Feel free to comment and discuss this game here. Also, if you have any useful tips or tricks don't hesitate to share them with the others! Thanks!

Review and Download (if available)

When I start the game, after some days a women contacts me about a scientist. Near the end of the discution it says to me that I should go to her planet to speak with her. How can I travel to other planets ?

'If an offer looks too good to true, it probably isn't.' It probably is?

That one is answered in the manual, in step-by-step form. assign an SIN Operative to do an espionage mission to that planet as soon as you start the game. (before you get the message) and the assign a ship to a passive military mission to that planet. (prefferably a fox class since they are stealth ships, and wait a little before sending the ship so the SIN guy can pack his bags)
then do the same after getting the message.

nice game, but it gets harder as you go. the manual has a very detailed set of instructions up until it really gets hard and I strongly suggest you read them. (reunion gets harder the farther in you go also)

Yeap, the manual is bigger than the game (3mb/5.15mb).
Its a good game, it is better than master of orion or ascendancy
:kosta: :kosta: :kosta: :kosta:

:max: I have this thing still on CD y'know.

So, if you guys need any original files, etc. I have them. In fact, I still have the manual xD

:cheers: It is a good game; EXTREMELY difficult when it comes to winning it (to the point of driving you completely bonkers) but very rewarding [as long as you can micromanage well].

LOL Good luck with the invasion of the last few planets!! They're a doozy! [DEATH RAY FIRE!! XD]

Good to see my request for help has turned into a game everyone enjoyes!

it was the first game I bought. (only 6 years ago)
I still have the cd and play it.

:help: i got some problems, how i ve to do for make an invation, sometimes the sin guys tellme about send an assault fleet :Titan: :Titan: :Titan: , i send the fleet but... nothing. :wall: I read the manual twice and looked the underdog´s manual too and i didn´t found nothing. So any idea, no planetary asaults or i got to learn english :cry:

Wow, I thought I was only person who remembered this game... Anywho, for the beginner here are a few things in mind...

1) There is a time limit on the game, take too long to win it and you'll automatically lose. So what I did was defeat the Synidate home planet (forgot the name sorry) with the fleet of Dragon warships :-D.

2) There is a glitch where sometimes when you save-quit-load your save game file, the computer changes the research you did and gives it to a rival business.

3) Another glitch, but this one is beneficial. Play the game long enough, and you'll soon realize that you're going to run out of staff. This is bad for you it you want to build up a massive space force and still remain on the cutting edge of technology and stay on top of mining. SO, what you do is this... create a warship with the minimum staff then transfer them back to free staff. So now you have a warship with no staff hehe but it still is a useable warship.

4) The nomad that invades you... beat the crap outta him.

That's all I remember for now, if any questions feel free to ask. I've beaten this games too many times to count, however for the first 50 times I didn't know how to avoid being suddently assassinated. To this day, I STILL dont know what triggers the sudden/random invasion of harmony and end game assassination.

I've finished this game, but never done anything with that planet that looks like an eye. Is it possible to access it's computers, or is it just a curiosity?

It´s easy to end the game :sniper: , but i only can play about 6 of the subplots.
And i get lot of mensage like about sent a invasion fleet, or like the computer of eyeball, or the scients in the space base.

It´s too bad, only two videos and when u win :cheers: , 2 sec, the video and the D.O.S. :wall: It´s a good game but it could be the best

This game is by far one of the greatest games I've ever played--and I have played through it at least 25 times. It's has a sharp learning curve, but once you get used to it, it's not that bad. You'd think the replayability is low because everything happens on the same day, but there are so many other things that are random (battles, research, mining, etc.) that make this game truly enjoyable.

To show you how much I love this game, I bought the original on 3.5" floppies. When those wore out, I bought it on CD. I kept my old PII around just so I could play this game After that fried, I went through a period of 2 years where I was unable to play it because of compatibility issues. When WinXP came out, one of the first things I did was install Maelstrom to test out the compatibility mode. (If you tweak it, you can get this game to run in WinXP under Win95 compatibility with only a few problems; and yes, I tried that hard.) Thanks to Dosbox that's no longer an issue. I still have the original manual, and the CD.

The only subplot that I have not completed is the hidden planet. I know where it is, but I just can't seem to access it.

Marc, no you cannot access The Eyeball. Even if you send a Fox (fastest ship in the game) the very first day, you will arrive too late--the Syndicate will have captured it.

To Ultra, the end game occurs at a set time--the reason is complex and requires knowledge of many of the subplots. If you access Skave McGlade (Recon Rimbula) ingame, he'll help point you (for a fee of course) in the right direction.

laiocfar, the only "invasion" you can do is attack a planet. If the planet is worthwhile (i.e. Sydicate headquarters), you will have a space battle. Assuming you win the space battle, you automatically "win" the ground war. The only planet worth attacking outright is the Syndicate headquarters. Anywhere else, and you'll just make enemies.

Anyway, great game. You should play it.

Can anyone help get this running on a 98 se box?

I get a message saying I've not got enough memory and I have nearly 300Megs of ram!!!

That's as far as I get. So any whizzes out there that can help?!

tryed dosbox yet?

Game wont work here, type in ML and it loads for 1sec
and goes straight back to dos

Where is here? :eeeeeh:

can anyone tell me how do the Defences work? I find the descriptions and manual very vague. The are automatic? what does the armonic shield repell? help, you are my only hope

The armonic shield didn´t exist. Well, in the game story yes, Harmony it´s a planet too hard to invade but the only true defense it´s a good fleet. At the start of the game, u will be attacked and u will need them (there is a guy with a fleet of 5 ship that claims the throne). If u are buying good ships u will be outnumbered and lose. A wise choise it´s to buy, Option A: firstly a FOX (this ship is for carry spies and avoid the enemy) and as many Hawks as u can(they are good medium sized ship used as First Line Ships). Option B: the FOX and some Vole(they aren´t good as Hawks but they are cheaper and can offer during the rest of the game a good Support Class Ships or Second Line).

I remember, before the arrival of this guy, an allied planet or neutral planet will ask u from aid because there are a 3 ships fleet from Sindycate. So if u chosed the option A, it will be hard to make in time to save the planet and come back to defend Harmony. If u left some ships in Harmony it´s a heavy risk of lost one of the battles. If u chose buy the Voles, u will got more ships and can easly divide your fleet. So you can win both battles. A another weak point of Vole, left defence in Harmony always, they are too slow to make in time for defence. :ok:

thanks laiocfar, but the armonic shield Im talking about is the one you can put on your ships. I know how to switch weapons (though I cant see the difference) but I can't find anyway to control the ship Defenses like the Energy Shield or the AntiProyectile Lasers. :help: heck, ill try equiping a ship with no defenses at all to see if theres any difference. the weapons have nice descriptions but i cant figure out any practical difference apart from cash and range
thank anyways ill keep in mind those tips for the early stage of the game

U ARE RIGHT. I didn´t remember nothig about that. Or worst i didn´t remember any practical in battle difference between weapons or defence. I always got my fleet with very similar equipment and only one weapon can be fired each turn. I am sure that some of them make more or less damage and that other just kill the crew. Maybe the type of attack is related to the type of defence and the outcome of damage depens of them. :ok: Maybe not :not_ok:

Anyway, the battles in the game are a sort of no close to call, the favorite always wins. :sneaky:

I've managed to get the game going but I can not get the sound to work. Can anyone help me?

Anyone else getting an ending after putting in the *CORRECT* planet when it prompts you with planet coordinates?

The music... the games got music?, it got some sound but i don´t remember nothing like music.


If when asked about a planet coordinates u give it and got an ending of a fight... Well, the losing side was yours and at the end of battle u get shoted. In short, the pass was wrong and u lose

I got this game back in 1995, it came with our new-fangled pentium computer contraption with windows 95. I tried it out several times but my sudden assasination on april 1st of "96" really turned me off to it. I was looking for another old game online today (SpaceBucks), but instead i found this. I downloaded it, started playing, and, lo-and-behold, i was invaded on the first of april. I guess i just need to speed up my gameplay and try to beat it before then.

what an incredible game for its era, it has an "ahead-of-its-time" kind of feel similiar to (yet no where near the same level) as Total Annihilation, which came out only 5 years later.

i cant mention Total Annihilation without saying that it is still, hands down, the greatest strategy game I have ever played.......even after 9 years of incredible advances in technology

The invasion ending your rule is lead by a guy who claim to be the heir to the trone of Harmony?

Hi,

I had to write it, specially because of Ben mentioning it:

Yes TA was and is the BEST in RTS, me and my friend only make LAN-Party for TA (nowday AA) :ok:

But to the Site-Master and other maybe with contacts to good programmers:
Why does not anybody or compnay rewrites it in Opensource or remakes it?

It would be the killer Game. Though I never could play this game trough because of its crashes :wall:

Any way I have to register to this awsome site...as good as the big one ;)

Hey guys.

I can anyone happens accross this thread - I have made a fansite for Maelstrom.

It's just a collection of stuff about the game, most of it taken from the maual and the game itself.

It also has an interview I did with the guy who wrote the story for the game.

Check it out at www.jawapro.com/maelstrom

I plan to get a dotcom address for it soon - but I cant work out what to get - maelstrom.com has been taken :(

JP

cool, well layed-out fansite....dl link and advice are handy....

game looks intriguing. i discovered the master of orion series one year ago ( yes i know, for shame ) and if some of you are proclaiming this game is better i must try this out LOL.

I have got a dotcom for my fansite now - head over to www.lordofharmony.com to take a look.

Blast - that should be OverLord.

www.overlordofharmony.com

Hey all I askign any one that has the game etehr installed or some one that has teh CD ether rar the instalion folder or make a iso of the CD and would not mined sending me a copy. My old 6 disk Dos verion is no loger working and I can;t seem to fined a download for this game:(


I be realy happy if some one msn me at [BEEEP]@gmail.com and ether send me a zipied voerion of the install, zipped verion of each 6 disk, or the CD rom verion into a iso.... thanks

This is one of the best games ever made but also one of the most unrated. So we missed sequels or at least games that follow the idea.

Love this game when it first came out and I agree with the developer when he said it was cutting edge and would change the genre. Unfortenetly it didn't. I think it suffers from ADD player not being able to kill something right away, and Micromanagement. I like micromanagement so I like the game. Other hate it and because this game is designed to react to your micromanaged choices the game doesn't really have automated features (would defeat the whole purpose) the game is also harder than most of the current games out there. So it puts off people as we have read.

Whats great about this era of games is that hey had limited graphic capability and limited sound capability so you had to concentrate your resources to game play and story. Today we get games that are all flash and no substance because so much is put into making the game sound and look great but less for game play. Its why the market is flooded with first person shooters and real time strategy. The take little effort for story and game play. Ironic that this real time game was all about the story and plot based and rewards based on what you do and don't do.

For those people who love this game you should also look up Alien Legacy I have a cd of this game. Its similar to this except you don't have the middle management personel that you can hire in maelstrom. I wont go into detail about AL but that game is along the same vien as maelstrom. You should enjoy both if you enjoy one.

efficiency
 

I read the manual and most posts here.... how can i improve efficiency? military is ok, SIN is good, but mining and research, the things that matter, are sub par.... so, how to improve that? increase budget, increase free personel? I'm already selective in hiring (experience, study credentials)

Oh, and some info... the syndicate will send a fleet to any planet thet you send a fleet to, unless you send the cloaked fox. I jut scouted and reconnoited (or something) the eyeball, to no effect, but wit SIN and a FOX, no syndicate interference

also, to protect against the invasion and assassination, you shouldnt have a fleet at harmony but launch it as an atack fleet there

find reseacrchers with varying skills and change what they research. If they have 15 personel each research goes fast, but you cant have that many without compromising your mines etc. sidenote, keep an eye to techs that improve mining. theyre important

10 researchers per team perform pretty good, mostly if you got many teams.

I figured out how to make dragon ships only cost 256 fils/game currency. If anyone is interested let me know. I've been playing around with the game files with a hex editor.

Installing problem!
 

Hi. Can anyone tell me what key I have to press to install the game? I know 'I' is Input, 'O' is Output (this seems to freeze the install with a beige screen) 'S' is Sound and 'Q' is quit, but I can't seem to find the key (or key combination) to Install?

I'm using DosBox 0.74, with c: drive mounted as my usual dosbox folder, the Maelstrom download from this site, and a: drive mounted as the unzipped folder containing the install files.

It seems for me that game on site is pre-installed. You don't need to install it. So your installer is not from Abandonia. :)

Anyway, I found installer and tried it. Yes, it seems something wrong with output. Anyway, you can move in the menu with Tab, and select with Enter. Everything (including installing, but excluding "output path") works well for me.

P.S. Installer is broken, BTW, but it seems it installs everything all right anyway. But I didn't check it too close.

Right you are. I had both unzipped and kept mounting the wrong folder! :cry:

I've obviously got a bit rusty on my 8+3 file system syntax.

Good to know it was the installer and not me with the issues!

Now to try this thing out! :mischief: