Software:O.R.B: Off-World Resource Base

Short description: 2002 video game

O.R.B.: Off-World Resource Base
Developer(s)	Strategy First
Publisher(s)	NA: Strategy First EU: Mindscape
Platform(s)	Windows
Release	NA: November 8, 2002 PAL: March 14, 2003
Genre(s)	Space simulation, Strategy game
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

O.R.B: Off-World Resource Base (or simply O·R·B) is a space strategy game developed and published by Strategy First. Much like Homeworld and its sequel Homeworld 2, units can move in all three spatial dimensions.

Story

The story of O·R·B begins with two ancient races, the Aldar and a race created by the Aldar, the Elathen, engaged in a battle for survival. The Aldar lost this conflict and their civilization was completely wiped out. However, the Aldar left behind two younger races, the Malus and the Alyssians, each guided by a document called the Torumin. This document takes on religious importance to both races, but the true purpose of it is lost to both.

The campaign story begins chronologically with the Malus, who begin a campaign to exterminate the Alyssians, whom they believe to be the "Great Betrayers" their holy documents speak of. The Alyssians use the same symbol as the Elathen to represent themselves, hence the confusion. The Malus drive the Alyssians from their homeworld, realizing after the fact that a Torumin identical to the one that guides them is also in the hands of the Alyssians.

The Alyssian campaign sees the homeless Alyssians finding a new settlement, only to be harassed by the Kyulek, servants of the Elathen. Aided by the Seekers of Ftorrek, an outcast Malus clan, the Alyssians rediscover the technology of their ancestors in order to stop the returning threat of the Elathen.

Gameplay

As with most strategy games, the object of O·R·B is to defeat the enemy forces by gathering resources to build an attack fleet. As the name of the game implies, this is done by locating resource-bearing asteroids which must be mined to finance construction of new units. Successfully locating and protecting these asteroids is a key point in the game, as resources are scarce and the player must compete with their enemy to tap them.

To gain new technologies and better ships, the player must research them. This is particularly important in the campaign mode, as research is accumulated over each mission: a player who neglects research in favor of force in the early levels will find themselves severely outmatched in the later levels. In contrast, unlike Homeworld, a player's fleet is usually not cumulative, and thus after finishing a specific level the player will be dependent on local sources to rebuild a new (and usually better) fleet.

Further emphasizing a focus on careful resource management, the player has a limited crew with which to research new technologies and crew constructed vessels. In addition, the number of crew allocated to a certain task will determine the amount of time needed to complete the task; for example, five researchers will work faster than one, and having double the number of crew required for a ship will build it much faster than the bare minimum. The crew limit is determined by the number of bases the player has, as well as their type, and the training level the player has put research into.

The game has two main playable races: the Alyssians and the Malus. Aside from a few unique ships on either side, the differences between the two are mostly cosmetic. The game also has three sub-races: the Aldar, the Elathen, and the Kyulek. These races aren't playable, but the Aldar ships can be used at some points. Compared to the main races, the technology of these two is much more diverse: Aldar ships rely heavily on laser technology, Elathen ships use electricity-based weapons (they are also significantly stronger than the other races), and Kyulek ships emit energy pulses from their hulls.

O·R·B has a fairly small number of ships, many of which are simply enhanced versions of a specific class (e.g. Defender and Missile Defender). Depending on the type, ships will require a specific number of crew to be built. The four main classes of ships are fighters, logistics (such as repair ships or radar-jamming vessels), mining ships, and capital ships. Each costs more crew and resources than the last to build.

In combat, fighters are designed to be cheap and fast, such that the player can lose several without significant impact. While inferior to the larger capital ships, a squadron of missile-armed bombers can successfully destroy a capital ship at a smaller resource cost to the player; however, these same bombers can easily fall prey to other fighters. Capital ships require much more resources and when lost can be almost irreplaceable, but offer a much bigger tactical advantage. Armed with beam weapons, they can engage both fighters and other capital ships with ease. They also allow the player to set up a dominant force away from their spaceport.

The environments themselves are also mobile. On a given map, a resource asteroid in the player's territory is liable to drift into enemy territory if given enough time, and likewise enemy bases can do the same. Some maps also feature natural hazards, such as fast-moving comets which can obliterate entire carriers in a single pass.

Development

According to game designer Phil O'Connor, O·R·B was designed to take a different approach on the RTS genre, emphasizing the "strategy" therein.

The storyline also received significant attention, as the developers wanted to move away from the rehashed alien stories in other space simulation games. Instead, the player is made to be "unsympathetic" to one side, the Malus. The Malus are thus portrayed as a clan-based society where the strongest rule over the others. This makes them set in their beliefs, and thus excessive violence is the focus of their campaign against the Alyssians, whom they view as inferior. The Alyssians, in contrast, are a society of thinkers and scientists, open to meeting new people and unaccustomed to war. Nevertheless, when it becomes obvious that reasoning with the Malus will not work, they quickly adapt to the situation.

Each ship in O·R·B was designed with a specific purpose, rather than simply having a ship for the sake of it. Ships also act differently depending on what they're engaging. Weapons in the game were also designed to be used strategically: the capital ship-mounted beam weapons will be universally effective, whereas blaster-equipped fighters will have trouble dispatching anything much bigger than another fighter.

To further emphasize careful planning, many activities in O·R·B take several steps to perform. Mining an asteroid requires scanning it, building a resource base to install a mine, and then waiting for freighters to transport the material back to the player's base. Maps were designed to take several minutes to cross. With the enemy base commonly on the opposite end of the map, this was done to make the player commit to an action, and likewise make going back on that decision difficult if it goes bad. Phillipe Charron composed the music for O.R.B.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score Aggregator Score Metacritic 68/100 Review scores Publication Score CGM CGW GameSpot 7.5/10 GameSpy GameZone 7.5/10 IGN 7.4/10 Jeuxvideo.com 13/20 PC Gamer (US) 56% X-Play

The game received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Ron Dulin of GameSpot found the game to be competently executed but generic and lacking imagination.

External links

• Official site
• Strategy First - O.R.B: Off-World Resource Base
• MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

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Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school. Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information. In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount. This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign. A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art). Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel, and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million. The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager. Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface. This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue. Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.

See also

• IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions