Terraforming

[canshow (OP)]

1) Does each gas/compound that can be added to an atmosphere via terraforming have a specific greenhouse/anti-greenhouse value associated to it or are the values a flat number for the category? If they aren't flat, does anyone have the data for them?

2) Does terraforming in anyway leave permanent or dependently conditional changes (other than gh/agh factors and temperature) to planets? If so, what are all the possibilities?

3) How the hell do I terraform this to a suitable temperature without having the planet atmo pressure above 1.9 ?

[Prince of Space]

1. According to this old post I dug up:

The formulas used are shown on the Environment tab of the Economics window

Surface Temperature in Kelvin = Base Temperature in Kelvin x Greenhouse Factor x Albedo

Greenhouse Factor = 1 + (Atmospheric Pressure /10) + Greenhouse Pressure   (Maximum = 3.0)

So every gas adds a little to the greenhouse factor but greenhouse gases add 10x as much.

my takeaway is that any (nontoxic) greenhouse gas is interchangable with any other, and likewise for any (nontoxic) non-greenhouse gas.

2. Terraforming an atmosphere can melt surface ice, which will cause a sudden discontinuity in your surface temperature as the planetary albedo changes. I think it's reversible if you decide to cool off the planet again for some reason.

3. In general, not all planets and moons can be terraformed into perfect habitability for a given species. For standard humans in Sol, you can't terraform Saturn's moon Titan to colony cost zero. That's where genetic modification comes in handy.

For the planet you posted, it looks like you will hit the maximum greenhouse factor (3.0) before you get it warm enough for baseline humans. By my estimation that planet would need a greenhouse factor of 15 or so.

[canshow (OP)]

So CO2 and 'safe greenhouse gas' have the same greenhouse value?

And is there anyway to add surface ice to a planet through terraforming or no?

[Prince of Space]

Yes, they have the same greenhouse value.

Adding water to the atmosphere doesn't change the hydrosphere. The game doesn't simulate planetary science on a deep enough level for that. Anyway, surface ice decreases the albedo value (numerically opposite in game from in real life) reflecting incoming stellar radiation back into space, rather than absorbing it and heating up the planet. So even if you could add to the glacier coverage, it wouldn't help you here.

[canshow (OP)]

mmmm alright, thanks.