Terraforming/Alien Environments

[Jarhead0331 (OP)]

The latest tutorial on terraforming was enlightening but it practically made my head explode.  I do not do well with mathematic formulas, decimal points and fractions...and I certainly don't enjoy dealing with those things in a game during my recreation.

I would suggest some sort of graphic or chart that would quickly aid a player in determining the environmental conditions of a planet or body at a glance.  By way of example, MOO3 has a neat "sweet spot" chart that shows were a particular world falls in relation to the "ideal" conditions of your species...

This is a poor picture of it, but its in the bottom right of the screen.



Basically, an 'x' is located on the chart indicating where the particular world falls in terms of atmospheric condition.  The further it is away from the center, the more hostile the world is.

Can something like this be implemented easily into Aurora?

[waresky]

ahhhh MOO3 awesome programm..

i think Steve will implement some graphical easy look,hope him found a code viable for upgrade the "enjoy in Colonization".

MOO3 example r perfect_:=D

[lastverb]

I do not do well with mathematic formulas, decimal points and fractions...and I certainly don't enjoy dealing with those things in a game during my recreation.

well this game is complex like hell, environment is one of the easier parts, if u dont like complex games, then this one is not for you.

[Kurt]

The latest tutorial on terraforming was enlightening but it practically made my head explode.  I do not do well with mathematic formulas, decimal points and fractions...and I certainly don't enjoy dealing with those things in a game during my recreation.

I would suggest some sort of graphic or chart that would quickly aid a player in determining the environmental conditions of a planet or body at a glance.  By way of example, MOO3 has a neat "sweet spot" chart that shows were a particular world falls in relation to the "ideal" conditions of your species...

This is a poor picture of it, but its in the bottom right of the screen.



Basically, an 'x' is located on the chart indicating where the particular world falls in terms of atmospheric condition.  The further it is away from the center, the more hostile the world is.

Can something like this be implemented easily into Aurora?

Really, the most important thing to know in colonization is the colony cost figure.  You need to understand all of the underlying mechanics to understand how that cost figure is derived, but you don't need to know all of that to play.  You just need to know how expensive it is going to be to colonize the planet.  Once you try terraforming the planet, you'll start understanding the underlying mechanics better.  Even then, you don't need to understand it all, just the basics that apply to modifying the planet to suit your race.

Kurt

[Jarhead0331 (OP)]

I do not do well with mathematic formulas, decimal points and fractions...and I certainly don't enjoy dealing with those things in a game during my recreation.

well this game is complex like hell, environment is one of the easier parts, if u dont like complex games, then this one is not for you.

Nowhere in my post did I state I do not like complex games...in fact, if you'd read any of the PR I'm giving Aurora in other wargaming forums, or any of my other posts in this forum, you'd know my position is to the contrary.  Rather, I simply suggested creating a simple graphic that would take away some of the necessity of working out mathematical equations.  This is a reasonable suggestion I believe and has nothing to do with the inherent "complexity" of the game.  Games can be complex without the need for geometry and arithmetic.

[Steve Walmsley]

The latest tutorial on terraforming was enlightening but it practically made my head explode.  I do not do well with mathematic formulas, decimal points and fractions...and I certainly don't enjoy dealing with those things in a game during my recreation.

I would suggest some sort of graphic or chart that would quickly aid a player in determining the environmental conditions of a planet or body at a glance.  By way of example, MOO3 has a neat "sweet spot" chart that shows were a particular world falls in relation to the "ideal" conditions of your species...

Basically, an 'x' is located on the chart indicating where the particular world falls in terms of atmospheric condition.  The further it is away from the center, the more hostile the world is.

Can something like this be implemented easily into Aurora?

Not very easily because several different factors affect the colony cost figure and the colony cost can be changed more rapidly in some circumstances than others. You don't need to remember or use the complex formulae but I went into detail to give some idea of the rationale behind them. Essentially, the closer the colony cost to zero, the less infrastructure you need. Check out the colony cost factors for a planet in the bottom left of the System View Window. Whichever factor is the highest will be the colony cost used for the planet so that is the one you need to tackle first. If the temperature colony cost is the highest, add or remove greenhourse gases or anti-greenhouse gases. If the problem is dangerous gases in the atmosphere then remove them. If the problem is a lack of oxygen then add oxygen, etc. Once that problem is solved, if the colony cost is still not zero then check what else needs to be done.

A different approach is to look for planets that are close to ideal and don't require much terraforming. Candidates would include planets with < 2 colony cost, in which case the issue will be purely temperature related. Or look for planets with the right temperature but with insufficient oxygen. You will quickly get used to it. A useful window to help you is the Available Colony Analysis window. Ctrl-A from the main menu or the Earth icon on the System Map. This will show you all the potentially habitable planets and allow you to sort and filter them to help your search.

Steve