Covert Operations - Morgan

[Googlie]

(This is where the missing ec's went - to fund Major Googlie's Morgan intelligence team - after all, we must look the part, no?)

[Googlie]

Report as of 2120

Here's what we know about Morgan:

• 2101: moved their 2 colony pods
• 2102: founded 2 bases (so 2 pops)
• 2102-2112: had 2 bases and 2 population
• 2104: discovered first tech
• 2108: changed SE setting to Free Market
• 2113: grew population to 4
• 2114: population dropped to 2 (assumption is that they rushed/completed 2 colony pods
• 2115: population stalled at 2 (so 2 CP's still in transit)
• 2116: Population increases to 4 (so we assume 2 new bases founded that turn)
• 2116 to date: Population remains at 4

2120 summary: 4 bases with 4 population

[Googlie]

2123 report

• 2101: moved their 2 colony pods
• 2102: founded 2 bases (so 2 pops)
• 2102-2112: had 2 bases and 2 population
• 2104: discovered first tech
• 2108: changed SE setting to Free Market
• 2113: grew population to 4
• 2114: population dropped to 2 (assumption is that they rushed/completed 2 colony pods
• 2115: population stalled at 2 (so 2 CP's still in transit)
• 2116: Population increases to 4 (so we assume 2 new bases founded that turn)
• 2116 to date: Population remains at 4
• Sometime before 2122, have met Hive or acquired Yang's commlink #
• 2123 sumary: 4 bases with 4 population

[Googlie]

2126 Update to Report

2124:

• Morgan has discovered Industrial Automation (has changed SE settings to Wealth
• We have purchased Applied Physics from the Hive. Morgan does not yet have this tech.
• population increased to 5

2125:

• Population: 5 (same as previous year)

2126:

• Population: 7
• SE Choices: running Frontier/Free Market/Wealth

2126 summary: 4 bases with 7 population
They have not yet met the University

Technology Status:

We know he has:

• Industrial Base
• Industrial Economics
• Information Networks
• Planetary Networks

We know he lacks:

• Doctrine Mobility
• Doctrine Flexibility
• Applied Physics

[Googlie]

2127 update

population remains at 7

Is still running Frontier/Free Market/Wealth

Are still lacking:

• Applied Physics
• Doctrine Mobility
• Doctrine Flexibility
• University Comm Frequency
• Peacekeepers' Comm Frequency

(Our estimate: 4 bases with 7 population. No Colony Pods in transit)

[Googlie]

2128 update:

population grown to 8 (thus we assume 4 bases at 2 pops each - expectation is that pops will drop as colony pods are commissioned - will be interesting to see if that is the case

[Maniac]

Only four base but eight population? Since they're running free market, wouldn't this mean they'd have four doctors? (good for us of course )

Btw, just wondering, on what do you base the estimation of the # of bases? Is it checking when their population drops? I can see one problem with such a method though: what if a CP is completed the same turn a base grows?

[Googlie]

Well, the salient points from their "history" are (with the reasoning in italics):

2102: founded 2 bases (so 2 pops)
2113: grew population to 4 (11 years to "grow" a new pop in each base)
2114: population dropped to 2 (assumption is that they rushed/completed 2 colony pods - so we assume that again, it'll take 11-ish turns for them to "replenish" their populations at those 2 bases
2116: Population increases to 4 (so we assume 2 new bases founded that turn - ands we assume that these 2 new bases will grow to size 2 in 11-ish years time)
2124: population increased to 5 (10 years for one of the 1st 2 bases to grow again to 2 pop)
2126: Population: 7 (12 years for the second starting base to grow again to 2 pops, and 10 years for their 3rd base to grow to 2)
2128: Population increases to 8 (12 years for their #4 base to grow to 2 pops)

So I think I'm pretty watertight with my assumptions - and they are consistent with both the Gaians and the Angels' growth patterns (it'll be interesting once the game is over to see how close I got)

Some time ago we assumed that they'd rushed rec tanks (when they lost the energy reserves lead to Lal) but their growth pattern hasn't been consistent with that assumption.

What if it were rec commons that they rushed, with the intent of establishing 4 hefty core bases that'd drive their energy and minerals production?

G.

[Maniac]

Thanks for the explanation!

Originally posted by Googlie
What if it were rec commons that they rushed, with the intent of establishing 4 hefty core bases that'd drive their energy and minerals production?

Hadn't thought of that! That would be a smart tactic indeed!

[Googlie]

2129 update:

No changes this year - population remains at 8

[Googlie]

Bad News- Morgan has discovered (or traded for) Doc Flex

Expect his probe teams to come calling imminently - we'd better get on a crash program of building Boy Scouts

[KrysiasKrusader]

More bad news. I just went over their players list.

They have the most Canadians of any other faction combined!

The NHL season has been canceled this year. They won't have anything to do all winter till the end of spring. That means they'll devote more time to the demo game.

We have to schtomp them before it's too late!!

[Zeiter]

LOL!

[Googlie]

Copied from the Sparta-Gaians thread

Morgan in 2140

Morgan has the Hive and the Gaians commlinks, doesn't have ours or the PK's or the Uni, and we don't know if he has the Angels'

They just got Doc Flex in 2139, so the best they can have done by now is rushed a probe foil if they had enough spare ec's. At worst, a trannie with 2 probe teams might be setting off our way this current turn

They don't have Applied Physics nor Nonlinear math, so their best weapon is still the level 1 gun

Their best armor is Synthmetal, as they don't yet have Applied Physics, a building block to HEC's Plasma Armor (But they might have 3-res armor - see below)

If they are going for the Planetary Energy Grid (I would if I were them) then they'll have detoured thru Prog Psych (which together with Ind Econ, which they have, leads to Adaptive Economics) thus they might have thought it worth their while to collect Field Modulation on the way (needed Cent Ecol as well for that)

I'm betting that they've not yet, though

I see their techs as:

Level 1 techs

• Ind Base (they started with that)
• Biogenetics (they did complete the HGP)
• Infonets (they needed that to go thru it and Plan Nets to Ind Auto)
• Doc Mobility (a stepping stone to Doc Flex which they got last turn)
• Centauri Ecology (they did start the WP in 2138 and discontinued it in 2139)

Level 2 techs

• Planetary Networks (a prereq for Ind Auto - and they did start the VW in 2138, dropping it in 2139)
• Industrial Economics (also a prereq for Ind Auto)
• Doctrine Flexibility

Level 3 techs

• Industrial Automation

That's 9 techs (compared to our 8 techs) and we're neck and neck in the powerbar chart, even although Morgan has that SP. If he had 10 techs, then I think we'd see a significant difference between us in the powergraphs (our wxtra pops offset their SP) So he can't have done any trading for techs with the Gaians or with Yang

So I'm guessing they're researching Social Psych (needed for >>>Ethical Calculus and >>> Gene Splicing) or Progenitor Psych (which together with Industrial Economics opens the way to Adaptive Economics and the PEG)

And I bet the latter, as there is no immediate need for Rec Commons so long as they get the +1 talent from the HGP (and an energy bank in every base will crop them a psych boost as well after they build the PEG)

While Gene Splicing is good in that it gives the nuts boost, does Morgan really want a few huge bases, or many size 4 bases? (with a talent, 2 workers, a doctor and crawlers everywhere) Right now I'd say they're going for more bases (their pop went from 11 in 2138 to 10 in 2139, indicating that they are still producing colony pods)

So right now I wouldn't be too worried about Morgan

[Maniac]

Great report!
Morganites "only" 9 techs? Weird. I'd expect them to have more with all their energy. But then again we've bought two techs instead of researching them, so that makes it harder to compare.

(Btw, is it allowed to post comments in these covert ops thread, or are they solely meant for the official covert ops reports?)