Terraform Ideas???

[Control Freak]

Being new to the game I am constantly perplexed with all the terraforming choices. Are there any patterns or formulas that can be used to help optimize production???

Is underlying terrain all that important once you can build condensors and boreholes???

What about fungus squares and forests???

Thanks to previous suggestions (Sil, Ogie and the rest) I am using a 3 square base placement and using supply crawlers a lot - which has made my games much better.

So any ideas about terraforming???

Thanks in advance...

[Yxklyx]

With Single Player on Transcend in mind...

The bonus resources are the key since they do not suffer the limits that other squares receive before Gene Splicing, Eco Eng, and Env Eng. This is not obvious from the rulebook.

I'll usually forest all nut bonuses to get 3-2-1. I also forest all mineral bonuses to get 1-4-1 - except mineral bonuses in rocky which I mine to get 0-7-0. I don't bother too much with energy bonuses. Also early on, Farm/Solar in moist/rolling and Solar in rainy/rolling. Leave flat terrain for forests. I road most every square I work on either before or after it's worked on.

I will occasionally use a condensor. In some games I don't build any boreholes, in others I build one per base.

I don't build Supply Crawlers - I find it makes the game too easy.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Control,

Well any answer wouldn't be a correct answer without the inevitable it depends. So.... It depends.

You need to consider the following:

1. For any base startup you are looking to have at least a +2 nutrient square. This allows growth of your base to size 2 at or near the time colony pods are produced. You almost never want to get into a situation where you are holding up pod production b/c of base size. (Planetary Transit Pod booming being an exception, more on that little gambit/gem later if you're interested)

2. Terraforming time. Can you stay ahead of the growth curve so that the T-forming you are doing is just ahead of new worker in the field? The most efficient would be to be just ahead b/c that means you have the exact number of formers required but not too many as that means support cost and wasted production time by your bases. Of course falling behind means you don't take advantage of better square output.

3. Weather Paradigm. Are you going to shoot for it b/c it makes a strategic difference in the types of t-forming available to you and whether you wish to take adavantage of them via your next choice (point 4).

4. Type of game youintend to play. Standard builder, Builder/specialist, momentum style, Hybrid.

All that being said, let me tell you what I generally do. I play all factions but tend normally to builderish types. So lets say you are Lal (a vanilla builder/hybrid).

I tend to like a specialist heavy game which means I tend to want high nutrient producing squares preferably crawlered to free up the worker to become a specialist.

Initial gambit. Ensure you have a +2 square for each new base. If none exist farm a moist rolling square. Next step forest 2 additional squares per base try to time them so that they coincide with base growth i.e. don't build two in succession if all you have but 1 pop point working. Eventually, at base size of 3 you will be bringing in 6 nuts (all consumed by 3 pop points). Road out to new potential base sites as time permits (turn advantage). In fact if you are ahead of the pod generating curve from a t-forming perspective it is more efficient to road first then forest. You'll want at a minimum 1 former per base. My first unit invariably is a former but sometimes if energy permits I'll rush a rec tanks instead.

Ok now you have a bunch of size 3 bases with 0 excess nuts anywhere from 5 - 7 nuts. Typically you keeping popping out colony pods until first beuracracy warning. At this point you'll start thinking of enhanced t-forming options. Look to capitalize on any specials you can. Say you have a min special on a rocky piece. Make it a priority to mine and road it. In fact at this phase of the game I've either gotten Industial Automation or am about to. SO this phase of the game becomes important to bootstrap my indsutrial might to the healthy 18+ min/base. My formers are mining and roading all rockies I can find and planting forest if no rockies are available. In fact if I'm discovering techs slowly and/or on tech blind game i.e I think it will be a awhile before min restrictions ar lifted then I'll go primarily forests as the t-forming time is significantly less. Once I'm at a healthy min count per base then I'll start to build condensor farms ( I normally have the WP) starting with flat land (as I intend to crawler nuts back) Eventually as the game goes into the mid-game era I'll end up converting back all those forest I planted into condensor/farm/soil enrichers.

Sprinkled in amidst here I'll be boreholing coastlines. Making sea formers which of course go to t-forming kelp and tidal harnesses exclusively.

Anyway hope you get the idea if not, let me know what was confusing and I'll try to clear it up.

Og

[TresXF]

solar farm
an echelon mirror surrounded by solar collectors (useful @ high altitudes)


super-grannery
a condensor (on farmland) surrounded by farms (+ solar collectors). very useful in dry areas.

woods/kelb
plant trees/kelb early in the game. it's a free, self-replicating terrain improvement

[Yxklyx]

Making sea formers which of course go to t-forming kelp and tidal harnesses exclusively.

Oh yeah, this is a good point - unless I'm the Pirates I never build mining platforms. The forests produce the minerals, the ocean provides the food and energy.

[Control Freak]

This is good stuff!

To boil it down:

1. ensure base growth (2 nuts on any one square to start)
2. mine the rocky squares
3. forest and kelp early
4. only kelp and tidal in oceans.

I've never changed the blind research option off yet so I do find that the limits on production do hinder for awhile.

Also I have been not building enough roads - just connecting my cities is all. I'll put this info to use and more than likely end up with even more questions!

Thanks

[Shai-Hulud]

Now, while we're at it. I used to believe into all-forest strategy and certainly it worked very well. But since I'm moving into MP now, I need to think something even more efficient. I am going to seriously test specialist approach, especially when playing a faction of high inefficiency.

So, how do you determine whether to plant a forest or something else?

What's the optimal quantity of Boreholes?

And should you depend on all-forest after the facilities are built when playing an efficient faction?