simple teraforming question

[Snowflake]

Originally posted by CEO Aaron
CRAWLERS ARE GOD.

So ... No seriously, how many crawlers do you normally build for each base?

HungHu: More tips for your early game:
- If you've got the former time, consider plunking a Sensor, Condenser or Eschelon Mirror in your base square. Yes, they still work once the base is planted.

Thanks for the tip! I've been trying the sensor trick but didnot know you could do the same with condenser or mirror.

[Snowflake]

Originally posted by Jamski
Good to see Comrade HongHu's geting some sensible advice for once Keep it up boys, you're helping the Glorious Hive in the ACDG

-Jam

Yes I almost couldn't keep up with the posts. Makes me wonder why did I spend so much time on the darn stupid code cracking. I should come here and post instead! Keep in mind all the advise is taken with great gratitude!

[Snowflake]

Originally posted by Adalbertus

I crawl nutrients and turn all citizens except two to librarians or other stuff.

Does that mean you need about the same number of crawlers as the number of population for each base before the nut 3+ restriction is limited?

[Adalbertus]

I also vagluey remember reading somewhere that in the late game fungus is actually more productive than forest or something like that?

I haven't the exact values, but I think it's not too different from forest for normal mortals. This changes drastically if you have got the Manifold Harmonics SP (Alien Crossfire only) and are Deirde, in which case you get something like 5/4/4 (as opposed to 3/2/2 from forest).

For the real cracks on Planet (I'm not): Can you win a game in which the only terraforming you're allowed to do is plant fungus and raise/lower terrain (remove fungus and flatten only if you're going to build a base)? A cakewalk towards the end, but to arrive there?

[Lazerus]

So ... No seriously, how many crawlers do you normally build for each base?

erm like 20 i think ... never counted really, its just as many as possible

[Adalbertus]

Does that mean you need about the same number of crawlers as the number of population for each base before the nut 3+ restriction is limited?

I do everything to get the Weather Paradigm. Having this I can build condensors which lift the restriction. Thus with 4 crawlers I potentially get 9 pop which is enough without hab complexes. With hab complexes, I start to work a fifth square for nutrients which then is maximum, because I stick to a rigid 2-on-diagonal base spacing.

[Flare]

~Hmnnnn~~~ Well, Minimum amount of crawlers is 3-4. Some bases have 10+, while my SSC has sometimes 40-60 crawlering in from a land & sea energy park. There is no limit to how much nutrients you can bring in, but to remove the nut restriction, you need Gene Splicing. Or Farm & Condenser gives you 4 nuts, pre restictions. (Thus, Get the Weather Paradigm at all costs! It is one of the best projects, early, mid or late game!)

[gwillybj]

Here's another neat terraforming combination for the base square, if you have the time and desire to build them all:
Sensor + Bunker + Forest.
It won't increase the square's production, but it will enhance the base's combat defense. The "Blink" Special Ability bypasses only Perimeter Defense and Tachyon Field, not Sensor and Bunker.

[Rubin]

Originally posted by Flare
The first former gives the full terraforming time. the second cuts it in half. ech additional terraformer subtracts 1 turn from the terraforming time. For roads, try two formers.

Hmm, I tested this with 4 basic formers on a new borehole, and:

1st former: 16 turns to go
2nd former: 8 turns to go - cuts the terraforming in half, ok!
3rd former: 6 turns to go - hmm, 1/3 time rounded up?!?
4th former: 4 turns to go - 1/4 terraforming time...

...so cumulative terraforming there by the 4 little guys!

It could be worth keeping in mind when you have lots of formers, since the time it takes a former to move to a terraforming site could mean loss of turn advantage. That is: when the former cannot reduce the overall terraforming time.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Adalbertus

For the real cracks on Planet (I'm not): Can you win a game in which the only terraforming you're allowed to do is plant fungus and raise/lower terrain (remove fungus and flatten only if you're going to build a base)? A cakewalk towards the end, but to arrive there?

yup

People have won the "no former" challenge in which they are not permitted to build ANY formers

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Adalbertus
CEO, you've won.

I never tested placing a Mirror or Condenser on a future base site. I'm playing specialist heavy, where I've got Condensors on every other tile, and no solar collectors. I crawl nutrients and turn all citizens except two to librarians or other stuff. The two remaining citizens are on Boreholes for the mins. (I don't know who discovered this strategy, maybe it was Ned.)

Ahem!

[Sikander]

IIRC the productivity for a late game non-Green type faction with all of the SPs for Fungus is 3-4-5. This is good, but not overwhelming productivity by then, mainly because specialists are so productive in the late game that anything that doesn't maximize nutrients is going to be less efficient than something that does. I have made comparisons in the productivity of various types of squares at various points in the game on several occasions, and won't do so in detail now. The bottom line is that for squares that contain no special resources, the most productive are Monoliths in the restricted era, boreholes in the midgame post restrictions era, and condensor / farm / soil enricher tiles rule the satellite era. This assumes of course that you build a slew of satellites to maximize your productivity, which is a reasonable assumption since there is rarely a more productive addition to your infrastructure than a satellite. With a full compliment of satellites every nutrient you produce on the map supports a specialist (the other nut comes from the satellite) as well as one raw energy and one mineral. The Condensor / farm / se combo yields 6 nuts, and when worked with a crawler yields the following late game production:

6 raw mins
6 raw energy
6 transcendi, who produce 4 labs and 2 econ a turn each

That's a total of 54 FOP, which blows the borehole out of the water with its measly 12 FOP.

The fungus in the late game produces the following:

7 raw mins
8 raw energy
2 transcendi, who produce 4 labs and 2 econ each for a total of 27 FOP.

The Gaians would get another food in fungus, which would give them another 6 FOP, and anyone with a +2 econ or better would also get one more energy from the square, assuming that they weren't running FM.