Removing gasses from an atmosphere should be far more time consuming than adding

[Foolcow (OP)]

I could be wrong, as I don't know the physics behind it, but to me it seems intuitively obvious that this would be the case.

Also, this is one way to eliminate the exploit of killing an enemy population with 0.001 atm of chlorine and then removing it just as quickly to make the planet habitable again.

Maybe removing 0.001 atm of a gas should take ten to twenty years for a single terraformer, rather than just one year.

[Thiosk]

Its not really all that much more difficult, but you raise an interesting point.  Its all about concentration.  If the atmosphere is 100 % chlorine, it is easy to condense chlorine.  If its 100% nitrogen, same holds true.  Its hard to pull CO2 out of our atmosphere, because its at 0.039%  You get too much of the other stuff for each molecule of co2.

Perhaps gas removal rates should have diminishing returns with lower gas concentration.  However, in the far future, one could envision industrial-scale catalytic processes that could process huge volumes of atmosphere and eliminate the trace gas.

[Sheb]

It is true that yo eliminate every single trace of gas, you'd need to process the whole athmosphere, while you only need to open a few containers to release gas.

[UnLimiTeD]

Best would be to have diminishing returns based on the percentage, so the speed goes down if it's below 20%, capping at 1% with a speed of 5-10% for gameplay reasons.
Then again, one has to ask how did the gas get there in the first place, and won't it be produced again?
Also, on a planet with no biosphere, one should need terraformers to keep up the atmosphere that is breathed by the inhabitants.

[Thiosk]

I'd support permanent terraformers.  I'd also support orbital mirrors to increase or decrease base temperature.

[Shadow]

I'd support permanent terraformers.  I'd also support orbital mirrors to increase or decrease base temperature.

Mirrors? They hardly seem like a permanent solution.

[Thiosk]

Exactly.  Shoot em on alien colonies for GFFP

[Shadow]

Exactly.  Shoot em on alien colonies for GFFP

I thought that was something Steve was looking to avoid.

[UnLimiTeD]

We need to search for as many ways as possible to sneak it back in.
Aurora spams us with so many potentially habitable worlds it doesn't make a difference anyways.^^
Seriously, those are potentially nice ideas. But lets keep the ideas in small packets, some some of them might someday have a chance of being Implemented.

[Thiosk]

Also, on a planet with no biosphere, one should need terraformers to keep up the atmosphere that is breathed by the inhabitants.

I just changed my mind on this.  When the planet is terraformed, one would assume the biosphere is then installed by the humans.  I mean, the air is breathable and the temperature is right, why wouldn't colonists plant trees?

Where we would lose atmospheric pressure is from low gravity.  Its doubtful Mars will ever hold a proper breathable atmosphere because the gravity isn't high enough to hold on to it.  Escape velocities of the gas molecules and what not.

[UnLimiTeD]

It's take about a million years, and it's mostly because of solar wind.
The Earth has a Magnetic field, thats why we're save.
Even venus is constantly trailin large amounts of Atmosphere, but with the current pressure, that'll take a while.
Regarding biosphere, if you assume that, you also have to assume that there is a bipsphere to begin with on any planet where you can actually build a new one, and that poses new problebs.
What is the entire planet is covered in a furry fungus producing large amounts of toxic waste every day?
You'd have to blanket the planet with nukes to plant anything.
On a barren rock with just enough gravity to sustain an artificial Atmosphere, in turn, it might be impossible to install a biosphere without importing way more than just gas.

And hey, while we're on it, a bigger planet should need way more gas to create an atmosphere.^^   

[Yonder]

Mirrors? They hardly seem like a permanent solution.

Why not? A mirror in a suitably high orbit would stay their indefinitely, especially given trans-newtonian propulsion capabilities. I'm sure a tiny station-keeping engine is basically free. It would be able to directly increase the amount of sunlight a planet received.

To decrease the amount of sunlight a planet receives you'd just need to use a large, semi-translucent screen. Either once again in orbit, which would give alternating periods of full-sunlight, shaded sunlight during the day, or out at the Lagrange point in between the colony and the sun.

(The latter would be a little trickier for a moon that was being colonized, but still doable since you can orbit around the Lagrange point to position yourself better. Once again, trans-newtonian propulsion can be used to handwave the details away.)

In point of fact using these mirrors or screens would theoretically be more permanent solutions than just adding or removing gases, since any gas in an atmosphere has some sort of source on the planet.

They'd be a lot more vulnerable to violence though.

[Shadow]

Yes. Blow up the mirrors and very soon you'll be back to square one. At least as far as temperature is concerned.

A proper atmosphere would likely be more permanent and reliable than the thousands upon thousands of mirrors you'd need to build.

I guess a good parallel would be a powered heater (mirrors) vs. a cozy sweater (atmosphere).

[UnLimiTeD]

Ultimately, the high tech solution would be to create a forcefield to shield the planet, which also allows to create a much denser atmosphere, and aid planetary bombardment.
Hey, how about someone post the original suggestion about gas removal in the official suggestion board?^^

[Zed 6]

Ultimately, the high tech solution would be to create a forcefield to shield the planet

The top-secret entry code to Druidia's atmosphere: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5;
Mega-Maid and ludicrous speed come to mind.