When comparing Starbase Orion vs Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy, the Slant community recommends Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy for most people. In the question“What are the best 4X iOS games?” Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy is ranked 4th while Starbase Orion is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy is:
If there's one thing where Eclipse stands out, it's gameplay. Build your own space empire and take care of everything from military conquests to exploration and gathering resources.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Deep strategy
This is a fantastic game. If you enjoyed Master of Orion, you will love this. Single player mode is fun, but the real fun comes when you pit yourself against other players. Lots of ways to win. You can be a race of superintelligent aliens, a dark spy race, a race of hardened warriors, a race of traders. Lots of flexibility in the design of your race, wonderful tech system where each new tech really changes the play of the game. Can't be recommended highly enough for those with the patience to give a deep strategy game its due.
Pro Builds on the foundation of Master of Orion with great gameplay
Master of Orion was a wildly popular pc-game with a lot of interesting and unique gameplay elements, but hasn't aged very well. Thankfully, Starbase Orion can be seen as a spiritual successor and is based on the same elements that made Master of Orion great.
Pro Offers plenty of different gamemodes
Singleplayer and Multiplayer are both quite common in this genre, but Starbase Orion stands out from the competition thanks to a well-engaged community with additional modes for user leagues and tournaments.
Pro High replay value
The many different aspects of this game and the fact that Starbase Orion is filled with content and different gameplay scenario's also account to a high replay value.
Pro Compatible with older devices
Starbase Orion was released in 2011 and requires a device with iOS 5.1.1 or later. This low requirement makes the game very playable on older Apple devices.
Pro Good user interface and appealing visuals
Starbase Orion features an easy to use and accessible interface for simple and intuitive gameplay. The graphics are also quite nice for a 4X title.
Pro Fun to play and incredibly deep
If there's one thing where Eclipse stands out, it's gameplay. Build your own space empire and take care of everything from military conquests to exploration and gathering resources.
Pro Fantastic digital representation of the board game
The 4X strategy game is based on an existing board game, and the app is a perfect and accessible representation of the physical version.
Pro Smart AI-levels for challenging solo gameplay
The game offers three different AI settings, which are basically difficulty levels. For people who prefer a single-player experience, Eclipse offers a level of challenge for all players.
Pro Compatible with older iOS 5.1.1 devices
Eclipse works great on older and newer iOS devices alike.
Cons
Con Difficult learning curve, sub-par tutorial
Just like the majority of 4X games, the learning curve to play Starbase Orion is quite high. Not everything is explained in the help pages.
Con High price tag
With a price tag of $7.99, Starbase Orion definitely isn't one of the cheaper options if you're looking to purchase a 4X strategy game.
Con Has a difficult learning curve
Altough Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy is one of the more accessible 4X games in the App Store, the learning curve for the game's mechanics are still on the higher side.