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Author Topic:   Morganites...What do you Think?

supered7 posted 05-05-99 02:00 PM ET
Maybe it is just me, but I have been playing the Morganites for a while now and REALLY like them. I think when used properly they can be extremely powerful, as opposed to what many other players believe...heres why:
1. You start the game with extra credits...usually I will outright buy a few colony pods to jumpstart my empire.
2. You do not need to worry about economy or financial problems ever (unless you're sloppy)
3. You can BUY units, buildings, and especially projects using your excessive energy reserves. (Late in the game I have actually bought entire projects to get ahead!)
4. Being able to buy things (especially secret projects) allows you to stay a step ahead of your opponents...especially when you need to go to war and need some quick units.
5. Other factions can emulate this sort of strategy, but no one else does it as effectively as the Morganites, by far.
If anyone else has any comments or additions to this, please share. I'd love to hear if there is a better way to go about the game with the Morganites, or if the other factions really are that much better...I guess I just like money :-)
Smeagol posted 05-05-99 02:04 PM ET
Actually, the PKs can exploit these advantages better, because they will have a population of 16 before hab domes while Morgan will have only a population of 11. I argued for a while that this made Morgan actually a bad faction, and then I realized that it doesn't-- the PKs are simply too good of a faction. I think there are still a few Morgan threads hanging around-- take a look at them.
Smeagol posted 05-05-99 02:07 PM ET
Of course the PKs would have to use Free Market to get there, which if you read those other threads you will see that this is easy to manage. Try using them some time, and make sure you use democracy, creches, and either planned or a golden age to get early population booms.
Jimmy posted 05-05-99 03:23 PM ET
The best thing about the Morganites is that
you can let the Ferengi that is in all of us come out. I love loaning credits to the other factions, trading tech, getting high commerce, and everything else to soak as much energy from the other factions.
Schoop posted 05-06-99 05:33 PM ET
Sorry, Jimmy, I don't have a Ferengi in me. I have a pure hard-line capitalist bastard that wins every single game of Monopoly, an archetype that preceeds the Ferengi by a fair margin. Sort of like an Andrew Carnegie (who, by the way, is a fraternity brother of mine).
supered7 posted 05-06-99 06:40 PM ET
Another point I completely forgot has to do with probe teams...if you can get Hunter-Seeker early and send lots of probe teams out, you will more often than not have the energy to use mind control. A VERY useful tool since more energy means more power with your probe teams!
Koshko posted 05-06-99 11:36 PM ET
I like Morgan for the fact that you don't need Free Market for +1 Energy per Square. You just need Wealth. I can live with the -5 Police because I'm a Builder and I only use the Independants to explore when necessary, but being a builder, that -3 Planet really hurts.
Smeagol posted 05-07-99 02:23 AM ET
Yeah, I've come to agree with that. Considering I just played a game with free market and with everyone hating me, I can't get too many treaties or pacts anyway, so the commerce bonus isn't the biggest deal. And +4 energy/base extra (which isn't the listed amount but is actually what you get) is decent but not all that significant when my bases all have tree farms and hybrid forests and thus a few boreholes surrounded by forests.
I think Green is the perfect choice once you've either grown enough or have the Cloning Vats-- that efficiency bonus is great and it really helps in the late game with mindworms. You should be able to stay far ahead in tech just by having wealth, so the morale hit isn't a killer due to superior weaponry.
But I do have to say that Free Market is wonderful early on before you can get to wealth, and the added energy it gives will help you get to Industrial Automation faster as well.
drunkenkatori posted 05-07-99 04:45 AM ET
I love the Morgans. They are the most cleverly designed faction by far since an economic victory requires careful management and not just collecting big guns and cities.
The slow start is a pain, but really the game is won in the mid-game where you set your roots after the initial shakedown of first set of wars.
At this point Free-Market and Wealth rake in bucks. No you can't go to war and yes you must crank up the psych to 40%, but some of the later SPs work well for stabilizing cities and increasing police levels. Then you can turn back the psych and make even more money. And that money goes into research.
When at war, switch to anything but FM/W, say, Green/Power. Beat your opponent back over the isthmus, off your continent or into submission. Do not accept truces across a broad front. Then go back to FM/W. If maintenance costs and pacifism are making trouble disband the offending units into your infrastructure. Swords to plowshares.
This cycling is irritating at first and the initial disturbers of the peace are really loathsome, but as the game progresses, your police increases and you can maintain a larger, more varied standing army and can respond to threats faster.
The potential short circuit in this strategy is the planet buster, since I assume that during the countdown to economic victory vaporizing the headquarters ends your attempt. Before orbital defence pods, one would have to move the headquarters or build up AAA defenses and pray.
Smeagol posted 05-07-99 01:01 PM ET
Drunken-- Your cycling is actually unnecessary, so I'll reiterate what I've said in other threads. If you want to go to war with FM/Wealth, just build a punishment sphere in one of your bases, and build the entire army there with clean reactors. You won't get any drones at all and if you give that one base a high mineral output with forests and boreholes (and extra facilities if you wish), then you can make an army in no time at all.
Oh, and you didn't mention probe teams, which are one of Morgan's greatest strengths-- use as many as you desire, since you'll have the most money to use them.
HolyWarrior posted 05-08-99 02:39 AM ET
Interesting thread, gentlemen.
I would consider playing Morgan more often if not for that idiotic -5 police penalty for Free Market.
Of course, nobody beats the Believers...
supered7 posted 05-08-99 09:21 AM ET
An interesting thing to note...as the game progresses, you will be drawing in so much cash, that if you switch from free market to green, you will actually make more money, be good to the planet, and lose the -5 police thing...I am currently around year 2350 in a Morganite game and have around 40000 energy credits at my disposal...now if anyone bugs me, I just purchase an army of probe teams and take them out!
Smeagol posted 05-08-99 12:05 PM ET
Supered-- I guess if you have a ton of bases and are suffering from inefficiency that switching to green can actually help. And still, as long as I already have wealth I've noticed that choosing free market doesn't really give me that much more energy. Of course, I don't have all that many pacts or treaties in my current game, so maybe that's it. I just don't see a marked improvement in commerce. So I think switching to green after the vats is a great idea.
Holy-- We should start a Believers thread... I was thinking of ways to play them the other day and I'm starting to like them.
High Priest posted 05-08-99 11:44 PM ET
One thing I've found useful with the Morganites is to get rid of that population cap by founding bases like crazy from the start of the game. The only real project that you should get is the Merchant Exchange-that "superbase" tactic has saved me in many games. I've also found the CDF and the weather Paradigm useful, but in quick expaion all you need are forests and boreholes. Remember, don't completely develop all your bases until you can get habitation domes and/or Ascetic Virtues. This project is fairly vital to offset population caps and a low police ratings. Concentrate mostly on Energy Banks, Tree Farms, Hybrid Forests, etc. Try like hell to be Planetary Governor and pass the Global Trade Act; with strong pacts and treaties you can really roll in the doe. I usually stay with FM, though, mostly to its huge commerce pluses. In many games most of my cash comes from commerce, often with factions who hardly get any profit from my commerce. The police rating doesn't affect my probe teams or laundered troops, and I usually can corner the market before ecological damage becomes serious. I often switch from Wealth to Knoweledge if a serious war comes about, and only if I'm in dire straits would Green, Power and Police State be the choices. Of course if the game lasts longer than I expected and ecological damage sets in, it's fairly wise to choose Green.
Smeagol posted 05-09-99 12:57 AM ET
I love playing Morgan, and yet I have no interest in an economic victory. It just doesn't satisfy me because with Morgan, it's inevitable. Same with the PKs and being elected Supreme Leader. I just like having all that extra energy for unmatched research, probe actions, and being able to buy anything or anyone I want. The only victory conditions that mean anything to me are conquest and transcendance-- these are the ones that require the most work and time.
supered7 posted 05-09-99 01:03 AM ET
Amen! It feels really good (gives me a nice warm fuzzy feeling inside!) when I can buy practically anything--- hell, I remember a game where I bough Hunter-Seeker...my opponents were pissed...
Another interesting thing that comes out of Morganites is how much treaties and pacts help...whenever I play computer opponents, I always act nice and friendly early for all the extra commerce...even better---once you've crushed an opponent, you can have them become your slaves practically and use the remains of their faction to increase your economy...nasty...but nice!
Smeagol posted 05-09-99 01:07 AM ET
How many treaties and/or pacts do you usually have in games? I haven't yet noticed a marked difference in my commerce income when changing from +2 to +4 economy. How much more commerce income (a number) do you pull in by using Free Market also?
supered7 posted 05-09-99 01:23 AM ET
Free Market does a good deal early on, but later in the game Green actually nets more, both in economy and in being good to the planet.
As for the commerce during pacts...I don tknow exactly the calculations involved...but when a base begins producing a moderate amoun tof energy, it will also begin to gain bonus energy from the pact. I have seen decent increases...but nothing that would make you want to out of your way to be good to your enemies.
Smeagol posted 05-09-99 01:28 AM ET
supered-- Yeah, that's what I've noticed too. And I do use Free Market early on-- as soon as I can, actually. It gives a nice early bonus to research, but once I get to wealth, I leave free market. It's kind of a shame that +4 economy doesn't mean that much over +2... I tried to change these settings to discover that it isn't possible.
The best thing about green is that with democracy you get a +4 efficiency, which means more bases, more energy from them, and also complete freedom in altering your energy allocation. I haven't even considered the strategy of using mindworms with Morgan-- I wonder if it is worth it considering the support hit you get for not having the worms in fungus squares.
supered7 posted 05-09-99 11:20 PM ET
A woderful tactic I just discovered...great for penny pinchers everywhere!!!
If you want to get an army of high-tech units together---it is much cheaper and faster to build a cheap unit (hurry it), and then upgrade it to an expensive one...it'll cost 100-300 credits max for the upgrade, which pales in comparison to the thousands of credits needed to purchase an advanced unit immediately!
ExoByte0 posted 05-10-99 08:17 PM ET
i really liked morgan when i first started playing SMAC, i still like him but feel that if you are going to try to do anything that morgan would be good for, like a econ. victory, play someone else and try to make morgan your friend. If you are morgan and you use FMarket, the gians aren't going to like you, wealth angers UoP and sparta, and whatever you pick for government will annoy Yang or PKs and Miriam never gets along with anyone. But if you pick, say, UoP, and go with Free Market, Morgan is your buddy, and you can gain much from _his_ strong economy as well as yours, and have a nicy symbiotic relationship instead of having almost (if not) everyone mad at you.
ExoByte0 posted 05-10-99 08:18 PM ET
i really liked morgan when i first started playing SMAC, i still like him but feel that if you are going to try to do anything that morgan would be good for, like a econ. victory, play someone else and try to make morgan your friend. If you are morgan and you use FMarket, the gians aren't going to like you, wealth angers UoP and sparta, and whatever you pick for government will annoy Yang or PKs and Miriam never gets along with anyone. But if you pick, say, UoP, and go with Free Market, Morgan is your buddy, and you can gain much from _his_ strong economy as well as yours, and have a nicy symbiotic relationship instead of having almost (if not) everyone mad at you.
icosahedron posted 05-11-99 11:49 AM ET
Biggest drawback for J.P. Morganski is that he is easily -- and I mean truly easily -- slapped down early in the game.
When I play him, I pray for not-too-close and not-too-unfriendly neighbors early on.
When I don't play him, I pray (prey?) to have him as neighbor, so I can slap him down early (say, by 2150 at the latest) and get a submissive pact going.
Consider the matchups in the early game:
1) Lal vs. Morgan -- no contest, because those extra talents allow Lal to free up police troops for warring.
2) Deidre vs. Morgan -- slam dunk. In a word, worms.
3) Zhakarov vs. Morgan -- can you say "impact rover"? Plasma sentinels just won't cut it against an early, high(er)-tech offensive.
4) Santiago, Yang, or Miriam vs. Morgan -- need I comment?
So the trick with Morgan is to survive long enough to get rich. Easier said than done, especially, I would assume, in multiplayer.
- icosahedron
supered7 posted 05-11-99 08:20 PM ET
icosohedron, very true...I have found that the only benefit to getting extra cash early on is to be able to expend it on a few colony pods...getting my Morganites off to a decent start...but as you said, in an early battle, Morgan is at a major disadvantage.
I have found that if the game lasts a decent amount of time, that Morgan has huge advantages...mainly being able to buy everything.
Smeagol posted 05-11-99 09:31 PM ET
supered-- It's also nice being able to buy those recycle tanks early, as well as many other facilities throughout the game.
Lord of the Isles posted 05-14-99 11:21 AM ET
Have a question prompted by this thread. I had a recent game on Talent as the Gaians (simple I know, but got SMAC 2 weeks ago and decided to start at the lowest and play one game at each level to learn and experiment while there was little pressure). My economy was really whizzing along, perhaps 200+ per turn with about 6,000 in the bank, when I got hit by something like "Global Stockmarket Crash" or similar: lost around 80% of my energy. About 40 turns later, I had built this back up to 4,000 or so when *bang*, another crash.
I haven't seen this mentioned in forums nor come across it in other games. Is it just a rare random event and I was unlucky to get hit twice? It would certainly be a pain for a Morganite strategy or any economic victory plan if it was common.
supered7 posted 05-14-99 06:45 PM ET
Ya...thats happened to me too...as far as I know it's just bad luck.
Porkmonger posted 05-15-99 01:39 AM ET
The Global Market Crash is really annoying... It happened to me _twice_ in three turns when I was trying to Mind Control the city that had The Virtual World in it (for like 5000 credits in drone riot!).
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Author	Topic: Morganites...What do you Think?
supered7	posted 05-05-99 02:00 PM ET Maybe it is just me, but I have been playing the Morganites for a while now and REALLY like them. I think when used properly they can be extremely powerful, as opposed to what many other players believe...heres why: 1. You start the game with extra credits...usually I will outright buy a few colony pods to jumpstart my empire. 2. You do not need to worry about economy or financial problems ever (unless you're sloppy) 3. You can BUY units, buildings, and especially projects using your excessive energy reserves. (Late in the game I have actually bought entire projects to get ahead!) 4. Being able to buy things (especially secret projects) allows you to stay a step ahead of your opponents...especially when you need to go to war and need some quick units. 5. Other factions can emulate this sort of strategy, but no one else does it as effectively as the Morganites, by far. If anyone else has any comments or additions to this, please share. I'd love to hear if there is a better way to go about the game with the Morganites, or if the other factions really are that much better...I guess I just like money :-)
Smeagol	posted 05-05-99 02:04 PM ET Actually, the PKs can exploit these advantages better, because they will have a population of 16 before hab domes while Morgan will have only a population of 11. I argued for a while that this made Morgan actually a bad faction, and then I realized that it doesn't-- the PKs are simply too good of a faction. I think there are still a few Morgan threads hanging around-- take a look at them.
Smeagol	posted 05-05-99 02:07 PM ET Of course the PKs would have to use Free Market to get there, which if you read those other threads you will see that this is easy to manage. Try using them some time, and make sure you use democracy, creches, and either planned or a golden age to get early population booms.
Jimmy	posted 05-05-99 03:23 PM ET The best thing about the Morganites is that you can let the Ferengi that is in all of us come out. I love loaning credits to the other factions, trading tech, getting high commerce, and everything else to soak as much energy from the other factions.
Schoop	posted 05-06-99 05:33 PM ET Sorry, Jimmy, I don't have a Ferengi in me. I have a pure hard-line capitalist bastard that wins every single game of Monopoly, an archetype that preceeds the Ferengi by a fair margin. Sort of like an Andrew Carnegie (who, by the way, is a fraternity brother of mine).
supered7	posted 05-06-99 06:40 PM ET Another point I completely forgot has to do with probe teams...if you can get Hunter-Seeker early and send lots of probe teams out, you will more often than not have the energy to use mind control. A VERY useful tool since more energy means more power with your probe teams!
Koshko	posted 05-06-99 11:36 PM ET I like Morgan for the fact that you don't need Free Market for +1 Energy per Square. You just need Wealth. I can live with the -5 Police because I'm a Builder and I only use the Independants to explore when necessary, but being a builder, that -3 Planet really hurts.
Smeagol	posted 05-07-99 02:23 AM ET Yeah, I've come to agree with that. Considering I just played a game with free market and with everyone hating me, I can't get too many treaties or pacts anyway, so the commerce bonus isn't the biggest deal. And +4 energy/base extra (which isn't the listed amount but is actually what you get) is decent but not all that significant when my bases all have tree farms and hybrid forests and thus a few boreholes surrounded by forests. I think Green is the perfect choice once you've either grown enough or have the Cloning Vats-- that efficiency bonus is great and it really helps in the late game with mindworms. You should be able to stay far ahead in tech just by having wealth, so the morale hit isn't a killer due to superior weaponry. But I do have to say that Free Market is wonderful early on before you can get to wealth, and the added energy it gives will help you get to Industrial Automation faster as well.
drunkenkatori	posted 05-07-99 04:45 AM ET I love the Morgans. They are the most cleverly designed faction by far since an economic victory requires careful management and not just collecting big guns and cities. The slow start is a pain, but really the game is won in the mid-game where you set your roots after the initial shakedown of first set of wars. At this point Free-Market and Wealth rake in bucks. No you can't go to war and yes you must crank up the psych to 40%, but some of the later SPs work well for stabilizing cities and increasing police levels. Then you can turn back the psych and make even more money. And that money goes into research. When at war, switch to anything but FM/W, say, Green/Power. Beat your opponent back over the isthmus, off your continent or into submission. Do not accept truces across a broad front. Then go back to FM/W. If maintenance costs and pacifism are making trouble disband the offending units into your infrastructure. Swords to plowshares. This cycling is irritating at first and the initial disturbers of the peace are really loathsome, but as the game progresses, your police increases and you can maintain a larger, more varied standing army and can respond to threats faster. The potential short circuit in this strategy is the planet buster, since I assume that during the countdown to economic victory vaporizing the headquarters ends your attempt. Before orbital defence pods, one would have to move the headquarters or build up AAA defenses and pray.
Smeagol	posted 05-07-99 01:01 PM ET Drunken-- Your cycling is actually unnecessary, so I'll reiterate what I've said in other threads. If you want to go to war with FM/Wealth, just build a punishment sphere in one of your bases, and build the entire army there with clean reactors. You won't get any drones at all and if you give that one base a high mineral output with forests and boreholes (and extra facilities if you wish), then you can make an army in no time at all. Oh, and you didn't mention probe teams, which are one of Morgan's greatest strengths-- use as many as you desire, since you'll have the most money to use them.
HolyWarrior	posted 05-08-99 02:39 AM ET Interesting thread, gentlemen. I would consider playing Morgan more often if not for that idiotic -5 police penalty for Free Market. Of course, nobody beats the Believers...
supered7	posted 05-08-99 09:21 AM ET An interesting thing to note...as the game progresses, you will be drawing in so much cash, that if you switch from free market to green, you will actually make more money, be good to the planet, and lose the -5 police thing...I am currently around year 2350 in a Morganite game and have around 40000 energy credits at my disposal...now if anyone bugs me, I just purchase an army of probe teams and take them out!
Smeagol	posted 05-08-99 12:05 PM ET Supered-- I guess if you have a ton of bases and are suffering from inefficiency that switching to green can actually help. And still, as long as I already have wealth I've noticed that choosing free market doesn't really give me that much more energy. Of course, I don't have all that many pacts or treaties in my current game, so maybe that's it. I just don't see a marked improvement in commerce. So I think switching to green after the vats is a great idea. Holy-- We should start a Believers thread... I was thinking of ways to play them the other day and I'm starting to like them.
High Priest	posted 05-08-99 11:44 PM ET One thing I've found useful with the Morganites is to get rid of that population cap by founding bases like crazy from the start of the game. The only real project that you should get is the Merchant Exchange-that "superbase" tactic has saved me in many games. I've also found the CDF and the weather Paradigm useful, but in quick expaion all you need are forests and boreholes. Remember, don't completely develop all your bases until you can get habitation domes and/or Ascetic Virtues. This project is fairly vital to offset population caps and a low police ratings. Concentrate mostly on Energy Banks, Tree Farms, Hybrid Forests, etc. Try like hell to be Planetary Governor and pass the Global Trade Act; with strong pacts and treaties you can really roll in the doe. I usually stay with FM, though, mostly to its huge commerce pluses. In many games most of my cash comes from commerce, often with factions who hardly get any profit from my commerce. The police rating doesn't affect my probe teams or laundered troops, and I usually can corner the market before ecological damage becomes serious. I often switch from Wealth to Knoweledge if a serious war comes about, and only if I'm in dire straits would Green, Power and Police State be the choices. Of course if the game lasts longer than I expected and ecological damage sets in, it's fairly wise to choose Green.
Smeagol	posted 05-09-99 12:57 AM ET I love playing Morgan, and yet I have no interest in an economic victory. It just doesn't satisfy me because with Morgan, it's inevitable. Same with the PKs and being elected Supreme Leader. I just like having all that extra energy for unmatched research, probe actions, and being able to buy anything or anyone I want. The only victory conditions that mean anything to me are conquest and transcendance-- these are the ones that require the most work and time.
supered7	posted 05-09-99 01:03 AM ET Amen! It feels really good (gives me a nice warm fuzzy feeling inside!) when I can buy practically anything--- hell, I remember a game where I bough Hunter-Seeker...my opponents were pissed... Another interesting thing that comes out of Morganites is how much treaties and pacts help...whenever I play computer opponents, I always act nice and friendly early for all the extra commerce...even better---once you've crushed an opponent, you can have them become your slaves practically and use the remains of their faction to increase your economy...nasty...but nice!
Smeagol	posted 05-09-99 01:07 AM ET How many treaties and/or pacts do you usually have in games? I haven't yet noticed a marked difference in my commerce income when changing from +2 to +4 economy. How much more commerce income (a number) do you pull in by using Free Market also?
supered7	posted 05-09-99 01:23 AM ET Free Market does a good deal early on, but later in the game Green actually nets more, both in economy and in being good to the planet. As for the commerce during pacts...I don tknow exactly the calculations involved...but when a base begins producing a moderate amoun tof energy, it will also begin to gain bonus energy from the pact. I have seen decent increases...but nothing that would make you want to out of your way to be good to your enemies.
Smeagol	posted 05-09-99 01:28 AM ET supered-- Yeah, that's what I've noticed too. And I do use Free Market early on-- as soon as I can, actually. It gives a nice early bonus to research, but once I get to wealth, I leave free market. It's kind of a shame that +4 economy doesn't mean that much over +2... I tried to change these settings to discover that it isn't possible. The best thing about green is that with democracy you get a +4 efficiency, which means more bases, more energy from them, and also complete freedom in altering your energy allocation. I haven't even considered the strategy of using mindworms with Morgan-- I wonder if it is worth it considering the support hit you get for not having the worms in fungus squares.
supered7	posted 05-09-99 11:20 PM ET A woderful tactic I just discovered...great for penny pinchers everywhere!!! If you want to get an army of high-tech units together---it is much cheaper and faster to build a cheap unit (hurry it), and then upgrade it to an expensive one...it'll cost 100-300 credits max for the upgrade, which pales in comparison to the thousands of credits needed to purchase an advanced unit immediately!
ExoByte0	posted 05-10-99 08:17 PM ET i really liked morgan when i first started playing SMAC, i still like him but feel that if you are going to try to do anything that morgan would be good for, like a econ. victory, play someone else and try to make morgan your friend. If you are morgan and you use FMarket, the gians aren't going to like you, wealth angers UoP and sparta, and whatever you pick for government will annoy Yang or PKs and Miriam never gets along with anyone. But if you pick, say, UoP, and go with Free Market, Morgan is your buddy, and you can gain much from _his_ strong economy as well as yours, and have a nicy symbiotic relationship instead of having almost (if not) everyone mad at you.
ExoByte0	posted 05-10-99 08:18 PM ET i really liked morgan when i first started playing SMAC, i still like him but feel that if you are going to try to do anything that morgan would be good for, like a econ. victory, play someone else and try to make morgan your friend. If you are morgan and you use FMarket, the gians aren't going to like you, wealth angers UoP and sparta, and whatever you pick for government will annoy Yang or PKs and Miriam never gets along with anyone. But if you pick, say, UoP, and go with Free Market, Morgan is your buddy, and you can gain much from _his_ strong economy as well as yours, and have a nicy symbiotic relationship instead of having almost (if not) everyone mad at you.
icosahedron	posted 05-11-99 11:49 AM ET Biggest drawback for J.P. Morganski is that he is easily -- and I mean truly easily -- slapped down early in the game. When I play him, I pray for not-too-close and not-too-unfriendly neighbors early on. When I don't play him, I pray (prey?) to have him as neighbor, so I can slap him down early (say, by 2150 at the latest) and get a submissive pact going. Consider the matchups in the early game: 1) Lal vs. Morgan -- no contest, because those extra talents allow Lal to free up police troops for warring. 2) Deidre vs. Morgan -- slam dunk. In a word, worms. 3) Zhakarov vs. Morgan -- can you say "impact rover"? Plasma sentinels just won't cut it against an early, high(er)-tech offensive. 4) Santiago, Yang, or Miriam vs. Morgan -- need I comment? So the trick with Morgan is to survive long enough to get rich. Easier said than done, especially, I would assume, in multiplayer. - icosahedron
supered7	posted 05-11-99 08:20 PM ET icosohedron, very true...I have found that the only benefit to getting extra cash early on is to be able to expend it on a few colony pods...getting my Morganites off to a decent start...but as you said, in an early battle, Morgan is at a major disadvantage. I have found that if the game lasts a decent amount of time, that Morgan has huge advantages...mainly being able to buy everything.
Smeagol	posted 05-11-99 09:31 PM ET supered-- It's also nice being able to buy those recycle tanks early, as well as many other facilities throughout the game.
Lord of the Isles	posted 05-14-99 11:21 AM ET Have a question prompted by this thread. I had a recent game on Talent as the Gaians (simple I know, but got SMAC 2 weeks ago and decided to start at the lowest and play one game at each level to learn and experiment while there was little pressure). My economy was really whizzing along, perhaps 200+ per turn with about 6,000 in the bank, when I got hit by something like "Global Stockmarket Crash" or similar: lost around 80% of my energy. About 40 turns later, I had built this back up to 4,000 or so when bang, another crash. I haven't seen this mentioned in forums nor come across it in other games. Is it just a rare random event and I was unlucky to get hit twice? It would certainly be a pain for a Morganite strategy or any economic victory plan if it was common.
supered7	posted 05-14-99 06:45 PM ET Ya...thats happened to me too...as far as I know it's just bad luck.
Porkmonger	posted 05-15-99 01:39 AM ET The Global Market Crash is really annoying... It happened to me _twice_ in three turns when I was trying to Mind Control the city that had The Virtual World in it (for like 5000 credits in drone riot!).