Morgan is heavily IA beeline and commerce dependant

[Zeiter]

I was working on a new scenario as Morgan with blind research on (lately all I use is blind research. I feel it adds some much-needed challenge to the game), and I came to the conclusion that Morgan's early game is kind of inflexible. I noticed that those fast, IA by 2130 early games as Morgan really depend on the IA beeline using directed research. In my playtests with that scenario, I wasn't doing nearly as well with Morgan as I usually do. The problem was that I couldn't get Ind Econ or IA until much later due to the random blind research techs I'd get instead. With the more flexible factions, you can sort of cope with a junk tech, and sometimes even put it to good use. But with Morgan, until you get FM and wealth, the -1 support is much more harmful than the +1 econ is helpful. Morgan's strength isn't necessarily his +1 econ. His strength is being able to get to +3 or even +4 econ after he gets FM and wealth. +1 energy/base is pretty much diddly squat. It isn't until you obtain Ind Econ and IA that you can capitalize on the +1 econ. And with blind research, it might be a while before you can do that,

And my point is that the only really viable early game strategy Morgan has is the IA beeline, and if he gets thrown a curveball with blind research, what else does he have as a viable early game strategy. A pre-IA impact rover rush? The -1 support makes that much more difficult. An extensive terraforming/popbooming strategy? Morgan simply can't support the formers necessary for an early popboom until he gets crawlers, which is after IA. Morgan the explorer/pod-popper? Again, his support really hinders him here.

Also, in the mid game, Morgan is heavily reliant on commerce income. Let's say, as Morgan, you are in a vendetta with everyone else. Morgan is much more commerce dependant than the other factions, and a Morgan in this situation faces not only the military problem of having to fend off attack from the other factions, his income is also drastically reduced. Without commerce, Morgan would probably have nowhere the research rate of Zakharov, depending on infrastructure and such.

But basically, my point is that Morgan is heavily dependent on the IA beeline and commerce income. If you take those things away from him (as can happen with blind research and other factions not liking you) than Morgan arguably becomes a weak faction.

What do you guys think?

[logic_error]

I simply despise the Morgans. Not only they conflict with my real life ideologies , I also find the police/planet/morale penalties of Free Market and Wealth too huge for the Morgans to be any faction worth playing.

[logic_error]

Sorry, double post. How do I even delete this?

[Chaos Theory]

One of the strengths of the Morganites is the ability to run Demo/Green/Wealth and get +1 energy/tile, a paradigm economy, and no FM penalties. If you really want to fight, you can substitute Fundy for Demo and get substantially improved morale and strong probe teams to match your opponent's normal troops and drive him under with superior energy.

Morgan is quite dependent on turning his +1 econ into +2 or higher, but isn't bound by commerce.

AFAIK, normal users cannot delete posts.

[Zeiter]

I don't know if you can delete it.

BTW, I want to clarify, I don't think this makes Morgan a weak faction. Morgan can actually be terrifyingly strong - when he does the IA beeline and has plenty of commerce. But when Morgan doesn't have those cards to play with, he runs into some trouble.

[Zeiter]

Is not it unusual for Morgan to earn roughly half of his mid-game energy through commerce, especially if there is a global trade pact? I would consider that as being somewhat commerce dependant.

And yeah, +2 econ with wealth is very nice. Does that +1 energy/square apply to the base square too? (so, let's say under normal econ a base gets 2 energy in the base square. With +1 econ, it gets 3, and with +2 econ, would it get 4?

[Blake]

I disagree, my best example is beating the Caretakers with Morgan, while having room for only 3 bases on one corner of mt planet. Crawlers didn't come into it, I ran fundie/green (eventually wealth too) and used Worms sitting in fungus to negate the support hit, and res-laser infantry to take caretaker bases.

Morgans power is his ability to ICS and rake in the energy, using that energy to buy stuff - anything really. Even the 2 energy per base is very useful at the start, giving a good +50% boost to total energy.

Morgan can also make very good use of the Fundie SE for wartime (the probe and morale bonuses are both very helpful). He can also use Police State to field more units, and with nice dense packing the effic hit doesn't matter - to experience the power and flexibility of Morgan you must be prepared to utilize the full range of Politics (especially to befriend a neighbour Miriam or Yang - who incidentely might give you the tech for the SE)

He is also unique in the power of his Fundie/Wealth - one heck of a hybrid SE.
+2 Econ
+2 Probe
+1 Industry
0 Morale (with Creches)
-2 Research

Thats one nice little SE combo because you can easily fight wars (with the 0 morale allowing elites) and build (with +2 econ and +1 industry), and the probe bonus ensures your enemies wont be probing away your elites, as well as giving you elite probes (Great with synth/plasma-probe defenders).

[Zeiter]

Hmmm, police state would help with the support. I suppose Morgan has some options when he's dealt an unusual hand.

[Commy]

Ultimately, if played right, Morgan, like any faction, can be powerful, if the strengths are used in ways not commonly thought of. For example, as said earlier, you don't have to do free market just because you're Morgan...

[Blake]

Originally posted by Zeiter
Hmmm, police state would help with the support. I suppose Morgan has some options when he's dealt an unusual hand.

Police State/Free Market is quite good... it's not fantastic, but the 2 extra units per base is worth the effic hit, and the police allows you to send military units out scouting, or field a small airforce. I use PS/FM as Marr, but Morgan does have better choices when not trying to pacify Yang.

The interesting thing about Morgan & commerce bonus is he is actually quite flexible in SE. Generally Morgan can make a strong SE combination based on either FM or Wealth, adding PS, Fundie, Demo, Green and/or Knowledge to suit pactmates - and as observed it's often quite worthwhile keeping the pactmates happy for the hefty commerce.

For example, just a few ways that Morgan can blend in with the local Fauna (they'll trade you most the tech you need):
Evil Sisters Combo (Miriam and Dee): Fundie/Green/Wealth (also note this combo is very good for fighting those wenches)
Evil Brothers Combo(Yang and Zak): PS/Freemarket/Knowledge.
Peacenik Combo (Dee and Lal): Demo/Green/Wealth

[logic_error]

Okay, I have to correct my previous opinion a little. Free Market becomes very playable if you mix it with Police State, although that choice wrecks your efficiency, so a faction with eff bonus is highly recommended. (Cyborgs! Cyborgs!)

[Chaos Theory]

FM's not that bad. Consider that if you need to switch out of it, you've spent 80 credits, tops. How long does it take FM to pay back 80 credits? Not long. Its penalties are quite manageable, though:

-5 Police: Just don't send normal units outside your borders. Depend on probe teams for offense. If you have a police bonus (Spartans, Ascetic Virtues, Police State) or plenty of extra Talents (Lal, HGP, Psych) or bases resistant to drones (Punishment Sphere, all-specialist), then you can field a normal army anyway.

-3 Planet: The difference between this and +0 is almost nothing. Either way you can't capture native life, either way it will likely win attacks outside of bases, either way its attacks on bases are roughly even, or to your advantage with Trance. The only difference is that instead of getting 3:2 on your attacks, you only get 1:1. You can fix that with
Attacking from bases with Children's Creches (morale boost, especially with Wealth)
Having high morale through normal means
Preparing for the possibility of losing a unit when attacking a worm
Scaring away worms with sensors and fungus removal
Empath scout rovers
Artillery

As for wealth, -2 morale is one of the softest penalties of any of the SE choices. It only matters if you're fighting, even if you're fighting the +1 industry should make up for increased losses, most fights are too lopsided for morale to mean much, probe teams ignore SE morale, creches get better with lower morale (ever seen an Elite (++++) defender?), low morale units gain morale upgrades faster, closing the gap if they survive

[Commy]

Go Simple economy...

[Enigma_Nova]

/me gets an idea for a 'no SE switch challenge'

[CEO Aaron]

Zeiter, a well played Morganite faction is completely IN-dependent of any midgame commerce income. The key to successful Morganite play is to capitalize on early energy credits and high base square energy to plant more bases faster than your opponents.

When you run Free Market, each base produces 4 energy per base square, 5 with tanks. If you don't think that extra income is worth the paltry one mineral your reduced support rating deprives you of, then you're just not thinking clearly.

As for your ability to compete effectively off the beeline, that's somewhat true, but no worse than playing a momentum faction with no weapon techs, or any faction without formers. IA is a critical tech, make no mistake. It's the second most useful tech in the game, after Centauri Ecology. But it's equally useful for everyone, Morgan's in no worse straits than any other faction.