The Morgons
Where they come from
No sector starts with Morgons. The eight Morgon bases launch them, and the Morgons know only what they’ve seen. Each base starts by sending out two scouts, which search the system sector by sector. Then each standing base launches every few minutes:
- Scouts, to replace those it has lost.
- A mining squad of two, to a field the Morgons have found, picking the one with the most loose Thalorite they last saw.
- A squad of five warriors, to attack the nearest station the Morgons have found within reach.
The war grows harder with time. A base’s first launch comes 1 to 3 minutes into the run. Its launches start 8 minutes apart and come faster as the run goes on, down to 3 minutes apart by 90 minutes in. A base launches faster still while you’re in its sector. The Morgons pick at random between nearly equal choices, so a system you’ve played before won’t attack in the same order.
When they find you
Warriors come after you only once a Morgon has found you. A scout or a miner in your sector reports you (SPOTTED BY A MORGON SCOUT), docked or not. The nearest base then sends three warriors to where you were seen, but never while you’re already fighting Morgons.
A scout that finds you trails you from sector to sector, reporting where you are, until you destroy it or lose it with a hyperwarp jump. Kill scouts to stop the reports. Warriors that reach where you were seen and don’t find you there attack that sector’s station, or go home.
Out there and in here
Away from you, Morgons aren’t flown. They travel the map in straight lines, about 2 minutes a sector. The sector map shows those it can see, with lines to the stations they’re heading for.
Only in your sector do they come out and fight. The first appears a few seconds after you arrive, far off. Two are out at a time, and when one is destroyed, the next comes out a few seconds later. You can’t outrun them, and a hyperwarp jump doesn’t shake one that’s out: it turns up near you again 8 seconds after you drop out.
Docking is an escape. While you’re docked, no Morgons are out, but every one in the sector turns on the station, and those after you turn on you again as you launch.
How they fight
Morgons are faster than you and circle you in a loop of passes:
- Closing. It turns toward you and closes in, head on or overtaking from behind, firing slow, glowing violet photon balls. It leads its shots, but not perfectly. They’re slow enough to dodge, and your photons shoot them down.
- Running out. Once past, it flies on into the distance. If you follow, it drops blinking bombs in your path. They go off two seconds later, or when a rock or one of your photons touches them, and break every rock nearby. It times them to catch you, or to break rocks just ahead of you, so chasing one down brings it into your sights, and its bombs too.
- Turning back. Far enough away, it turns and comes at you again.
A Morgon has 30 hull and no shields: four of your standard photons. Its own bombs and hard crashes hurt it as they hurt you. One you shoot or ram turns on you for good.
| Their weapon | Costs you, before shields |
|---|---|
| A photon ball | 15 hull |
| A bomb’s blast | Up to 40 hull at its center, less toward its edge |
A bomb’s blast breaks rocks, and broken rocks leave Thalorite, so a bomb can be a windfall too.
Attacking stations
Warriors sent to a station make diving runs at it, firing as they come, then break off and come round again. Those waiting in its sector besiege it all the while, wherever you are. A station slowly repairs itself, so one Morgon can’t wear it down, but more can:
| Morgons besieging | A full station lasts |
|---|---|
| 1 | Forever |
| 2 | About 2¾ hours |
| 3 | About an hour |
| 5 | About 30 minutes |
| 10 | About 13 minutes |
A warrior attacking a station turns on you once you come within 600 m or shoot it. Destroying a station’s attackers ends the attack until more arrive. Left alone, the Morgons take every station but two in about 75 minutes.
Captured sectors
A station the Morgons destroy is captured. Its attackers stay as a garrison, which their base keeps topped up to five, and the sector becomes Morgon territory, tinted orange on the map. A garrison fights you in its sector but doesn’t follow you out. The front spreads: a base attacks stations within reach of any of its territory, so one lost station puts the next in reach. Destroy the whole garrison and the sector is free again (RETAKEN), though its station stays a wreck.
Miners
Miners go after the nearest bundles and shoot rocks to free more. A miner leaves you alone until you come within 300 m or shoot it, then fights like any warrior, keeping what it carries. Destroy it and its Thalorite is lost with it.