Events

There are a number of events in the game. They are not entirely random, as the likelihood of a given event happening rises with the passage of time (turns). A long game will actually see most of the events happen. There's about a fifty-fifty chance the event will happen for the player or for an AI. If it happens to an AI, one will be selected at random.

Some events are beneficial, such as the Derelict event that happens in the tutorial. Of course, it's not beneficial if it happens to an AI. Bad events may be beneficial if they happen to an AI.


Quake - A major quake hits a planet, killing a large chunk of pop and destroying many factories. Significant setback for that colony, but relatively minor as events go.

Nova - A star is going to go nova. If the star explodes, the system is destroyed, and will thereafter have no habitable planet. The amount of research needed may be dependant upon difficulty, but the star can always be saved by maxing research and boosting the productivity by transferring credits from reserve.

Plague - Virulent plague breaks out on a planet. A cure can be had by spending enough BC into the research slider, much as with the Nova event. Problem is, with colonists dying off, productivity available to do the research will drop as time passes. The best way out is to transfer credits to speed up the research, and to send additional colonists TO the planet to help with the research, even though you're sending them into a deathtrap.

Pirates - Pirate activity breaks out near one system. The only way to get it under control is to send your fleet to the system and leave it there a while. After you send enough strength of ships for long enough, the event will end. Until it does, your trade profits are affected.

Accident - A terrible industrial accident irradiates an entire planet. A major chunk of money must be spent in the eco slider over several turns to clean it up, but thereafter the planet's class will remain Radiated, and its size will have been permanently shrunk a bit.

Space Monster - Probably the worst event. A huge, powerful, destructive space monster (akin to a mighty warship, not unlike the Guardian who protects Orion) will enter the galaxy and wander around at random, bringing death and destruction, even annhilation, to any world it visits. You need a massive fleet to fend off this baby. The event CAN come before you can handle it, and it may wreak havoc on your empire. Of course, it may also mess up some of your rivals. The AI tends not to be able to kill the thing, though once in a while there are exceptions. The space monster event TENDS not to happen very early. I think it is triggered by tech levels. However, a runaway AI could trigger the circumstances that allow for this event long before you are ready, if playing on high difficulty.

Mining - A planet changes to Rich in mineral deposits.

Mineral Depletion - A planet changes to Poor for having used up its mineral deposits.

Derelict - A civ finds an ancient derelict in space and picks up "several weapon and shield technologies".

Merchant - A wealthy merchant decides to support a particular empire. A significant sum of BC (hundreds) is added to that empire's treasury.

Axis Shift - a planetary axis shifts, improving the environment. Turns a normal planet into a Fertile environment. (Only significant when it happens early, as this effect can be duplicated by planetology tech later in a game).

This list is from memory. There are probably a couple more I've forgotten.


A full game will see many of these events occur. The events possible in the early game are seen more often. Events that happen only in the late game will only be seen often if most of your games go long. The Space Monster is the event I see the least, because it seems to have the highest criteria. It may also be tied to the clock, thus perhaps more likely to occur on smaller maps, where a game goes through more turns because research costs are NOT adjusted for map size.

Events generally represent a monetary advance or setback. That is, for most of the bad events, there is a way out if you spend enough money on it. This can be enough to throw a wrench into your plans but is usually nowhere near enough to make or break a game. Because events happen about half the time to you and about half the time to somebody else, these minor luck swings swing both ways. And because SOME events are certain to happen in every game (the event-triggering mechanism is weighted by various pressures and balanced so that events are spread out over time) you can rely on the fact that they will be sprinkled in with moderation.

Even when MOO1 dabbles in luck factors, it keeps them in check, balanced, and within a certain moderate range of effects. It's just enough to spice up the game, in my view. I don't object to some randomization. I only object when the randomization is too rarified and too large, so that instead of playing blackjack (a reasonable game) I end up being subjected to Powerball Lotto (unmanageable odds, huge swings in the outcome).

I hope this helps.


- Sirian