...just watching them float across the screen at my guys. Will they hit? Please, please, please...damn.

3. In darkness, a full rout by some psi aliens. It was just a mission gone bad and it got ugly. It ended up being a full retreat across a corn field with plasma blasts and rifle shots (from mind-controled soldiers) going over the heads of the remainder of my demoralized squad. Had to leave one good soldier behind just to get the ship out of there before I lost that too.

I can relate to these. :)

Of course, if I never have to hunt down the final hiding sectoid in a city it'll be too soon. :)

[sachmo71]

My favorite part of MOM was throwing the global spells around. Oh, you are going to cast Plague on my city? Well, how about a volcano raised under YOUR city, bitch!!

[Eaglesfan27]

Now with X-Com, you can get it to work on XP. At least I did. :)

STILL the king. I can't figure out why someone just doesn't improve the graphics and re-release it. It's a no brainer. And yet people try and keep screwing it up by trying to change the gameplay. In terms of strategy games, I think X-Com is probably tied with Civ for Best of All Time.

I have X-com working on my main computer with XP, I can direct you to several good sites with great methods for getting it to work on XP :)

[Axxon]

I have X-com working on my main computer with XP, I can direct you to several good sites with great methods for getting it to work on XP :)


Hmm, I think he said he did get it to work. ;) I'm the one who was wondering if it was the original or the rerelease. :)

[gi]

It might have been Win2K but I had MOM running about a year ago, enjoying all of its goodness with sound. Now I have to comb my archives to locate it again..itching to play it...

If I find it and if I get it to work on WinXP, I'll post.

[Axxon]

For what it's worth I decided to try and get MoM to work under XP and it's not that hard.

First use the install program and disable all sound.

Create a desktop icon and click properties. Turn all memory options to auto and viola, it runs. I'm running it now.

I found a method that supposedly lets you get all the sounds and I'll check it out. If anyone is interested I'll post my results here.

[Axxon]

Dola, boy do the graphics suck on new machines but it doesn't make it unplayable, just butt ugly. :)