Bug or feature?

[Chasm]

If you build a stargate in a pirate system, slave purchases will use that gate. However ships purchased will not. Is this split correct, or is the gate not supposed to be used? Also, if I am purchasing slaves to liberate them, should my liberation bonus not outweigh the purchase penalty (I bought you out of slavery, how is that a bad thing? At the least I would expect the positive to be slightly more.)

[sven]

If you build a stargate in a pirate system, slave purchases will use that gate. However ships purchased will not. Is this split correct, or is the gate not supposed to be used?

It's working as intended. Technically, the slaves come from the Pirate world (so they can use the gate), but the mercenaries come from some other ambigious location (they're not actually stationed at the pirate world), so they can't use the gate bonus.

Also, if I am purchasing slaves to liberate them, should my liberation bonus not outweigh the purchase penalty (I bought you out of slavery, how is that a bad thing? At the least I would expect the positive to be slightly more.)

Yes, I think I need to code up a special case to support this. If you buy slaves, and use them as slaves for a while, then perhaps they're not thrilled with you. But if you buy slaves and then free them at the first opportunity, I think they should be relatively happy about that development.

[Arioch]

Slaves should be unhappy when you buy them. Buying slaves and liberating them shouldn't result in +happy population.

[bjg]

Slaves should be unhappy when you buy them. Buying slaves and liberating them shouldn't result in +happy population.

Why? Isn't a liberator improving their life (a lot) at his expense?

[Arioch]

Morale is not just how the population feels about you. Slaves aren't going to be happy and well-adjusted just because you freed them.

The big problem right now is how the bonuses and negatives disproportionately affect all your population. You can buy a bunch of slaves and liberate them to easily give all your population (including those still enslaved) a +20 happy morale. If you have a few unavoidable cases of starvation due to blockage, you can have colonists of a different race revolting on planets on other side of the galaxy from the incident. It's not only nonsensical, but it's killing the AI factions, which dissolve into revolt as soon as anything goes wrong on one of their worlds.

The primary impact of morale modifiers should be first and foremost on the population group affect, secondarily on other population on the same world, and population of the same race elsewhere, and lastly (if at all) on unrelated population elsewhere. Do Yoral care if there are Ashdar starving on another planet? I doubt it. Should slaves feel happy that some other group of slaves somewhere were liberated, even though they're still enslaved? I don't think so.

Slaves should start with low morale. Liberating them should give a bigger morale boost, but it should be limited to the group that was liberated. There should be only minimal secondary boosts, and limited to any liberal local races, and free colonists of the same race elsewhere.

[bjg]

I'd suggest an additional "buy and liberate" routine that brings free colonists to the destination (with different or no moral modifiers), but you are rushing to release.

[SirDamnALot]

The big problem right now is how the bonuses and negatives disproportionately affect all your population. You can buy a bunch of slaves and liberate them to easily give all your population (including those still enslaved) a +20 happy morale. If you have a few unavoidable cases of starvation due to blockage, you can have colonists of a different race revolting on planets on other side of the galaxy from the incident. It's not only nonsensical, but it's killing the AI factions, which dissolve into revolt as soon as anything goes wrong on one of their worlds.

I think we can agree that it is odd that the slaves have a strong galaxy wide effect. Argument would more be that only the actual bought & liberated pop gets the bonus. Which may not really be feasable as the liberated pop mixes with the already present pop. Keeping tab on individual sub pop morale would be convoluted

But I like the galaxy wide effect if you start a war with race X and all your citizen belonging to that race become unhappy. Makes you choose more carefully which whom you start a fight.