Terraformation and climates

Discussion and questions regarding the game rules
Brend
Veolian Commonwealth
Mercury
Mercury
Chriz
Praetorian Empire

Terraformation and climates

Post Veolian Commonwealth » Fri Dec 30, 2011 11:59 pm
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The rules on terraformation state that "Not included is technology to change planetary climates or to 'terraform' planets in Hot or Cold orbits. This will be added later."

I'm interested in climate-switching terraformation technologies, as these seem a good way to allow players with smaller economies to have some benefit from terraformation without directly requiring large investments (i.e., it they sound like they play well with smaller economies.)

Is any information on this forthcoming?

I think these technologies should focus on adding some type of climate (for example, ''Atmospheric Density Moderation" to induce the Tranquility climate), and not on changing one climate to the other as this would create an explosion of new techs.

The previous option can be extended with one to three 'clearing' techs (one for atmospherical issues, one for core issues, and one for climatological issues?) that enable the terraformer to remove an undesirable climate. I think this last option is the best one, both from a technological viewpoint and from a game-balance point of view.
Post Mercury » Sat Dec 31, 2011 12:37 am
Post Veolian Commonwealth » Sat Dec 31, 2011 12:43 am
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Anything we (the players) can do to help out on this one?

If so:

What direction are you thinking?

How does one calculate costs for such things (both the (:terraform) costs and the research (:tax) and (:turn) costs)?
Post Mercury » Mon Jan 02, 2012 9:27 pm
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Mercury
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I need to check my notes for price calculations, which I already made mostly - they just need a small conversion. I was thinking of technology to add a climate and technology to remove a climate feature. In all cases, the total climate must remain legal (so you cannot have two mutually exclusive climate features).

I like the idea of classifying climates in different groups, but they need to both make sense logically and be somewhat evenly. I came up with this idea for a division:


So that'd be four technologies with two options (remove a climate feature or add a climate feature) each. You could apply the same technology multiple times to remove a climate feature, then remove another, then add a third, for example to replace two features by one other feature.

I do need some idea's on names of the technology, with associated icons.
Post Veolian Commonwealth » Mon Jan 02, 2012 10:00 pm
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You come up with the hard values, we (the players) will then suggest names & icons.

So we need from you:
  • For the terraformation itself: initiation cost, (:terraform)-cost
  • For the technologies: Research time, Research cost
Post Veolian Commonwealth » Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:39 am
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admin wrote:I need to check my notes for price calculations, which I already made mostly - they just need a small conversion.


This is a bump with rationale.

Could you either:
  1. Make your calculations and notes public as-is (so we take up some of the work, thereby relieving admin of workload), or
  2. Make the small conversion?
Post Mercury » Sat Jan 14, 2012 1:36 pm
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I want to create about four technologies regarding the climates. Each technology covers a group of climates and can be used to either remove a climate in that group from a world or add a climate from that group to a word (both are separate actions with identical costs). Repeat as needed.

I currently envision the following groupings, but I am open to suggestions:

Code: Select all
Flora & Fauna:

Abundant Flora
Barren
Gigantic Trees
Scarce Flora

Planet Composition:

Active Core
Exposed Mantle
Extreme Crevasses
Solidified Core
Volcanic

General Climate & Seasons (not happy with this name):

Cold Climate
Dry Climate
Hot Climate
Wet Climate
Short Summer
Short Winter

Atmosphere:

Continuous Tempests
High Pressure
Toxic Gasses
Tranquillity


I calculated the cost of removing or adding a climate at 50 (:terraform) per zone plus 250 (:tax), but I think that is too much to be practical, so I reduced this to 25 (:terraform) per zone, but keeping the 250 (:tax).

That leaves the following to be done:

  • Deciding on the final set of groups and naming each group
  • Adding to the climate data block to include a group (also adjust list of climates)
  • Adding the correct group to each climate
  • Naming and describing the technology for each group, plus image on wiki
Post Veolian Commonwealth » Wed Jan 18, 2012 9:56 pm
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I'm working on this.
Post Veolian Commonwealth » Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:05 pm
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I propose we drop 'general' from 'General Climates & Seasons' group name. I also propose (for technological reasons) to use 'and' instead of '&' in all group names.

I have thought up names and costs for the technologies:
  • Accelerated Ecosynthesis,1200 (:tax) / 4 (:turns). Enables the 'Flora and Fauna' group
  • Planetary Geoengineering, 1500 (:tax) / 5 (:turns). Enables the 'Planet Composition' group
  • Solar Radiation Management, 1800 (:tax) / 6 (:turns). Enables the 'Climates and Seasons' group.
  • Atmospheric Conditioning, 1200 (:tax) / 4 (:turns). Enables the 'Atmosphere' group.
The general idea: each climate costs 300 (:tax) + 1 (:turn). The techs sum up to 5700 (:tax).

As soon as I have confirmation I will update the wiki to reflect these new technologies and climate meta-data.
Post Praetorian Empire » Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:09 pm
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I helped determining the pricing and durations so i concur :)
Post Veolian Commonwealth » Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:53 pm
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We (me and admin) have determined the following: All four climate technologies will cost 1500 (:tax) and 5 (:turns).

When new climates are designed they will be assigned to one of the groups, or a new group will be created to fit the new climate. In this we try to keep the groups around the same size (obviously not possible of a new climate group has to be created).
Post Veolian Commonwealth » Mon Jan 23, 2012 10:52 pm
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I have: a) grouped all climates, b) added the prerequiste technologies to the wiki and c) closed the associated task.

We should now stop with the terraformation techs for a while. At the moment of writing roughly half of the known technologies is a terraformation technology. We should direct our OOC technology attention to other areas for now.

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