im a noob, can someone walk me through the implications of the OP?

Thanks in advance!

Currently when you calculate morale it goes:

(positive flat value - negative flat value) * percent modifiers

This means that if you have even 300% improved morale bonusses from various sources it doesn't have a big effect because it is multiplied against a small number.  It should be:

(positive flat value * percent modifiers) - negative flat value

This means that the percent modifiers are always helping you.  Just in case you don't know, the "negative flat value" is typically the Large Empire Penalty.  This penalty is -0.2 morale per world in your empire.  The effect was that if you had enough planets in your empire then there was nothing you could do to keep morale high.  There are only a limited number of flat morale bonuses (the rest being using planet tiles for improvements).  Because of the previous calculation method, using % bonusses was not available to you because they had no effect.  This removed part of your morale fighting arsenal, so to speak.  Now this will be fixed and you will have more tools with which to keep morale high.

Though, as mentioned many times, morale isn't really that important anyway...

I question this statement.

I did an optimization exercise a little while back, and found that on a Q12 planet building an approval building first (to get to 100%) was the best building you could build to optimize a research planet. Not a hospital, not a factory, approval was the best.

Approval increases your base production and growth. That means you get your population quicker, and build buildings faster. You also get some influence as well, but that its not really pertinent to the discussion.

Population is also stronger now than it was in previous versions, so those factors are stronger than they used to be.

Now once your planets all mature approval may become less important. But during the main growth stages of your colonies, its a solid bonus.

I know I'm in late game right now, but I just colonized a harsh environment planet the AI never landed on, and I have 38 approval from the get go.  My planets are at pop 50s, with 100% approval.  With 2 approval buildings, I have nearly 70 approval points.

Approval adds up.  And to help convince you, I took a note from your playbook, and tried Patriotic this game ( a custom faction for this turtle/influence game).  When you have NO Malus, those approval multipliers are INSANE!! 

Try playing a game with it (or please, just build ONE so you can say you have, haha), and you might get a different perspective. 

Based on my previous statement, I would argue this statement as well. Even just the +4 morale tech and the intro morale buildings are a great starting point, you don't have to climb the entire tree of morale to get bang for your buck.

In terms of early production, I would actually ask....what is more important?

The research/factory/econ upgrades are a waste of manu early on (and in some cases just a waste period). Terraforming isn't needed until your planets fill out with the intro buildings. Your farms don't need upgrades for a bit of time. The government total manu bonuses are proper the most other attractive development bonuses early on. But squeezing in a few morale techs I don't think is a major sacrifice.

Honestly, I hate the LEP enough for me to stop playing Gal Civ 3 if this is a permanent feature. The whole approval system leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Population should be the primary control of approval not how many planets are in the goddamn empire (high pop=high squalor=low approval).

Citizen 1: "Hey citizen 2, you hear how the Emperor Player 1 added two more planets to our 10 planet empire?"

Citizen 2" "Yeah, that makes me really mad!"

Jesus guys, there are so many ways you could make it harder for larger empires than messing with approval. Perhaps a increasing maintenance cost for planets (more planets means a larger, less efficient bureaucracy). Or maybe a decreasing influence factor meaning planets are more easily flipped (larger empires find it harder to control their borders).

Now I suppose I could just suck it up, play with patriotic and ignore LEP all together. Might as well just use the thalan tech tree while I'm at it. 

Except that you didn't ignore morale at all, you hyperfocused on it!

You took 2 traits and worked to gain resources that give you morale. In that case, you can absolutely ignore morale tech and buildings for a while...that is what you paid for after all.

But in other scenarios, morale becomes more useful to gain.

Way ahead of you - https://forums.galciv3.com/467103/page/1/#3562471

I think the fact that we have 3-4 modders all producing mods which outright remove or replace LEP suggests that the mechanic is in dire need of re-evaluation. Especially since multiple modders are also finding that maintenance not only works, but the AI actually handles it better than LEP on large maps, even without modification...