Advice for Morgan

[Hydro]

Another quick update: It is MY 2226. The Spartans have conquered UN HQ and another large PK city, capturing the Command Nexus and Planetary Datalinks (boo, hiss!). Then Santiago ended her war with Pravin. The Hive continues to beat the snot out of the PKs – a worrying development (see below).

I finally got Env Eco! Energy predictably spiked, and after multiple fungal blooms so has my mineral production. My pop is just behind the Spartans. Santiago called for elections, and I won. Lal supported me over Santiago - I wonder why? Half my cities are building tree farms, and my formers are busy cleaning up bloom damage and building the odd borehole at key cities.

Diplomatically I'm pacted with the Gaians, and recently pacted with the PKs in exchange for me declaring war on the Hive. The PKs gave me Cyberethics and a bit of energy. Good deal for me, especially now that my trade rating is 7 (lots of treaty trade energy). I have treaties with the Spartans and Uni. War with Cyborgs.

I've decided the Cyborgs have lived long enough and am building a gatling army of rovers and infantry. It will take me a short while to build a land bridge, then my superior resources will crush them like bugs. Three of my cities have more production than the entire Cyborg empire. I know it’d be easier after Doct: Air, but that is a ways off. I’m done with this simpering ‘can’t we all just get along’ - I want to see Aki in chains now!

After a number of TFs are done I’ll do another Dem/FM/Wealth GA boom. My previous short GA boom took 2 cities to size 9 – the biggest I could get without TFs.

Ah, it feels good rolling in energy! Greed is good!

[Hydro]

Morgan PBEM Update: MY 2215.

Development: I have 16 bases with about 50 pop. My SE is Dem/FM/Wealth, and I just upped my social spending to 10 percent to get some bases in GA. These bases, which are completing their hab complexes, will then SMAX dem/crèche/GA pop boom for a while (mini-boom). I may increase spending to 20% to keep them booming, or until I get remaining drone control and TF/HF up. My maintenance is about 40, so it is coming along. Still on the docket – more NNs, which will be built after my first round of pop booms, depending on when I can start building TFs and HFs. Right now I’m concentrating on maxing minerals and population (late early to early mid game). I’m desperately trying to get Eco Eng and Env Eco with my semi-blind tech set at Build/Explore. I have 145 tech points/turn with discoveries every 10 years (this is almost 4x anyone else; this should increase during the pop boom, and after nodes are up). Bases have one to four crawlers hauling minerals, and I can’t wait to get restrictions lifted so those mines go to full production. I’ve had 2 fungus pops so far, with more to come. Formers are cleaning up the damage. I have lots of territory to build new bases, but am holding off since it is generating lots of buracracy drones. Formers are building roads, sensors, and terrain just in case. Even if I don’t build more bases these will be nifty resource parks for energy, food, or minerals in the near future.

Military: I have (most) coastal bases with plasma/trance, plas res/trance, or plas pulse/trance. Many bases have an infantry or speeder probes. Impact speeders are placed in critical bases at strategic locations, but right now I have more empath than impact speeders to control worms. I have a western, southern, central, and eastern Command Center for future building. One foil probe is roaming around, and another is building. Two foils are near the Cyborgs to take out transports and protect bases Aki has repeatedly attacked. One valiant 4-1-1 artillery has been beating the snot out of Cyborg foils, too.

Diplomacy: Pact with Gaians (it took two techs to bribe Dee); treaty with Spartans, Peacekeepers, and Uni. Vendetta with Cyborgs. The Spartans will be terminating their treaty soon due to a treaty dispute. I sold pulse armor and polymorphic software to the PKs, with whom they are at war – Santiago doesn’t understand that prohibiting tech trades to her enemies wasn’t in our friendship treaty contract so that was fair game. She has no business sense and her judgement is clouded by archaic concepts like ‘honor’ and ‘fair play’. What business school did she go to, anyway?

Geopolitics: Spartans are at war with PKs, and have retaken two Spartan bases subverted by the PKs. They are now preparing an assault on the PK capital, which has Command Nexus and Planetary Datalinks (just completed). Santiago has the most pop by a small margin, but will surge ahead when she slowly absorbs the PKs, who are third in pop. Good thing I sold pulse armor to the PKs, not that the tech will help the AI that much. It will slow the Spartans down, though.

SPs: I have WP, HGP, and EG. I have minerals accumulating for PTS, and can complete it any time with spare crawlers (I’m waiting for Energy Grid). Santiago has VW and ME. The PKs have PDL and CN. Santiago will get CN and PDL when she takes UN Headquarters.

Outlook: I think pretty good. My minerals and energy production beats everyone else hands down, and in its present state is better than the Spartans even if she absorbs the PKs. Economically I’m doing well, too. I do need to pop boom to boost energy, which is stuck for a while. When I get TF and HF built I should pop boom with ease, but now a mini-pop boom seems prudent.

Overall: It’s rather fun to play Morgan. He is the ultimate Machiavellian, doing ‘right’ when it is profitable and hang the rest. It looks like all he needs is time to get his productive base established, then he will be difficult to dislodge. It’s also really fun to be awash in energy, too!

And remember: Human activity is economic activity…

[Hydro]

Money is good, but peace of mind is better: be a Gaian tree hugging, granola munching, eco-weenie!!

Frolicking in an isolated wooded glen is simply a perk (to use Morganite terms).

[CEO Aaron]

DaChroniclez: Read this link - http://www.civgaming.net/smac/acad_buildprimer.shtml

While it's not Vel's guide, it has a good intro on how best to use Morgan's strengths during the opening gambit. Vel's is what to read if you're serious about mastering the game.

PS: I commend you on your laudable choice of faction.

[Hydro]

DaChroniclez,

Sounds like you need Vel's SMAC Strategy Guide. This is a truly fine piece of literature and it should be in the library of anyone interested in SMAC/X. His guide is wonderful for outlining general and then specific strategies for factions.

To find it look at the links at the top of the General/Strategy forum.

Good luck!

[DaChroniclez]

also i would like to know what i should build around my bases (All i have been building is basically roads and forests and some farms). I also downloaded a couple save games of ppl playing as morgan and they had such a huge population in their bases and an unbelievable amount of energy/mineral in each base. How do i acheive this, thanks.

[DaChroniclez]

I am kinda new to Alpha Centauri. Morgan appeals to me since i hear you can buy ppl out and that kinda stuff but i am lost as to what scientific upgrades i should get in what order. Can someone experienced please post up a good order of Research i can do until i get familiar with wat everything does? Thanks, also can someone give me an outline of what i should build in my bases, how many bases i should get, how to get my economy good and basically things u think i should know. Thanks for any help.

[CEO Aaron]

Don't bother with building transports and probe teams, just go to the design workshop and make a probe team on a foil chassis instead of a rover chassis. Then when you run into Aki's impact foil, you can just subvert it and be on your way. She's got 4 coastal bases you can probe right from the water.

One other thing: When you're ready to take on Aki in an assault, don't bother building transports, just raise up a land bridge for your ground forces to walk over. Note that you'll probably want to build up some good defensive points behind the land bridge, with bunkers and sensor beacons, then let Aki break herself on your fortifications, before going in to clear out her bases. One bunker, one sensor beacon, 2-3 artillery 2-3 rovers and 2 highest armor garrisons should do the trick.

[Hydro]

Here is a PEBM Morgan update. It is MY2193. My pop is 35 with 12 bases, and my energy surplus is 50 with about 90 tech points (11 yrs/breakthrough). I got IA (yeh!) about 10 years ago and my bases have been cranking out crawlers, which harvest minerals, mostly in forest (min restrictions aren’t lifted yet; I'm building mines where I can). I have a total or 18 techs and am set to Build/Explore, which should give me good chance of Env Eng, Env Eco, and other key building techs. I’m running frontier/FM/wealth. Now that crawlers are cranking up the minerals I’ll go Dem very soon to boost efficiency and growth. Who cares if I have –3 support – crawlers will make up for it easily.

Attempts to do nasty things to the Cyborgs have not been terribly fruitful. My second swarm of probes-by-transport stole Polymorphic Software (the other probe failed), then the transport died when a Cyborg foil killed it. So, I’ve gotten 2 Cyborg techs now, but it has been expensive since it cost me 2 transports. Cyborg territory is swarming with troops so I am happy to leave them alone, for now. I’ll be able to overwhelm them when my productive base peaks.

The other significant item is that I built the Empath Build. It is amazing what a few well placed crawlers will do! I haven’t been able to use it since we have been in sunspots for a long time. When that is over I’ll have a nice long chat with Lal, Dee, and Yang. I’d LOVE to get a nice, lucrative trade agreement with all of Lal’s huge juicy cities.

I raised some land to get a energy special out of the sea, and get a nearby base off the coast (amphib attacks are bad). After exploring a bit with formers (preparing for a new base) I saw someone else’s boundary color! It looks like Gaians, but I don’t know since it is SMAX (the other border is green; my boundary color is Drone red, go figure). I’m building more trance scouts and an impact rover and probes plus sensors just in case. I do not want to be swarmed with mindworms right now. An empath scout rover sounds good, too.

Base expansion slowed to a halt while I’m cranking out crawlers. I’m still planning on lots of new little bases (maybe 4 more with extra land for resource harvesting in the middle), and maybe the Transit System project to keep them big and stable (-1 drone for size 3 or less bases is very nice for Morgan) while I get RCs and RTs done.

Lastly, the Spartans have had some significant setbacks. Santiago ended up at war with Lal after stealing tech. Shortly thereafter Lal bribed away 2 of Santiago’s forward bases, including one with her rover teams. They’re scrambling right now to make up for the loss, and it will be tough. The really bad thing is that now Lal has impact and plasma armor due to subverted units – that was the Spartan’s main strength since the PKs had nice, big bases with scouts as defenders and laser for offense. In a side note to the Spartan PBEM player I recommended cheap infantry probes to stop Lal’s espionage blitz.

If anyone’s interested I can post my latest turn. I would enjoy any feedback!

[Hydro]

In MY 2186 I finally got AI, and it has already made a huge difference. So, with that out of the way I now have my tech set to Explore (from Build/Explore). I have made the strategic decision to try for Centauri Empathy, and also potentially for Ecological Engineering (mineral restrictions lifted) and Enviro Eco. Tech advances went from 7 to 14 turns (5 new techs: 3 from Spartans, 1 from Cyborgs, and IA), then to 11 when I went wealth. That will decrease when I get the last RCs up, and one more planned NN completed next turn. After that I will have to rely on new bases (which will produce awesome amounts of energy thanks to +4 economy) and pop growth.

I have one sea former working for a few decades, and you’re right that I need one in my western sea. First, however, I need an impact foil to kill the Cyborg foil. It would not do to have my former slaughtered. Due to stealing impact I will NOT have to prototype my 4-2-4 foil, which is a good thing (looks like that ~170 energy was well invested). It will stay in port and be supported by sensors and the base. I’ll keep an eye on the Cyborg foil, too.

Good point on Adaptive Eco. That could also come from my Explore tech, although that isn’t clear in Alien Crossfire. I got Prog Psych a while ago, so I think I have all the prerequisites. First, however, is cranking out supply crawlers to spike mineral production, get a couple of blooms, clean up the mess, and repeat. Extra crawlers will be used to finish SPs, with cash used to fill in holes.

It is unlikely I’ll get to infiltrate more than my immediate neighbors. It seems that other factions are widely separated, and transports take a long time to get anywhere. This would be different if I were Gaian – IoDs are wonderful for exploration. I can’t do this as Morgan, though (until I go Dem/Green/Wealth, at least). I’d like to say Hi to the Hive, Gaians, and especially Peacekeepers.

An invasion of the Evil Cyborgs will have to wait until my industrial abilities are better (meaning lots of crawlers, at least 2 per base). Then making an army will not be so expensive. Until then I’ll make a few transports and ferry over probes to drain her of tech (she has 3 I don’t have) and energy.

One new development: the Spartans found the huge Peacekeepers. They’re licking their chops to absorb the 70-pop PKs, who are 3x bigger than any other empire in this game. This is bad. I’m not sure what to do about this except drive my strengths (industry, economy) through the roof and expand like mad. A GA pop boom would be good, too, as would Planetary Transit System (stability of small bases, plus a SP-driven pop boom of all those small bases I’m planning).

[CEO Aaron]

Ooooh. Sorry, I misunderstood your post. In that case, Centauri Empathy is one of the tech's I normally get soon after getting IA. I'm too lazy to recall whether you're playing Alien Crossfire or not, but one Secret Project that can _really_ help Morgan is the Planetary Energy Grid. Once you've picked up IA, it's a quick pair of techs: Progenitor Psych and Adaptive Economics, and getting free Energy Banks everywhere will only magnify Morgan's signature quality, namely being hip deep in energy. I find that the extra ECs I get every turn from having completed this project is significantly helpful in keeping my cashflow going to finish rush building all the others.

Nevertheless, the Empath Guild is a very good SP as well, I often use it to save me the hassle of infiltrating every single faction, though usually by the time I've built it, I've infiltrated all my immediate neighbors. And of course, if you win the governor election, the extra commerce doesn't hurt at all. There's really not a single early game SP I would consider bad, or not worth taking. The one I wind up sacrificing to the AI most often is the Command Nexxus, simply because my wartime strategy is to fight defensively until I can get the Chop n' Drop going, where morale on my infantry isn't really relevant.

The first tech I recommend going after once IA's under your belt is Environmental Economics, so there's lots of reasons to stay on the 'Explore/Build' tree. Side techs to be gotten include Synthetic Fossil Feuls (provided you've grabbed High Energy Chemistry at some point) and thence to Doctrine:Air Power.

Alternatively you may find it profitable to trade for a few weapon techs and get ready to stage a ground invasion of Aki's territory, with the goal of subjugating her and getting all her tech, then returning her bases and getting yourself a nice submissive for future trade income.

Which brings up this idea: Crank out one or two sea formers at some point soon, and start seeding kelp in that morass of sea fungus off your western shore. Once it has a few turns to take root and spread, you'll have much less trouble navigating out to her island for any mischief you might have planned.

[Hydro]

Perhaps I wasn't clear: the tech goal is IA. The question was what to do AFTER that tech is acquired.

[MariOne]

Originally posted by CEO Aaron
tech is only as useful as you infrastructure's ability to implement it

A concept never stressed enough.
To be engraved on every SMACer's mouse!

[CEO Aaron]

It's not that I don't think the Empath Guild is a worthwhile, it's that your ability to crank it out in short order is MUCH greater when you're running weath and upgrading crawlers with cash. EG cost 200 minerals. You can either spend 25 turns putting 8 minerals per turn into it, OR you can spend 32 credits to switch to wealth, pop out 2 supply crawlers for a mere 60 minerals, then upgrade them for 90 credits each, finishing the project in about 1/5th the time. To say nothing of the additional production that getting a few forests crawled for minerals while you're waiting for Centauri Empathy to get researched.

[Hydro]

Semi-blind research is like a pod lottery for Forrest Gump: you never know what you’re going to get. As such, I am pleased to get any tech, particularly when they are directly beneficial to me. Plasma armor if just fine, thank you, against early rover weenie rushes. Likewise, trance is invaluable for anyone, particularly those who are experiencing the joys of –3 Planet when under free market (reduces attack to a coin flip, almost, and your defense is the same; the result is severely degraded worm defense).

As to tech trading, Santiago had already drained the AIs dry. She had traded two techs and gotten five in return from Aki and Zak. Santiago is now the tech leader on Chiron. Imagine that? Santiago securing a significant tech lead through diplomacy of all things! At least when this trade is done I’ll be closer to even.

Santiago is now clearly #1 in the power charts. I need to do something to goose Morgan soon or I may start falling seriously behind. And, of course, that means infrastructure and expansion!!

BTW – my valiant transport with two probes is about to get killed. Aki pulled up a foil in the fungus. I may get the two probes out before she strikes, but it will be a near thing. Infiltrating her is a prime objective, plus stealing what I can is good too (tech or energy if she has no tech I care about – I’m not picky). I may have to build a foil to counter her foil. Having her bombard my terraforming is not acceptable.

Right now IA is the target. You don’t see the value in Empath Guild? If not then b-line (such as it is with blind research) seems to be the order of the day after IA.