New player, advice needed.

[Main_Brain]

Question: does Miriam's attack bonus apply to psi units too, or just the regular kind?

Pretty sure it does not apply to PSI.

// Quick checked with a Mindworm: Believer Bonus does not apply to PSI
Ursurper Bonus does.

[Elok]

Cool. How do you check the odds? I know there's that little window readout, but that tends to go away before I can read it. Is there a simpler way, like Civ4's click-and-hold?

BTW, Morgan, do you do Civ4? I had to uninstall it because it was consuming my life, especially the Sword of Islam mod.

[Morgan Everett]

Cool. How do you check the odds? I know there's that little window readout, but that tends to go away before I can read it. Is there a simpler way, like Civ4's click-and-hold?

BTW, Morgan, do you do Civ4? I had to uninstall it because it was consuming my life, especially the Sword of Islam mod.

Nope, I have never played Civ4 nor any Civ for that matter.

I'm going to be away for a couple of weeks because I have to take exams, wish me luck and see you all soon.

[Main_Brain]

In Game-Adv.Preferences there is the Option confirm the Odds of Attack (or something like that)


Good Luck Morgan =)

[CEO Aaron]

I hope CEOAaron sees your post; he's the Morganite and much better at explaining the nuances of these two factions. He might even tell you my ideas are way off. That's fine, he knows more and better.

Sup?

About defending myself upon imminent attack, logical sense would lead me remove WEALTH during war but doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of the Morganites? If I can't make tons of cash and build fast for the most part of the game because I'm at war then what's the point?

I did consider bribing my enemies but in the end they get greedy and it costs me too much to keep them away from my borders.

What's the best strategy then?

Also, one thing I'm not sure is whether the game takes into account weapons for defense or not.. Is armor the only thing that matters? Can I safely defend bases with units that are like 1-4? Is that what you meant by defensive tactics?

My preferred war SE settings for Morgan are Fundy/Green/Wealth. This is because of how the Morale track works at negative values, coupled with the effects of one of the best base facilities in the game: the Children's Creche. The creche negates all negative morale modifiers for any unit produced in that base. Running Fundy + Wealth puts you at a -1 net morale penalty, which the creche will fully negate. At -2 morale and higher, however, there's a secondary effect, halving all beneficial effects of training facilities, and that will not be offset by a creche or any other base facility or effect.

So what faction do you guys play? And why?

I've played every faction, but the ones that resonate with me and appeal to my playstyle are Sparta and Morgan. Sparta because even as a momentum faction, I want to have some flexibility to use pop-booming tactics. Yang simply can't boom effectively, being barred from Democracy. Miriam CAN pop-boom, but her upsides are, in my opinion, singularly weak. Extra probe power is meh. What's plus or minus a few probe actions in the grand scheme of things? Likewise, once you have clean reactor for your basic garrison and former units, the extra support is decidedly mediocre. The attack bonus is nice, to be sure, but with strong tactics (use artillery and probe teams to cripple prepared positions), winds up being overkill in most situations.

Could someone explain me if I need an armed unit to defend a base? Or can I just equip my troops solely for defense as in 1-4 instead of 4-4 as I've been doing until now?

I don't advise leaving bases completely unoccupied, and YES, it pays to specialize. Morgan's support penalty makes creating too many military units problematic, but early on you're unlikely to have a completely secure interior, and later on, clean reactor enables putting cheap garrisons everywhere. Also, having a garrison in each base gives you the ability to react and shift defenses where they're needed much more effectively than if you're exclusively relying on a heavy perimeter.

Google also some older posts by CEO Aaron, his advice is very useful.

Actually, I'd recommend this thread by the legendary Sikander. Any positive reputation I've garnered here has been mostly by virtue of channeling the wisdom of the Old Gods. It's a game focused on University, but Maniac swoops in with an epic example of Morgan play, and the concepts both use really revolutionized the way I played.

To me it seems that Morganites may be the best builders but also the weakest fighters.

That's a very generalist view of their place in the builder/momentum spectrum, but I'd argue that if a builder never gets good at fighting, what are they building for? I'd put it like this: They're the only faction for whom builder-style play is mandatory. You can play University or Peacekeepers as a momentum faction and do reasonably well. Morgan is an obligate builder. But that is, in some ways, a strength, because it means you can pursue the same strategy without regards to your opening position.

Someone mentioned building Biogenetics and recycling tanks ASAP... Hum, what?!

Should I not first get terraforming and probing technologies then rush to clean reactors? RecTanks take a long time to build, time that could be spent on terraforming and production of probe units with Armor 2. So what's the point?

This was a concept originally championed by Ogie Oglethorpe, here. Basically the underpinning of the strategy of the Biogenics opening is that Morgan begins play with 100 credits burning a hole in his pocket, so how can you make the best use of those 100 credits? Recycling tanks offer you the ability to turn your cash into nutrients, minerals and energy, offsetting the support penalty, and kicking growth and research into high gear. All of this is putting into practice the principles of turn advantage and rush building preached by Vel's guide.

Rec tanks pay for themselves fast in faster production afterwards with the extra mineral a turn. I always make a former first, because yes, forming pays off faster.

Both are good, but they're good in different ways. Over its lifetime, a former will produce a LOT more value than tanks, but tanks have the advantage of being FAST. By improving the base square, the resources you gather aren't dependent on a worker to collect them. Also, the free nutrients allow you to grow in population while still planting mostly forests, a strategy that pays dividends later in the game by leveraging free spread of forested squares, and free bursts of minerals when you clear them. Additionally, the extra energy you get from tanks is quite useful early on. Tech costs increase with time (technically, they go up as the aggregate tech level of the planet rises), so getting an early edge in energy income can often deliver a substantial lead in technology. Finally, remember Morgan's support limit. Formers take support, and so do your early garrisons and colony pods. With only one free unit per base, you're going to find it difficult to properly defend yourself, build pods, and terraform, without slowing your aggregate rate of expansion.

CEO Aaron is are Morganite at heart, and perhaps he can supply additional input. But I will repeat as I said earlier, new players should NOT play Morgan. I would direct new players to Lal, he's pretty flexible, or Santiago, she's easy to play and a police rating gives you some leeway in dealing with drones while still being able to play as a pretty good Hybrid and ...well, not a builder though. But it will give you some practice in the principles of warfare, which you *MUST* be well versed in as a Morganite because Morganites usually skimp on military units at home for Support reasons and the chronic drone problems caused by Free Market in warfare for units warring outside of their base(s) (in this case, two drones for each military unit away from the home base).

With respect to 551262, I'd disagree that new players should avoid Morgan. Go where your heart leads, and don't be afraid of trying new ideas. You may not encounter success, but you will learn, and in so learning, understand the game better, and likely enjoy it more. I also very quickly gravitated to Morgan in my early play, just because their philosophy resonated with me (yes, I'm an American). There is one aspect in which 551262 is dead-on right, however: to play Morgan to the fullest, you need to be very familiar with some of the game's more complex concepts, like turn advantage, rush building, and optimizing SE choices. But the thing is, by learning these features, you'll get better with EVERY faction. Yes, running the Free Market is hard, it makes drone control difficult and military adventures agonizing. But when you learn how to run it, and see its power, you'll know how to leverage it, AND what it's weaknesses are.

By 'real' I meant combat units as opposed to probe teams designed with armor 2 to serve as substitute. Sorry if I'm not always clear, as I've said before English is not my native language.

Clean reactor is a key technology for me because I'll have a -3 support, so basically it's whether I have clean reactor and I have combat units or I don't have clean reactor and then I don't make combat units, just probe teams.

Many new players are seduced by the siren's call of Clean Reactor, but don't fall into the trap of using it for everything. The value of clean is directly proportional to the longevity of the unit that's equipped with it. For units that you'll keep all game long, like garrisions and formers, it's beyond price. But for line troops raised for war and expected to be lost within a few turns, it's a waste. Big standing armies are a waste of resources if you're not currently using them to kick someone's teeth in. Turn those swords back into ploughshares, and get back to your core job of building and expanding. Only your elite units warrant continued service, and that's what your free 1 unit per-base support costs should be underwriting: Keeping the best units around for the next conflict.

Whew. Okay, that's enough one post. Sorry if I wind up repeating stuff others have said, I try to build my posts as a catch up with the thread.

[Morgan Everett]

Thanks a lot for your input, I shall play with Morgan in a week when my exams are finished.

From what I could try, there's no doubt I strongly prefer the Morganites over any other faction.

Like you, it's something to do with my philosophy and theirs. I also like the builder style, it allows some change from my usual super offensive strategies at other games.

I'll keep trying until I can cope with my main problem, war.

[Morgan Everett]

Hey guys, one quick question in the midst of my exams:

Do defense bonuses from sensor arrays stack up?

Thanks.

[gwillybj]

Hey guys, one quick question in the midst of my exams:

Do defense bonuses from sensor arrays stack up?

Thanks.

Unfortunately, no.

[CEO Aaron]

Do defense bonuses from sensor arrays stack up?

No, but multiple sensor arrays will give you better insurance against a single one being knocked over. Has someone mentioned the 'sensor tower under base' tactic? I'm too lazy to read back through the whole thread to check.

I'll keep trying until I can cope with my main problem, war.

Just remember, war is what you're building TOWARD. As a compulsive builder myself, I do have a few rules, adapted from my man, Nicolo Macchiavelli:

1) Don't start a war you can't win: Early on, play nice, and don't be afraid to bribe aggressive neighbors early on to buy time. Especially AI opponents, they're never going to make effective use of the money and technology you're giving them.

2) Don't delay a war you can win now: When you're bordering on an enemy you can't live with (My rule of thumb is never share a continent with anyone who's not my vassal and running compatible SE choices), gauge the moment when you've got the resources to conquer them, and them get to work immediately. This is where scouting and infiltrating your enemies is supremely useful.

3) Don't leave an enemy you've injured in a position where they can recover: Basically, never accept ceace-fire or treaty offers until you're in control of your landmass, and finish your work. If you can kick them off your landmass, and the faction is one that's not diametrically opposed to your preferred peacetime SE choices, then you can leave them with a token base or three, fodder for seeding far-flung bases later.

[Morgan Everett]

No, but multiple sensor arrays will give you better insurance against a single one being knocked over. Has someone mentioned the 'sensor tower under base' tactic? I'm too lazy to read back through the whole thread to check.



Just remember, war is what you're building TOWARD. As a compulsive builder myself, I do have a few rules, adapted from my man, Nicolo Macchiavelli:

1) Don't start a war you can't win: Early on, play nice, and don't be afraid to bribe aggressive neighbors early on to buy time. Especially AI opponents, they're never going to make effective use of the money and technology you're giving them.

2) Don't delay a war you can win now: When you're bordering on an enemy you can't live with (My rule of thumb is never share a continent with anyone who's not my vassal and running compatible SE choices), gauge the moment when you've got the resources to conquer them, and them get to work immediately. This is where scouting and infiltrating your enemies is supremely useful.

3) Don't leave an enemy you've injured in a position where they can recover: Basically, never accept ceace-fire or treaty offers until you're in control of your landmass, and finish your work. If you can kick them off your landmass, and the faction is one that's not diametrically opposed to your preferred peacetime SE choices, then you can leave them with a token base or three, fodder for seeding far-flung bases later.

Really? If I build a base on a sensor the effects of the sensor still apply?

[CEO Aaron]

Yes, they definitely do, and doing so makes your sensor tower more or less immune to bombardment. By the way, this is a good reason not to leave ungarrisoned bases in your interior, a cage multiplayer opponent can fly in a probe needle, steal the base and rush-build a defender before you can react. By the way, it's not just sensor towers you can plant and use under bases, you can also use Condensers and Echelon Mirrors there as well, but conventional doctrine finds the 25% defense bonus to be the best choice.

Now there's definitely a price for such defensive positioning: You basically tie up a former for an extra 4 turns (3 with Weather Paradigm) that would otherwise be building roads, forests, farms, etc. But I personally think the payoff in security is completely worthwhile.

[551262]

I'm still thinking about that Spartan project that got put on hold for a bit...

I've got a game still going with the Drones, and boy research is tough. Using the Freshwater Sea is great for specialists. Pop-boom those buggers up to the max size, trawl in nutrients and energy, switch every pop to a librarian or better, engineers.

Still not sure what is better starting location: freshwater sea or the continent to the east with the uranium flats, manifold nexus and garland crater. The one to the far east really only has the borehole cluster (useless until the later game, although the monoliths make it somewhat useful) and the monsoon jungle.

[CEO Aaron]

I'm still thinking about that Spartan project that got put on hold for a bit...

I've got a game still going with the Drones, and boy research is tough. Using the Freshwater Sea is great for specialists. Pop-boom those buggers up to the max size, trawl in nutrients and energy, switch every pop to a librarian or better, engineers.

Still not sure what is better starting location: freshwater sea or the continent to the east with the uranium flats, manifold nexus and garland crater. The one to the far east really only has the borehole cluster (useless until the later game, although the monoliths make it somewhat useful) and the monsoon jungle.

Yeah, I suck. I've still got that Sparta play-through on my system at around turn 220 or something.

I'm of the opinion that food is the best bonus resource, in whatever form that takes, for reasons I've gone over at length before: Food buys specialists, and there's nothing you can't buy with what specialists get you.

[Morgan Everett]

Thanks Aaron.

Less than a week and I'll be playing Morgan ten hours a day .

By the way, what do you think of the Free Drones?

[Morgan Everett]

Can I build a base on a bunker too?