Hill systems need to be spaced more. Having them all in a cluster gives the first fam to portal in there a huge advantage, especially with the bonuses that were in there (if your fam has the econ to protect and hold). Give each fam a hill system within 2-3ticks from their HS, this gives every fam an equal chance to own part of the hill and also promotes war.
I wouldnt make it HC cos that eliminates competition, leaving the fams that eliminated them at a huge advantage with no repercussions of any retals/ops thrown their way (small guys can do a lil damage, thats for sure)
Morale wasnt an issue really at any time after explo was close to finishing cos most of the morales had then been found and passed onto attackers. I know my fam had about 13-15 morales floating between the attackers in the end.
"I lie down next to an angel, fall asleep and fly with the demons"
I once prayed to god for some planets, but quickly found out he didnt work that way