Observations on Morgan
There are a number of factions I’ve never cared to play, and Morgan was one of them. My heart belongs to Dee (Hydro assumes dreamy and slightly crazed look in eyes), and I am by inclination a tree hugger. Morgan seemed so…nasty.
I decided I needed some practice with Morgan since I was assigned to play him in a recent PBEM Role Playing game (RP4, in Multiplayer). So, I read up on Vel’s observations (note to everyone – buy his guide!) to bone up and fired up a game on DD’s HMOP, blind research set permanently on Build (for faction flavor). In sort, I was role-playing Morgan.
Tech came fairly quickly in the very early game. I was in the northern part of the central continent of HMOP (Uranium Flats, Jungle and rainy fragments to the west). I had some unfortunate encounters with worms early, and didn’t get bases 3 and 4 up unit the late 2120s. Terrain for the new bases was good (rainy, jungle fragment, monolith) so growth accelerated. I got Ind Auto earlier than I was used to (since I play Gaians, with research permanently on Explore) and went FM. The money I pocketed in mid early game was very nice, but exploration stopped. In the mid 2150’s one of the Hive’s rovers showed up. He was not powerful and at war with the Believers (who were powerful), so he offered a Pact for a vendetta on Believers. It took a nanosecond to say SURE! We traded techs: Nonlinear mathematics and Doct: Loyalty. I started prototyping immediately, cashing a crawler, and built a good defensive/offensive force of impact rovers in case Yang got frisky. By the 2170s I had reached my base limit for a builder (which in this case was 17) and had covered the Uranium Flats, and I went Demo/FM. I had snagged WP, VW, CN (!! Thanks to Yang, who gave me the tech), and PN. Dee got HGP. I started building and rushing infrastructure at the rest of my bases. By the late 2180s things were humming, as I had added wealth to mix a while ago. I ascended to the most powerful faction. Dee built Empath Guild and called for elections: Lal was elected due to my vote. I call up Zak – he told me to get lost (he didn’t care for wealth), Lal offered a Pact for a vendetta on Sparta (SURE! She’s on another continent, what can she do to me?), and Dee was chilly (didn’t care for FM). Lal and Santiago are on the eastern continent, Zak all by himself on the northern island, Dee somewhere on the western continent, and Miriam to the south. By 2215 or so Santiago had eradicated Lal, eliminating my prime trading partner. I couldn’t prop him up with a single gift base since there were sunspots and no communications. Profits plummet. The Hive calls, ends Pact. He is allied with Dee. Not good. I goose energy to labs to tech race with Zak, and just manage to get HSA. I also build MC and AV because I could. I tried to do a GA pop boom, which doesn’t seem to work. Pop growth is rather slow, even with some nice nutrient and terraforming. Yang calls back, and offers a pact even though he is seething. SURE! What the heck? After all, Planet isn’t a very friendly place anymore.
Overall observations: not being able to pop boom early is a major drag, since I don’t have the drone control facilities to do an early partial pop under FM. Hab limits means another expensive facility to build to get past size 4. I didn’t try to pop under Survival and I don't think I could afford the psych energy without FM. When not booming I didn't have the ability to go Green until 2210 when I traded techs (including Fusion and Centauri Empathy) from Zak around 2210. Even when I could pop boom (demo/crèche/GA) by about 2200 it didn’t seem to work. My bases grew quickly since I had plenty of nutrients (tree farms, farms, and/or crawled), but not 1 pop/turn. Also, cash flow took a huge hit since my only trading partner is Yang, and later Zak when I went to knowledge to goose research (he was nicer then). Now almost all my bases have at least tree farms, some have hybrid forests. My one big base (size 13) is building a fusion lab. Tech is about 1 per 4 or 5 turns. Basically, Morgan was good in the early game but I was unimpressed with Morgan in the late early game and early mid game (e.g. – post fusion).
So, any advice on what I was doing wrong or what I could improve? Although unsurpassed since the 2180s, any of my Gaian games I was easily in the same place as Morgan due to pop booms for tech rate and power due to massive efficiency (dem/green/knowl or wealth). Gaian cash is huge due to worm pearls, and (in general) seems to make up for the lack of FM except for research, and the larger size means more energy (I crank the Gaian allocation to 80% research regularly). The Gaians can harvest pods, and artifacts, better than anyone else (except Cult) due to worms and IoDs, which will bump the effective tech rate. Morgan almost doesn’t dare pop pods unless they are by his base when FM – I sited 4 bases because of pods alone. Another major drag is that I hadn’t explored much since armoring probes and probe foils is very expensive before fusion. Miriam and her hordes of foils have wiped out the ones I did get out. This lack of exploration is the other major difference from the non-FM Gaians, and it made me a bit nervous not to know what was going on. I also lost EG, so I am even more blind than usual.
Also, any suggestions for the future? I like the idea of going Dem/Green/Wealth. This should net me lots of cash and research, and I can explore a bit. Dee will like me (maybe), but Zak will get difficult. Eventually I am sure it will come to blows with Yang, but I’ll leave him alone until he makes an issue of it (I’m role playing Morgan – don’t kill your customers). Plus, silksteel fusion ECM and AAA troopers should stand up well against his missile rovers and needles, and chaos rovers and probes will take the war to him.
Any words of wisdom will be appreciated
Hydro
There are a number of factions I’ve never cared to play, and Morgan was one of them. My heart belongs to Dee (Hydro assumes dreamy and slightly crazed look in eyes), and I am by inclination a tree hugger. Morgan seemed so…nasty.
I decided I needed some practice with Morgan since I was assigned to play him in a recent PBEM Role Playing game (RP4, in Multiplayer). So, I read up on Vel’s observations (note to everyone – buy his guide!) to bone up and fired up a game on DD’s HMOP, blind research set permanently on Build (for faction flavor). In sort, I was role-playing Morgan.
Tech came fairly quickly in the very early game. I was in the northern part of the central continent of HMOP (Uranium Flats, Jungle and rainy fragments to the west). I had some unfortunate encounters with worms early, and didn’t get bases 3 and 4 up unit the late 2120s. Terrain for the new bases was good (rainy, jungle fragment, monolith) so growth accelerated. I got Ind Auto earlier than I was used to (since I play Gaians, with research permanently on Explore) and went FM. The money I pocketed in mid early game was very nice, but exploration stopped. In the mid 2150’s one of the Hive’s rovers showed up. He was not powerful and at war with the Believers (who were powerful), so he offered a Pact for a vendetta on Believers. It took a nanosecond to say SURE! We traded techs: Nonlinear mathematics and Doct: Loyalty. I started prototyping immediately, cashing a crawler, and built a good defensive/offensive force of impact rovers in case Yang got frisky. By the 2170s I had reached my base limit for a builder (which in this case was 17) and had covered the Uranium Flats, and I went Demo/FM. I had snagged WP, VW, CN (!! Thanks to Yang, who gave me the tech), and PN. Dee got HGP. I started building and rushing infrastructure at the rest of my bases. By the late 2180s things were humming, as I had added wealth to mix a while ago. I ascended to the most powerful faction. Dee built Empath Guild and called for elections: Lal was elected due to my vote. I call up Zak – he told me to get lost (he didn’t care for wealth), Lal offered a Pact for a vendetta on Sparta (SURE! She’s on another continent, what can she do to me?), and Dee was chilly (didn’t care for FM). Lal and Santiago are on the eastern continent, Zak all by himself on the northern island, Dee somewhere on the western continent, and Miriam to the south. By 2215 or so Santiago had eradicated Lal, eliminating my prime trading partner. I couldn’t prop him up with a single gift base since there were sunspots and no communications. Profits plummet. The Hive calls, ends Pact. He is allied with Dee. Not good. I goose energy to labs to tech race with Zak, and just manage to get HSA. I also build MC and AV because I could. I tried to do a GA pop boom, which doesn’t seem to work. Pop growth is rather slow, even with some nice nutrient and terraforming. Yang calls back, and offers a pact even though he is seething. SURE! What the heck? After all, Planet isn’t a very friendly place anymore.
Overall observations: not being able to pop boom early is a major drag, since I don’t have the drone control facilities to do an early partial pop under FM. Hab limits means another expensive facility to build to get past size 4. I didn’t try to pop under Survival and I don't think I could afford the psych energy without FM. When not booming I didn't have the ability to go Green until 2210 when I traded techs (including Fusion and Centauri Empathy) from Zak around 2210. Even when I could pop boom (demo/crèche/GA) by about 2200 it didn’t seem to work. My bases grew quickly since I had plenty of nutrients (tree farms, farms, and/or crawled), but not 1 pop/turn. Also, cash flow took a huge hit since my only trading partner is Yang, and later Zak when I went to knowledge to goose research (he was nicer then). Now almost all my bases have at least tree farms, some have hybrid forests. My one big base (size 13) is building a fusion lab. Tech is about 1 per 4 or 5 turns. Basically, Morgan was good in the early game but I was unimpressed with Morgan in the late early game and early mid game (e.g. – post fusion).
So, any advice on what I was doing wrong or what I could improve? Although unsurpassed since the 2180s, any of my Gaian games I was easily in the same place as Morgan due to pop booms for tech rate and power due to massive efficiency (dem/green/knowl or wealth). Gaian cash is huge due to worm pearls, and (in general) seems to make up for the lack of FM except for research, and the larger size means more energy (I crank the Gaian allocation to 80% research regularly). The Gaians can harvest pods, and artifacts, better than anyone else (except Cult) due to worms and IoDs, which will bump the effective tech rate. Morgan almost doesn’t dare pop pods unless they are by his base when FM – I sited 4 bases because of pods alone. Another major drag is that I hadn’t explored much since armoring probes and probe foils is very expensive before fusion. Miriam and her hordes of foils have wiped out the ones I did get out. This lack of exploration is the other major difference from the non-FM Gaians, and it made me a bit nervous not to know what was going on. I also lost EG, so I am even more blind than usual.
Also, any suggestions for the future? I like the idea of going Dem/Green/Wealth. This should net me lots of cash and research, and I can explore a bit. Dee will like me (maybe), but Zak will get difficult. Eventually I am sure it will come to blows with Yang, but I’ll leave him alone until he makes an issue of it (I’m role playing Morgan – don’t kill your customers). Plus, silksteel fusion ECM and AAA troopers should stand up well against his missile rovers and needles, and chaos rovers and probes will take the war to him.
Any words of wisdom will be appreciated
Hydro
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