Master of Orion II: Battle At Antares, the sequel to Master of Orion, is a popular turn-based 4x space empire game designed by Steve Barcia and Ken Burd and developed by Simtex. The game was published by MicroProse in 1996 both for DOS and Windows 95.
Master of Orion 2 was a major upgrade compared to the previous Master of Orion, it featured a much more complex gameplay, more alien races and also the possibility to create a custom race. Battle was not possible between spaceships or planets, and marines can board enemy ships. Victory can be achieved with diplomacy or military domination.
The game won the Origins Award for Best Science Fiction Computer Game of 1996 and it redefined the genre of the space-based 4X games.