Second Sphere Morale Rules

Overview

'Morale' is a catch-all term describing the general support a nation has from its people. It can take various forms, ranging from black marketing or lack thereof to domestic support for the government to military morale.

Using Morale

All morale points must be assigned to the fields below. Going above 6 will accumulate greater bonuses. All fields are capped at 10, and no field may be below 0 - negative values must be bought up to 0.

Public Order

Public order is a general representation of how much your citizens support the government and/or the nation. Extended conflicts - especially losing ones - can often wear Public Order down.

0: The government has effectively lost control of the nation.

1: The state is creaking at the seams and is likely only held together by the thinnest of social contracts and the fear of state power.

2: The state functions, after a fashion. Police death squads roam the favelas. At this level or below, Secret Police cost 1/2.

3: About the lowest level at which the state can be described as 'stable', though it is a prickly stability at best.

4: There is a definite undercurrent of unhappiness but the trains do run on time. The highest Public Order in which Secret Police are available. Democracies generally cannot survive dipping below this level.

5: Eh.

6+: The people are increasingly happy with the government and their lot in nation. This makes the nation increasingly resistant to actions that could disrupt it as well as improves the likelihood of positive events occurring.

Diplomacy

Diplomacy is the art of dealing with other nations and often requires a deft touch both externally and internally. A nation's external interests may not align to the wishes of its citizenry.

Military Discipline

Military discipline is pretty self-explanatory. While most relevant in ground actions, discipline is the 'secret sauce' that turns good militaries into great ones.

0: What discipline? Formations collapse the moment they encounter enemy troops and entire groups of soldiers will surrender to unmanned recon drones.

1: Soldiers are barely more than warm bodies in uniform. They may fight, but reluctantly at best.

2: Only the most loyal of troops put up substantial fight; passivity is the norm and leadership is weak.

3: Military morale is low and dissatisfaction is common, but the apparatus of conflict functions. Frag the LT!

4: The quality and preparedness of different formations is irregular, but ultimately solid - but at the same time, fragile. A substantive loss could send discipline spiralling downward.

5: The mustered soldiery is fit and ready to serve.

6+: The best of the best, sir!

Societal Closure

Societal closure is a measure of how difficult it is to infiltrate a nation, how much information is simply available to the public and similar concepts. In broad terms societal closure acts as a defensive boost against enemy espionage of all sorts as well as a major control on how many State Secrets a nation may have. (See the Covert rules for a breakdown)

0: Society is open and it is trivial to acquire information about people, institutions and things save those that are outright secret. Many democracies in the liberal western tradition are at this level of societal closure - i.e., not at all.

1: Some restrictions exist on information, mostly that deemed 'sensitive'. Society remains, by and large, open. It is not uncommon to find democracies here as well.

2: The government is beginning to make even relatively mundane information inconvenient to acquire at this point, though society as a whole remains open. This is typical for democratic governments in a war situation.

3: The government is jealously guarding information of the most trivial sort and even society has begun to internalize a certain closed-mouthedness.

4: Vhere are your paperz?

5: Paranoia is a byword and dissent or the unusual is frowned upon - or outright attacked.

6+: Paranoia is no longer an unhealthy mental condition, but the norm.

Taxes

Taxes are supplementary to Wealth, and basically represent public willingness to condone unpopular but effective tax reform, the use or elimination of grey/black markets, etc.

Every point of Morale put towards Taxes increases Wealth by 75.

Path Effects

Governments

Most governments have biases towards various elements of morale; for example (genuine) democracies tend to good public order but poor societal closure. The effects of each are detailed below.

Future Government (Freedom): +4 Public Order, +4 Diplomacy, -2 Societal Closure

Future Government (Organization): +3 Public Order, +3 Societal Closure

Democracy: +3 Public Order, +3 Diplomacy, -2 Societal Closure

Single Party Governance: +1 Public Order, +1 Military Discipline

Corporate Governance: +2 Diplomacy, -2 Military Discipline

Space Monarchy (Enlightened): +2 Diplomacy

Space Monarchy (Autocratic): +3 Military Discipline, +3 Societal Closure, -2 Public Order, -2 Diplomacy

Junta: -2 Public Order, -2 Diplomacy, +2 Societal Closure

Other Paths

Terraforming Failure: -2 Public Order

Never Gelled: -1 Public Order, -1 Military Discipline

Idealists: +2 Public Order

Captive State: -2 Public Order

Regime Changed: -1 Public Order, -1 Military Discipline

Confucian Collapse: -2 Public Order

The Dragon Dies Screaming: -2 Diplomacy

Five-Year Plan: -1 Public Order, -1 Diplomacy

Road Repairs: -2 Diplomacy

Refugees! So many refugees!: -2 Public Order

Juche!: +2 Public Order, +2 Societal Closure, -2 Diplomacy

New American Millenium: +2 Military Discipline

Peacekept: -1 Public Order, -1 Military Discipline

Transhumanize: -2 Public Order

Blood for Dust: -2 Diplomacy

Credit to Society: +2 Public Order

Fraying Patchwork: -2 Public Order

Light into Darkness: +2 Military Discipline

Outstretched Hand: +2 Diplomacy

Electronic Old Men: +1 Public Order, +1 Societal Closure

Regulated Market: +1 Public Order, +1 Taxes

Reconquista: -1 Public Order, -1 Military Discipline

Still Free: +1 Public Order, +1 Military Discipline

Whatever The Cost: +1 Military Discipline, +1 Societal Closure

Amicable Split: +2 Diplomacy

House of War: +1 Military Discipline, +1 Societal Closure

Internal Collapse: -2 Public Order

Hardliner Ouster: +1 Public Order, +1 Diplomacy

Fight in the Jungle: +2 Military Discipline

Transhuman Supremacy: +2 Military Discipline, +2 Societal Closure, -2 Diplomacy

Ideological Purification: +2 Public Order, +2 Societal Closure, -2 Diplomacy

Evil to Fight Evil: -2 Public Order

Guts: +4 Military Discipline

Rent-A-Cops: -2 Military Discipline

Found Religion: +1 Public Order, +1 Societal Closure

Transgenes Go Home: +1 Public Order, +1 Societal Closure, +1 Military Discipline, -1 Diplomacy

Populism!: +2 Public Order

Relena's Rules: +2 Public Order, +2 Diplomacy, -2 Military Discipline

Revanche: +2 Military Discipline