How to play Master of Orion on Mac

Game summary

Master of Orion is a competitive game of interstellar conquest that combines exploration with conflict. You are cast as the immortal emperor who shapes the future of your race, as contact is made with the neighbouring races. Your objective is simple: control a majority of the known galaxy and eliminate all who stand in the way. As ruler you must ultimately decide the destiny of your race as you make decisions on how planetary resources are allocated, where star fleets will be deployed, which races to fight, and which races to ally with. You begin with control of your home planet, from which you can explore and colonize nearby star systems. Your first decisions will centre around the rapid development of colonies into productive worlds, what types of technology to focus on, and which star systems to colonize. However, the true challenge begins when contact is made with other races, and complex strategies must be formulated to manage diplomacy, sabotage, espionage, trade, and interstellar combat.
First released: Sep 1993

Play Master of Orion on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Master of Orion on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

Master of Orion installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install Master of Orion like you would on any PC.
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