Modifying Social Engineering Effects

[Mr. President]

For example, I once made Power give -1 Industry and -1 Economy. Has anyone ever tried this? How do you keep the effects balanced, so that, for instance, one social engineering choice doesn't become wildly preferable against your intentions?

[gwillybj]

It's here somewhere...

There is a thread here at ACS about altering the SE effects that included a discussion about changing Free Market's -5 Police to -3, supposedly to help the Morganites. I just did a quick search (Free AND Market AND Police) but could not find the thread. I'm sure I simply missed the reference.

Info Section: At the original settings (Free Market = -5 Police), if Morgan runs Police State, Free Market, Wealth, Eudaimonic, he will have +6 Economy, -2 Efficiency, +1 Support, -4 Morale, -3 Police, +2 Growth, -3 Planet, 0 Probe, +3 Industry, 0 Research.

Opinion Section: I don't see where he needs help - except to pop-boom, which I don't strive for anyway. If it happens, good - if not, no big deal.

+6 Economy = +1 energy/sq, +4 energy/base, +3 commerce.
-2 Efficiency = Appalling inefficiency. No big deal - he's producing so much energy it'll never be missed, even before the +2 Economy boost from Eudaimonic.
+1 Support = Support 3 units free from each base - a respectable size for a decent garrison.
-4 Morale = -3 Morale with positive modifiers halved. No big deal. With Command Centers, Bioenhancement Centers, experience, and monoliths, Commando is fairly simple and Elite is not so far off. Besides, the last -2 Morale doesn't show up until Eudaimonic, so most of the game he's -2 Morale (-1 Morale with positive modifiers halved).
-3 Police = Extra drone if more than one military unit away from base. So what? Build a lot of bases and send out only one unit from each base. Keep a well-supported garrison. Avoid fights. You (should) have the money - buy your way out of them.
+2 Growth = +20% Growth rate, but not until Eudaimonic. With the reduced population limits, this is no big deal.
-3 Planet = Wanton ecological disruption with -3 fungus production. Morgan doesn't care about this anyway. He wants to extract every last mote of usable minerals from the ground. And the worm attacks will get your garrisons up to Elite morale.
0 Probe. No big deal.
+3 Industry = Mineral costs decreaed by 30%. This helps offset the energy lost to Efficiency by creating less need to hurry production.
0 Research. No big deal. As you go, badger, barter, beg, buy, steal.

Another thing: The Ascetic Virtues Secret Project. It changes the final Police rating to only -2 (Cannot use military units as Police. No nerve stapling). This releases the entire army into the field. Just make the Home Guard garrison units with Non-Lethal Methods (Police).

In any case, get those Orbital Defense Pods up and online ASAP!