Questions on Scientists, Bio Labs, Terraforming, and Defense.

[C4lv1n (OP)]

1.  How do I get more researchers? I know how to get more labs, but I see no option for researchers, I've been looking around in officer training and stuff but can't find it.  Or do I just wait for someone to decide to try to SCIENCE some stuff?

2.  How do I genetically modify species.  I've got a bio lab qued up and I have the initial tech and all the first rank ones for modifying the species' tolerances, but on Terra when I open the drop down menu it gives me no options.

3.  I've decided to terraform all the even remotely terraformable bodies in the Sol system, how dumb is this? On a scale of 1 - 10? 1 being something that's not that dumb and probably won't hurt anyone, 5 being something pretty dumb that will probably kill you, and 10 being starting a land war in Asia.

4.  Regardless of what I'm terraforming what is most efficient for ships (not bothering with the amount of ground modules or the tech level) lots of little ones with one or two modules? Or lots of big ones with lots of modules?

5.  Can I just ignore my defense untill I plan to leave Sol (Probably after Mars is terraformed) as long as I do minimal Defense research?

[Erik L]

1.  How do I get more researchers? I know how to get more labs, but I see no option for researchers, I've been looking around in officer training and stuff but can't find it.  Or do I just wait for someone to decide to try to SCIENCE some stuff?

Yes

2.  How do I genetically modify species.  I've got a bio lab qued up and I have the initial tech and all the first rank ones for modifying the species' tolerances, but on Terra when I open the drop down menu it gives me no options.

You need to design them like any other tech.

3.  I've decided to terraform all the even remotely terraformable bodies in the Sol system, how dumb is this? On a scale of 1 - 10? 1 being something that's not that dumb and probably won't hurt anyone, 5 being something pretty dumb that will probably kill you, and 10 being starting a land war in Asia.

I tend to not go for anything much over 2.5. Any more than that and it takes forever.

4.  Regardless of what I'm terraforming what is most efficient for ships (not bothering with the amount of ground modules or the tech level) lots of little ones with one or two modules? Or lots of big ones with lots of modules?

I put one in the ship, and send a fleet of 5 to the planet.

5.  Can I just ignore my defense untill I plan to leave Sol (Probably after Mars is terraformed) as long as I do minimal Defense research?

What if the aliens come to you?

[C4lv1n (OP)]

I tend to not go for anything much over 2.5

What do you mean by this? The colony cost of the planet?


Back to the bio thing, am I only able to modify humans? And to what end? So we can survive on more planets more easily?

[James Patten]

3.  I've decided to terraform all the even remotely terraformable bodies in the Sol system, how dumb is this? On a scale of 1 - 10? 1 being something that's not that dumb and probably won't hurt anyone, 5 being something pretty dumb that will probably kill you, and 10 being starting a land war in Asia.

On a scale of 1 - 10 of harm ("he has no ... charm"), it would be a 1 - because it won't hurt you or anyone else to try to terraform anything that can be terraformed.  However on a scale of futility, it will get pretty futile.  I tried once to terraform Titan, and after 15 or so years in I gave up because I was getting nowhere fast.  I changed instead to Mars and got somewhere real fast.  Take a look at the colony cost - if it's a 3 on down, it may be worth it.  However you must also look at what you have to add or subtract in order to get the perfect temperature (0 - 40 C), oxygen pressure (.1 to .3), oxy-to-other gasses ratio (less than 30%), total atmospheric pressure (4 or less), and removal of poisonous gasses.  Mars is (relatively) easy.  Titan is hard.  Venus isn't worth it.

[Tarran]

3.   I've decided to terraform all the even remotely terraformable bodies in the Sol system, how dumb is this? On a scale of 1 - 10? 1 being something that's not that dumb and probably won't hurt anyone, 5 being something pretty dumb that will probably kill you, and 10 being starting a land war in Asia. 

Well, for each planet:
Mars: 1
Mercury: 4
Venus: 9
Titan: 10

Mars is 2 because it's very easy to Terraform and unless you're strapped for resources, it's always nice to have a colony on Mars.

Mercury is 4 because it's hard to terraform, but will eventually get to a good point if you pump it full of anti-greenhouse gasses.

Venus is 9 because. . .  It's Venus.  It will no doubt take ages to Terraform.

And Titan is 10 because no matter what, it will never, ever reach colony cost 0 due to it's strangely low base temperature.  Don't even bother.

4.   Regardless of what I'm terraforming what is most efficient for ships (not bothering with the amount of ground modules or the tech level) lots of little ones with one or two modules? Or lots of big ones with lots of modules?

I go with 2-3.  Any more and the ship's too big and/or too slow in my opinion.  Also in my opinion, 1 is too little.

Back to the bio thing, am I only able to modify humans? And to what end? So we can survive on more planets more easily?

Any non-genetically altered species can be genetically altered.  That means you cannot genetically alter a genetically altered species.  Yes, it allows you to survive on more planets.  Personally, the only ones I think are worth researching are lower gravity and base temperature.  Maybe temperature range to give you an even further boost in lower temperatures.  Higher gravity is not really worth it because high-G planets are much rarer than low-G planets.  Higher temperature tolerance is completely worthless as you can lower a planet's temperature down into the negatives no matter how hot it's base temperature is with Anti-greenhouse gasses.  And oxygen range is 110% worthless because there's no limit to how much oxygen you can add or remove.

[dalord0]

One thing I found out the hard way is make sure if u alter a species to one that can't survive on your hw u better have infrastructure on the planet or a colony ship if you alter the gravity. 

[randal7]

1.  How do I get more researchers? I know how to get more labs, but I see no option for researchers, I've been looking around in officer training and stuff but can't find it.  Or do I just wait for someone to decide to try to SCIENCE some stuff?

Like officers and governors, scientists are randomly generated based on the number of military academies you have. One of my first projects is always to bring my total to the 5-7 range. Academies are facilities and can be built on the industry screen.

3.  I've decided to terraform all the even remotely terraformable bodies in the Sol system, how dumb is this? On a scale of 1 - 10? 1 being something that's not that dumb and probably won't hurt anyone, 5 being something pretty dumb that will probably kill you, and 10 being starting a land war in Asia.

Purple planets can never be fully terraformed, and in the long run are probably just better to fill with automines unless you have a really good reason to put people there. Reds I usually only terraform if there is a good mineral deposit or it is the only habitable planet in a system and I want people there. Mild spoiler: very hot planets in a habitable size with little/no atmosphere are the equivalent of reds or blues, even though they will show black for their colonization cost. This is because anti-greenhouse gases are more effective than greenhouse gases at changing temp. Always check the inner planets for these, because they don't stand out.

4.  Regardless of what I'm terraforming what is most efficient for ships (not bothering with the amount of ground modules or the tech level) lots of little ones with one or two modules? Or lots of big ones with lots of modules?

More modules is usually slightly more efficient per ship. But, I just go with what commercial yards I start with. If I have an extra yard, I design the biggest terraformer that will fit. If I have to build a new yard or expand an existing yard, I go with one module per ship. I don't think the slight resource/time savings of bigger terraformers is worth the effort to build monster yards for them, at least early on.

[Tarran]

Purple planets can never be fully terraformed, and in the long run are probably just better to fill with automines unless you have a really good reason to put people there.

Not necessarily.  Sometimes purples will be hot planets near the sun, which you can add Anti-GH onto them until they're habitable easily.

very hot planets in a habitable size with little/no atmosphere are the equivalent of reds or blues, even though they will show black for their colonization cost.  This is because anti-greenhouse gases are more effective than greenhouse gases at changing temp.  Always check the inner planets for these, because they don't stand out.

I doubt that's actually a spoiler.

[randal7]

Okay, maybe not a spoiler. I thought some people might like to figure things like that out on their own, however.

[Icebird]

About the terraformers, I tried a small one and a very very very big one.

The design is minimalist, just enough engines to have a slow speed of 400km/s (they are supposed to pass most of the time around a planet, not moving), and nothing else.

The small design have only one module, and it came at a cost of 686 BP.
Then the huge design, the Atlas, have 100 modules! And it came at a cost of 58930 BP. 85% only of the cost of 100 small terraformers. So for me the big design is better. But it need a titan shipyard, not a problem for me since I needed to make several Atlas to terraform Venus (I actually have 5 Atlas, removing a total of 3atm per year! In less than 30 years Venus will be colonisable!), and also wanted to make a giant asteroid miner.

Here are my designs:

Code: [Select]

Atlas class Terraformer    2 638 400 tons     23075 Crew     58930.4 BP      TCS 52768  TH 21875  EM 0
414 km/s     Armour 1-1700     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
Maint Capacity 14 MSP    Max Repair 500 MSP
Terraformer: 100 module(s) producing 0.4 atm per annum

C- ICF Drive E0.225 (100)    Power 218.75    Fuel Use 2.25%    Signature 218.75    Armour 0    Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 1 500 000 Litres    Range 45.4 billion km   (1269 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes


Code: [Select]

Earth Cracker R1 class Asteroid Miner    2 546 050 tons     44155 Crew     59980.8 BP      TCS 50921  TH 21875  EM 0
429 km/s     Armour 1-1660     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 1     PPV 0
Maint Capacity 15 MSP    Max Repair 120 MSP
Cargo 400000    Cargo Handling Multiplier 200    
Asteroid Miner: 400 module(s) producing 14400 tons per mineral per annum

C- ICF Drive E0.225 (100)    Power 218.75    Fuel Use 2.25%    Signature 218.75    Armour 0    Exp 1%
Fuel Capacity 4 000 000 Litres    Range 125.5 billion km   (3386 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes


[Charlie Beeler]

Unless you tweek the available resources, population for taxes and manpower, and several other game parameters  ships that larger are not practical within the scope of Aurora.  Terraformers with 1-5 modules are very practical and don't segnificantly degrade your ability to build anything else. 

[ShadoCat]

The factual points have been answered by others.

For the size of the terraformers, I build the biggest I can fit in my yards.  I don't worry so much about speed since they mostly aren't going anywhere. I use the same philosophy when designing Sorium Harvesters. I use a faster tanker to shuttle fuel to a colony (if the gas giant doesn't have a convenient moon to turn into a colony).

As far as terraforming everything, I tend to park my terraformers at Mars until it is done.  Then I find the next best location (wherever I find it).

[sloanjh]

I usually put no engines in my terraformers and use tugs to move them.

John

[ShadoCat]

I usually put no engines in my terraformers and use tugs to move them.

I considered that.  I didn't do it because then I'd have to think about coordinating the tugs with the terraformers.  That's the same reason I generally put jump engines on my surveyors.

[sloanjh]

I considered that.  I didn't do it because then I'd have to think about coordinating the tugs with the terraformers.  That's the same reason I generally put jump engines on my surveyors.

Since terraforming usually takes a loooooooong time, the tugs are usually sitting around sol waiting until they're needed to move the terraformers to the next target.  That being said, it does take a year or two to move a significant fleet of terraformers....

John