Morale
What is morale in Old Light?
When a much larger empire attacks a much smaller one, the attacker's ships fight at reduced strength. It is the after-shield counterpart to beginner protection, keeping wildly mismatched fights costly for the larger attacker so growing empires stay viable targets.
When a much larger empire attacks a much smaller one, the attacker's ships fight at reduced strength. The wider the gap in score, the weaker they fight.
It is the after-shield version of Beginner Protection. The five-day shield keeps brand-new players safe; once it expires, morale makes a big empire pay for attacking a much smaller one.
When it applies
Defender-only exemption for NPCs. Sparring against NPCs is unaffected, a human attacking an NPC always fights at full strength. But an NPC that has grown larger than a human and attacks them takes the same penalty a human attacker would. Only the defender's kind controls the exemption.
Only the attacker takes the penalty. A smaller empire attacking a larger one keeps its full 100% strength.
Large defenders get most of the protection removed. An empire holding 80 or more systems, or scoring a million or more, is not who this rule exists to shelter. Attacking one still costs you morale, but only a third of what it normally would: at the very worst ratio you fight at 70% instead of 10%. Either threshold qualifies on its own, so a wide empire that has not built up much clears it on system count, and a compact fully-upgraded one clears it on score.
Provocation lifts the penalty. If a smaller empire keeps attacking you, each of its attacks in the last seven days raises your morale against it by 5%, capped at 100%. Each of your own attacks on it in that time takes 5% back, never below zero. Probes alone do not count.
Stacking with credit deficit
Morale stacks multiplicatively with the credit deficit penalty, the derate your ships take when your treasury runs dry. An attacker in deficit fighting a much smaller defender pays both costs at once. If credit deficit cuts your strength to 40% and morale cuts it to 50%, you fight at 20%.
When morale is calculated
Preview at dispatch. When you open the dispatch dialog against another human, the modal shows the morale you would fight at right now. This is advisory only.
Authoritatively at landing. When your fleet actually arrives, the server recomputes morale fresh from both empires' current scores and the provocation count at that moment. If the defender has grown (or shrunk) during the flight, the morale you fight at can differ from what the dispatch preview showed.
Score comes from buildings, not ships, so a defender losing a wave of fleet does not move their score. If you are fighting with a provocation bonus, each wave that lands takes 5% of it back, so a follow-up wave can fight at lower morale than the one before it.
Strategy
Pick your fights at favorable ratios. Up to about 2:1 the penalty is mild, but it cliffs hard from there: past 3:1 your ships fight markedly weaker, and a 10:1 attack costs more in your own losses than the loot can repay.
Against the biggest empires the penalty shrinks. The same 10:1 gap that leaves you at 34% strength against a small target leaves you at 78% against one holding 80 systems.
Keep Trade Hubs ahead of fleet upkeep before committing, a credit deficit on top of morale compounds fast.
See also
Combat: how battles resolve, including the credit-deficit derate that stacks with morale.
Beginner Protection: the spawn shield that protects new players for their first five days.
Scoring: where the score ratio comes from.
So say we all.
Common questions
Who takes the morale penalty?
Only the attacker. A smaller empire attacking a larger one keeps full strength; morale never punishes the underdog. Attacking an NPC always fights at full strength, but an NPC larger than a human takes the same penalty when it attacks.
Does morale protect the biggest empires too?
Mostly not. An empire holding 80 or more systems, or scoring a million or more, is treated as a large defender, and an attacker takes only a third of the usual penalty against them. At the worst ratio that is 70% strength instead of 10%. Either threshold qualifies on its own.
Can I strike back at a smaller empire that keeps attacking me?
Yes. Provocation lifts the penalty: if a smaller empire keeps attacking you, each of its attacks in the last seven days raises your morale against it by 5%, capped at 100%. Each of your own attacks on it in that time takes 5% back, never below zero. Probes alone do not count.
How does morale interact with credit deficit?
They stack multiplicatively. An attacker in deficit punching down pays both costs at once. If credit deficit cuts your strength to 40% and morale cuts it to 50%, you fight at 20%.
When is morale calculated?
You get an advisory preview in the dispatch dialog against another human. The server recomputes it authoritatively when your fleet lands, from both empires' current scores and any provocation bonus, so the value can differ if the defender grew or shrank during the flight.