When exploring during the next phase of Early Access, you might discover that not all worlds are inhabited by species looking to take command of the galaxy for their own desires. In some cases you will come across a new feature being introduced to Master of Orion: Minor Civilizations. Minor Civilizations (MC) are non-spacefaring, non-fleet building races that can be discovered as you explore the galaxy. When encountered they tend to be located on desirable worlds but the player must make the decision to invade or work to make them an ally over time. Making a MC into an ally can bring long term benefits that far exceed conquering the planet itself.

Generation and Discovery

Minor Civilizations are generated randomly at the rate of approximately 1 MC per 2 major races (rounded up). MCs will not spawn in a player’s home system and will be distributed in a balanced manner across the galaxy. Similar to pirate bases or anomalies a MC will give off a “pulse” when first encountered with your advisor also displaying a message. Once you discover the planet for the first time a greeting pop-up will occur to let you know which MC race you have encountered. To view additional information on this race click the VIEW button to see race name, disposition, available quests, and other information.

MC Race Interaction

Once you've encountered the MC you have a number of options available:

• Ignore – You may simply bypass the Minor Civilization and not respond to quests.
• Conquer – You may invade their system, colonize their planets and even conquer their homeworld.
• Interact – You may complete quests and gift BC to raise your disposition and, ultimately, make them an ally.

When discovered a new race will be neutral in their disposition to you. Through your actions, or even inactions, this disposition can be increased to ally faction or decreased until you become hated. For every action that affects a MC negatively you will receive a warning message. You may accept or cancel your action at this time. If accepted your disposition will decrease. If you decide to raise your disposition, to include raising any negative disposition, you may use a number of methods. Many of these will involve quests that the MC itself will request of you periodically during the game.

Minor Civilization Quests

Quests are the means by which your disposition can be improved. Ignoring quests will cause a negative to your disposition. Note that as your disposition increases or decreases some quests will become unavailable while others will become available.
MC quests are as follows:

• Gift Technology - You will be asked to unlock a specific technology for the MC
• Eliminate Pirate Base - A pirate base in a nearby system will need to be removed
• Eliminate Space Monster - You must destroy a space monster in a system near the MC
• Eliminate Blockade - You are asked to remove a blockade over the MC
• Eliminate Enemy Major Race - You are tasked with removing a major race from the game
• Destroy Intruder Colony - Another major race has colonized one of their worlds against their will
• Colonize in Our System - You are asked to colonize a planet within the MC's system
• Claim Our System - You must build military outposts at each of the warp points leading out of the MC’s system
• Gift Cloning Center - You are asked to gift the Cloning Center to the MC
• Build Interplanetary Administration at System - You are asked to build the Interplanetary Administration in one of your colonies within the MC's system

In addition to this, you may also gift BC periodically in 50, 100 and 200 BC increments until you've reached Friend status. The higher the BC gift, the more disposition impact it has, though it will diminish over time with continued BC gifts. When MCs request you to complete a quest a new button will appear where the NEXT TURN button is located. You may not continue your turn until you have accepted or declined the MC’s quest. If a quest has been accepted the MC planet will appear with an exclamation mark over it.

Minor Civilization Disposition Rewards and Penalties

As you increase your disposition with an MC benefits will begin to be realized. These can include:

• Friendly Disposition
  • Researcher class will contribute Research points to your empire periodically
  • Trader class will contribute Credits to your empire periodically
  • Warrior class will contribute Marines to a random colony in your empire periodically
  • Request colonization of planets in their system except for their homeworld
  • Request claiming their system (must build a military outpost at a warp point)
• Allied Disposition
  • Will become Hated toward any race you are at war with
  • Will vote for you at the Galactic Council (Diplomatic Victory)
  • Their GDP is added to yours (Economic Victory)
  • Gifted Cloning Center will send a random POP to one of your planets periodically
  • Building Interplanetary Administration within Ally system will export production and food to your in-system colony with the administration constructed

MCs may be Friend disposition and below with any and all of the major races. However, they may only ever have one Ally. If you or your opponent has reached maximum disposition Ally status cannot be taken unless the disposition is lowered. If you maintain a negative disposition of angry or hated it becomes increasingly difficult to raise your disposition. When Hated the MC may also call on other major races to eliminate you. Also if you attempt to turn a MC with Ally status from an AI controlled major race that major race will look upon it unfavorably. In general it is recommended to seek out and secure systems near Minor Civilizations early in the game, particularly if you are going for economic or diplomatic victories. You never know how the other major races will treat them, so there is always the potential of losing a valuable ally if you do not plan accordingly to protect them. We hope you enjoyed this early look at Minor Civilizations, and can't wait to hear your feedback on this new feature being introduced with Early Access 3.

Disclaimer: This is from a development version of Master of Orion. Information is subject to change.