Help! morale troubles!

Published on July 24, 2007 By drakonfire In Galactic Civilizations II

Okay, so I have played my share of games (though I haven't played many through to endgame, I don't know why) but I recently reformatted my hard drive, so I began a brand new, all default settings (sans intelligence, which I bumped up to "bright) as Terrans. The game isn't going so well for me, as I have only Earth and Mars (I had a 3rd planet but it got overwhelmed by the combined might of the Yor and Drengin) this wouldn't be such an issue, but I have to devote 2 whole tiles to morale on earth, because for some reason my max population is 16 billion. Is this normal? I don't recall having that problem, I thought home worlds were usually 12 billion, which I didn't have many problems with. but at 16 billion my morale is going so far down the pipe I'm beginning to worry (i've dipped as low as 59% approval once). Any advice or speculation as to why earth has 16 billion people running around on it? (No, I have not built a farm)

Comments

CornhuskerMac

on Jul 24, 2007

That's the new DA capital default population. I'm not sure what patch of DA made that happen, but if you're up to date, then that's the answer.

It shouldn't be much of a problem, though, because the capital has a morale bonus for PQ (at least, if not more). But if it's a major problem, build a political capital. I'm not sure what settings you're using, but if you only have two planets, and Mars is one of them, then the game is probably lost.

drakonfire

on Jul 24, 2007

Its not completely lost. I've nearly finagled the Altarians into an alliance with me, and as they own half the galaxy, I think I'll be okay. really, I wasn't that bad off with 3 planets, 2, yes, not a good situation, but not bad either. I'm playing on a small galaxy with uncommon planets and uncommon habitable planets. So, the Aforementioned Altarians still only have about 10 planets to themselves (after Torians surrendered to them and they ATE the drengin for dinner).

anywhat, whatever bonus my captial is giving isn't enough, becuase I just slumped to dangerous levels (thanks to debt), but even out of debt, with 2 Extreme Stadiums I have approx 67% approval... ouch

CornhuskerMac

on Jul 24, 2007

drakonfire, are you changing your tax rates appropriately? You can get higher morale by doing that. If your econ is a problem with lower taxes, then did you build the

Yes, having uncommon stuff in a small galaxy makes 2 or three planets not so bad. I had a game where everyone only had their home planets and extra system planets if there were any. That was a fun game!

Mystikmind

on Jul 25, 2007

With only 2 planets you would be wanting trade as your economic backbone, and then you can afford to reduce taxation. However if you are not in a position to defend your trade ships then don't bother, your best bet is to struggle on and try and establish some defensive military starbases.

jlchimera

on Jul 25, 2007

I have only recently started playing -- on like my 4th or 5th game -- and I too am having consistent morale problems. I took a racial bonus on the last couple of games, and I still find myself consuming tiles for happy-happy buildings on my more populated planets. I often run around with 100-90% on my newer planets (lower population) and 50's or even 40's on the older, more populated worlds.

What am I missing? Is there a "Just Deal With High Population, People" tech to research? I've maxed out the farming (for the pop cap) and jiggled the tax rate as i need to to stay in power in the senate.

AND I read another thread which claimed there was no need for Morale structures at all (?) Is there some obvious thing I'm missing?

themocaw

on Jul 25, 2007

Low taxes improve morale. Better economy improves the amount of money you get from taxes. Better morale technologies give a good boost to morale even if you don't build the buildings. So if you have the micromanagement of God's own CPA, you can usually figure out a way to do it.

Me, I still build morale buildings on any planet with a max population higher than 12 billion, and I don't bother with farms, because I suck at micromanagement.

drakonfire

on Jul 25, 2007

drakonfire, are you changing your tax rates appropriately? You can get higher morale by doing that. If your econ is a problem with lower taxes, then did you build the

the what...?

and my taxes were only 39%

I have lots of trade, and 2 economy stations giving bonuses to them, my economy is about as low as I am comfortable with it being. That 16 billion cap is kind of annoying...

Mystikmind

on Jul 25, 2007

I have lots of trade, and 2 economy stations giving bonuses to them, my economy is about as low as I am comfortable with it being. That 16 billion cap is kind of annoying...

With few planets, taxation income is quite irrelevant so you may as well use it in reverse to boost morale.

Since trade is not dependant on how many planets you have, it becomes much more significant in smaller maps, You should be able to boost your trade income ALLOT....

To boost trade, you need to keep your trade routes together somewhare safe (you may trade all routes with just 1 planet of theirs and 1 of yours) and plaster as many trading starbases along that route as possible.

drakonfire

on Jul 25, 2007

Oh, silly me, I didn't realize you could have more than one trade route with another race's planet, I had never tried.

And good point about taxation, I'll try that, see how much of an empire I can actually salvage.

Mystikmind

on Jul 25, 2007

good luck with that.

If you get into serious trouble, you can cheat by using starbase barriers... before you build too many starbases (so they are still cheap) you can build barrier walls by giving starbases to a freindly race and then your enemy cannot get to you (unless they go to war with that race). 1 constructor per parsec will build you a nice wall wherever you need it, just remember, as much as the enemy cannot get in, you cannot get out! Only units of the starbase owning race can pass or any races mini freighters.

Oh i forgot 1 thing, the sector starbase limit!! so you need more than one freindly race for it to work

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