Disciplined is the standard morale level where there are no battle modifiers. Each extra morale level above Disciplined gives a 12.5% battle bonus. This means +12.5% for Hardened to +50% for Elite. Each extra morale level under Disciplined gives a -12.5% battle penalty. When a unit is built without any morale modifiers affecting it, it starts with green morale. Two peculiarities should be noted here.

a) Note the (+) I put after 'Very Green". I've noticed that, even when you're for example running -4 Morale SE , it's impossible to have 'Very Green' morale tout court. It's always at the very least Very Green (+).

b) For most units, when they have elite morale, they gain an extra movement point.

And when we start talking about (+)'s received as a consequence of Children's Creches, there is little logic at all anymore to be detected behind the (+)'s. But Children's Creches are an issue we will discuss later. Now what factors all influence the morale level of units?

1) Morale Social Engineering Factor
2) Morale Enhancing Base Facilities
3) Monolith Upgrading
4) Prototyping
5) High Morale Special Ability
[6-9 to follow in next part.]

1) Morale Social Engineering Factor
From alphax.txt:

#SOCMORALE
-4, -3 Morale; + modifiers halved
-3, -2 Morale; + modifiers halved
-2, -1 Morale; + modifiers halved
-1, -1 Morale
0, Normal Morale
1, +1 Morale
2, +1 Morale (+2 on defense)
3, +2 Morale! (+3 on defense)
4, +3 Morale!!

Something that is often overlooked is that a positive or negative Social Engineering Morale does not equal an equivalent increase or decrease in morale levels. For example +2 SE Morale gives disciplined (+) troops, and not hardened troops. The "+ modifiers halved" for -2 SE Morale and below halves the morale level bonus one gets for units built in bases with morale enhancing facilities. The extra defence bonus for +2 and +3 SE Morale only has effect when defending in bases. Also the bonus caps off at +50%: Commando (++) or Elite (+) units don't get a 67% defence bonus.

2) Morale Enhancing Base Facilities
The morale enhancing base facilities are as following:

Command Center: +2 Morale levels for land units built in a base with this facility
Naval Yard: +2 Morale levels for naval units
Aerospace Complex: +2 Morale levels for air units
Bioenhancement Center: +2 Morale levels for all units

Keep in mind that the bonus effects of these facilities are halved for units built while running -2 SE Morale or lower.

3) Monolith Upgrading
When a land or naval combat unit for the first time moves on a square with a monolith in it, it has the option to upgrade and get a bonus of one morale level. I haven't tested this, but I've read that every time a unit upgrades on a monolith, the monolith has one chance on thirty-two (1/32) of disappearing.

4) Prototyping
A unit prototype gets a bonus of one morale level.

5) High Morale Special Ability
A unit with the 'high morale' special ability gets a bonus of one morale level. There are two things to keep in mind:

a) When a unit built with the high morale special ability is upgraded to another design without that ability, the morale bonus still stays.
b) When a unit built without the high morale special ability is upgraded to another design with high morale, it does not get a morale bonus.
So it's the moment of building that counts.

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About the author: International Politics student in Belgium.

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Originally published in full on December 15, 2005.

The opinions expressed on this page do not necessarily reflect those of Apolyton CS. They are just the personal opinions of the writer.