Author Topic: Terraforming installations vs modules  (Read 2875 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline AbuDhabi (OP)

  • Sub-Lieutenant
  • ******
  • Posts: 104
  • Thanked: 2 times
Terraforming installations vs modules
« on: October 05, 2016, 04:24:32 AM »
Why are they so different in required resources, but produce the same amount of atmosphere per unit?

I mean, compare:
Installations take up 125k tons, versus modules taking up 25k tons.
Installations require 250k manufacturing civilians, versus modules requiring 100 crew.
Installations cost 300 duranium and boronide, versus modules costing 250 of each.

Why don't they produce like 5 or 10 times the atmosphere per unit, to compensate for how expensive they are compared to modules?
 

Offline Thanatos

  • Warrant Officer, Class 1
  • *****
  • T
  • Posts: 97
  • Thanked: 2 times
Re: Terraforming installations vs modules
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2016, 06:14:18 AM »
For one, because servicing such large ships requires a different kind of economy. You need a shipyard for tugs, then there is the fact that constructing these ships is going to take a very long time, because your factories will have 12k or something like that, production, while your shipyard will have 1k.

It is an economic and industrial question, rather than efficiency. Do you engage your military hard and limited assets, or your economy? It's that kind of thing.
 

Offline AbuDhabi (OP)

  • Sub-Lieutenant
  • ******
  • Posts: 104
  • Thanked: 2 times
Re: Terraforming installations vs modules
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2016, 06:23:20 AM »
You can build terraforming module-equipped stuff with Industry, too! Just class it as a PDC, or put an Orbital Habitat Module on it. In my current game, I'm pulling around "ships" that have 1x Orbital Hab and 50x Terraforming Module.

If these could be only produced in shipyards, then that argument would make a lot more sense, given how much of a giant bother it is to build big ships in shipyards. It would be annoying even with being able to produce ship components ahead of time (since you still need an appropriate size shipyard, it's just the time to make that is much shorter).
 

Iranon

  • Guest
Re: Terraforming installations vs modules
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2016, 07:18:39 AM »
Or even without habitats... one arge civilian yard isn't that expensive. Prefabricate the modules with constuction factories, and the terraformer builds in no time at all - even if you add a few also-prefabricated engines.

I never build the installations. Even if they were significantly cheaper, the manpower requirements are the dealbreaker.
 
The following users thanked this post: AbuDhabi

Offline AbuDhabi (OP)

  • Sub-Lieutenant
  • ******
  • Posts: 104
  • Thanked: 2 times
Re: Terraforming installations vs modules
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2016, 07:24:09 AM »
Hm. I never did think of just making superhuge civvie yards; it seemed much easier to apply the entire industry to the job. Plus, the habitats encourage civilian shipping to start delivering colonists immediately, who will be delivered around the time that terraforming finishes. Still, that's a decent alternative, I'll remember that!

And yeah, the manpower is the huge deal here. Not sure it would be at all practical to terraform Venus with installations; I only ever did it with modules.
 

Offline Garfunkel

  • Registered
  • Admiral of the Fleet
  • ***********
  • Posts: 2781
  • Thanked: 1048 times
Re: Terraforming installations vs modules
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2016, 04:47:57 PM »
Installations are not practical for any body where the colonization cost is big and aren't meant to be. Perhaps the values could be juggled some, I don't know. But they are useful in early games for low colony cost bodies like Luna and Mars, because civilian shipping lines will take care of transporting enough colonists and infrastructure to keep them going. Especially if you don't need colonists to work mines on those two. So you don't have to waste resources/time on building OHs or expanding your shipyards. Usually by the time I have the spare industry and SYs to start constructing orbital terraforming bases, Mars and Luna will both have been terraformed already, at which point the installations can be moved to outer system moons or off Sol with shipping lines again. This way I don't have to worry about keeping a fleet of tugs in service and there is an alternative terraforming method always available as necessary.

Maybe it's different for TN starts but I've found this a very workable strategy in conventional starts.