How to...terraform the MOON !

[AncientSion (OP)]

Im not sure, but i suppose im doing something wrong.
I colonized Luna, shipped Infrastructure and Colonists.
Then Civs began to ship stuff themselves.
I then decided to ship Terraforming Installations to the Moon, 10 in total.
I tried adding Nitrogen 80, Oxygen 20 and 1 % Argon to the Atmosphere (this is what Earth showed me).
I now have these values, but the total ATM is only 0.1023, while i suppose i need 1 ?

How exactly should i continue if i my goal was to turn the Moon into a small Earth ? Is that even possible (lifeless rock ?) And what would be the advantage, besides not needing Infrastructure to support higher Pop ?

thanks !

[Ostia]

Did you let the Terra-forming run? TF is a fairly lengthy task, especially in the early game. Getting up to your target ATM will take a while, especially with just 10 TF installations (You will get a message in the event updates once it is finished). You should either add more installations or build some ship-based TF. Here is my TF ship (I use 50 of these):

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Carbonator class Terraformer    59,650 tons     290 Crew     1619.6 BP      TCS 1193  TH 1200  EM 0
1005 km/s     Armour 1-135     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     PPV 0
MSP 34    Max Repair 500 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 1    
Terraformer: 2 module(s) producing 0.006 atm per annum

Betti Aeromarine 400 EP Commercial Magneto-plasma Drive (3)    Power 400    Fuel Use 4.42%    Signature 400    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,000,000 Litres    Range 68.2 billion km   (785 days at full power)

This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposesFlag them as conscript since they will be in orbit a lot.

That aside a TF of Luna is viable, but you need to watch the temperature a bit. Add some Greenhouse gases to get Luna above -30C (minimum temp. fur humans). In general, I only use Oxygen, Anti-GH, GH and Nitrogen, depending on how I need to influence the temp.

AS for the advantages: Colony Cost 0 means infinite grow, which means more wealth. And money rules not only the world but the entire universe. That also means you will have a large amount of workers available after a while. So moving your labs or shipyards to the moon might be an option to free up workforce on Earth if needed.

[Barkhorn]

A big advantage of terraforming is that it reduces the fraction of your population which is required for supporting the rest of the population.  I think its called "Agriculture and Services" or something.  So you can get more work out of a 0 colony cost colony of 1 million people than a 2 colony cost population of 1 million people.

[spoongoon]

Terraforming the moon in two easy steps:
1. Add 0.1 atm of oxygen
2. Add 0.234 atm of safe greenhouse gas.

As others have stated it is a lengthy process. Research the terraforming rate tech tree and build more installations.
To terraform you need to have at least 0.1atm of oxygen, the amount of oxygen needs to be between 10-30% of the total atm.
Other gasses don´t matter, just that you have them, and as long as they are not dangerous or the total atm is not above 4.
In the case of the moon you have to also worry about the temperature and safe greenhouse gas is the fastest way to raise it.

[GodEmperor]

I always add 0.79 Nitrogen first, then 0.25 oxygen and Safe green house gas ~0.2 to get the temp in range ideal for humans.
Length of the process depends on the amount of Terraformers involved.

[spoongoon]

To clarify, you don´t need the total atm to be 1. Just oxygen to be at least 0.1 atm. Then enough other gases so that the oxygen makes up 10-30% of the total atm. The aforementioned two step plan is just the bare minimum.
It´s not very realistic though, so if you want earth-like atmosphere for roleplaying then your way is right.

I don´t know how to better explain it. Read the wiki entry: http://aurorawiki.pentarch.org/index.php?title=Terraforming

[ComradeMicha]

I think the OP confused the percentage of athmosphere with the amount of athmosphere.

The key is to add 0. 1 atm of oxygen, which by then would make it something like 90% of the total athmosphere. 
Then you add carbon dioxide (safe greenhouse gas) until the temperature has risen above -30°C.

After that, the game will treat the moon the same as earth in terms of hospitality and attractiveness, even though your colonists would live like Tibetans.  So personally, I go on terraforming until I have a 15°C planet with 0. 2 atm oxygen and 1 atm total.  But that's only for roleplay. 

Also, what Aurora is totally missing right now, is the matter of the missing magnetic field exposing the colonists to deadly radiation and the low gravity slowly letting all the precious athosphere escape into space. . .

[Haji]

Also, what Aurora is totally missing right now, is the matter of the missing magnetic field exposing the colonists to deadly radiation and the low gravity slowly letting all the precious atmosphere escape into space. . .

The lack of need for a magnetic field can be (relatively) easily explained the the civilization being advanced enough develop cheap countermeasures, the same way lack of water on bodies is not an issue. I mean sure, water can be found almost everywhere, but there isn't enough of it on say Luna to support a billion or so people. I may have wished it was simulated (to a reasonable extent) but it usually doesn't bother me much.

The atmosphere loss however is not an issue, unless you're trying to colonize bodies with extremely low gravity (less than 0.05g) as it occurs over long periods of time. Mars needed millions of years to become the desolate place it is now and even Luna would be able to support atmosphere for thousand of years if my memory is correct. As games rarely last more than a hundred years atmosphere loss is not an issue.

[Vandermeer]

Reading this I remember that there is long since a method developed that refines clean drinking water from nothing but the sand on the moon, and with that of course also natural oxygen. This is actually built as a machine and tested with the original minerals. Don't know if it would be enough to sustain 1b+ people as well, but that is just Aurora with its top open growth.

[DuraniumCowboy]

Some other points, adding N2 is really only needed if you need to lower the oxygen % and already have a good temperature.

I also find it helpful to concentrate on temperature first if your colony cost is over 2.0 for temp, as the improved temperature will immediately reduce colony cost.  Once you get to 2.0 colony cost, then add the 0.1 atm oxygen (this will have a slight heating effect).  Then add greenhouse gases (I use CO2 but that's just cosmetic), anti-greenhouse gas (if you need to cool) or N2 once your temp is in range to pull O2 concentrations below the max 30%.  Keep going after that if you still need to cool/heat some more.  If you need so much heating cooling effect that O2 drops back below 10% then you will need to add a touch more O2, but I haven't needed to do this yet.

I have't bothered trying to terraform a hot/high pressure system yet, as it seems rare to find one that isn't a too much trouble.  Obviously poison gases should be eliminated if they are present, just be cognizant that some poison gases (like methane) are also green house gases, so if you start eliminating methane on a cold planet, you colony cost will actually go up until you are done, so you want to keep an eye on that by either terraforming prior to serious population is added, or shifting some additional infrastructure to offset.

I am also a big fan of platforms/ships over installations.  The pop requirements for the installations are high, and I prefer keeping me struggling colonist work force focused on building mines/factories in the early days.  Not only do platforms/ships have no work force requirements, but their officers can provide bonuses, which I think double stack with the local administrator terraforming bonus if I am reading the screens correctly.  Facilities are also a stone bitch to move after you are done since they are so big.  Personally, I use platforms with tugs to push them around.  The micromanagement of using tugs to move 10 or platforms when you are done with a project kinda sucks, but it seems to me to be the most cost effective way to build the capacity.  Since projects take so long, major shifts in platforms (other than ferrying new construction to project sites) is fairly infrequent.  If you want simple, then use ships, when done, just order the terraforming TG to go to the next project.

[Griswel]

For what it's worth I've switched to only using Terraforming ships.  At two modules you can make them under 60kt I think, just keep adding slipways.  Once one planet is done, they ship themselves to the new planet with little more than a tanker or two to refuel, if that.  Even if slow (600kps-ish), they're faster than moving the giant Terraforming units, and they don't need population!  I've knocked 200 degrees off of Mercury rendering my Infrastructure twice as useful, and when I'm done I just pick the next place.  If you're in a hurry, pre-build Terraforming Units (under Ship Components) using industry and your shipbuilding will be faster.  By the time your first planet is done, you'll probably be adding/subtracting .15-.20 a year.  They're Civilian, so once you have any population you don't even lose morale.

Like Harvesters, just make sure you can defend them.  That's a lot of slow moving build points in a very small space.

[Noriad]

EDIT: some annoying automatic spellchecker adds a space after each decimal point :-(

In this thread it was mentioned that oxygen must be between 10% and 30%.  The 10% is incorrect.  There is no minimum percentage, only a minimum amount.  I have tested this in-game on a cold moon in another star system.  I added oxygen and safe greenhouse gas, oxygen dropped to 9% but colony cost became zero as the temperature became high enough.  The max of 30% oxygen is correct however.   

To summarize: To make breathable atmosphere for earthlings (which makes colony cost zero), the following rules apply:

-oxygen between 0. 1 and 0. 3 atm
-oxygen max 30% of total gases
-total pressure max 4. 0 atmosphere
-temperature between -10 and +38 degrees celsius
-no poisonous gases

To terraform an airless moon you need 0. 1 atm of oxygen and 0. 24 atm of other gas.  If the moon is too cold, use greenhouse gas as "other gas" and add more until temperature rises above -10.  Otherwise use nitrogen (which raises temperature very little), or anti-greenhouse gas if needed.   

To terraform a very cold, distant and airless moon, use 0. 1 atm of oxygen and 1. 99 atm of greenhouse gas.  This gives the maximum greenhouse factor of 3.  If the moon isn't warm enough by then to drop colony cost to zero, it will never be warm enough.   

The maximum temperature of any body is (base temperature in Kelvin) x albedo x 3.  (note that albedo may change if the ice sheet melds, assuming the planet has one).  So you can calculate in advance if the air will ever become warm enough to breathe. 

[Erik L]

EDIT: some annoying automatic spellchecker adds a space after each decimal point :-(

That's an annoying anti-spam feature that will go away eventually.