Morale

Morale is a measure of the relative happiness of your Colonists. This has an effect on their productivity, health, and birthrate. Morale is listed as a number between 0 and 99. The Colonists' Morale is influenced in two ways: by events and conditions.

Events have a diminishing impact on Morale. Examples of events that affect Morale include births and deaths, completion of research, and the destruction of one of your structures. An important event that can have a powerful effect on your colony's Morale is the destruction of certain enemy structures by your combat units. Your people react very negatively if you destroy an enemy Nursery, Residence, or Medical Center. The immediate impact of an event can be quite strong, but the effect fades as time passes.

Conditions affect Morale all the time, though the effect may change as the state of each condition changes. For example, one condition is the Residence demand. If you have enough Residences to house 50 people, but you have 90 Colonists, the demand (180 percent) will have a negative effect on Morale. Should you build two more Residences (bringing your capacity up to 100, and therefore your demand down to 90 percent), your Morale will improve.

Although conditions have a continuous effect on Morale, not all conditions are checked at the beginning of the game. Some conditions, such as the Recreation Facility demand, are not checked until the technologies that enable them have been researched.

The current values of all conditions are listed in the Morale report in the Command Pane. To see this report, click the Resources Reports button (third from the left), then select MORALE in the list box and click the DETAILS button. Definitions of the conditions that affect Morale can be found in the Morale Report:

Morale Report

This Command Pane display informs you about the Morale of the colony's inhabitants. Each factor listed is an element affecting the colony's Morale. As the game progresses, more factors will be added to the list.