Even if I do not see the utility of teraforming in the other way, it's strange we can't. Why not after all?

meganos714 wrote:

Even if I do not see the utility of teraforming in the other way, it's strange we can't. Why not after all?

I will save my reasons for why two-directional terraforming would be desireable for another post.  I'd like to try to keep this post focused on enticing an explanation of the reasons for the one-way terraforming from someone who knows, such as the Devs or the community if this has already been discussed.  I did search in through the forums a bit but did not find anything definitive.

To help get the Devs attention please upvote this post.

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Riftborn go in reverse, and that's about it for the moment. Would be nice to have back the flexibility of taking systems in different directions like in the first game.

So I wonder if the devs would be open to discussing the ideas with how Terraforming progresses.

And on a related side note, I've often hoped that eventually Depleted Worlds would be a step below Toxic (and so be able to be terraformed into Toxic), and thus through the existing Terraforming steps available (and so I think it would be could to have a matching visual look for Depleted Planets). Although, with the Sowers in as a Minor faction having their restoration mechanic, this idea is too unlikely now though.

Hi,

We made terraformation one-way with branches so that it would be more straight-forward for players, especially newer players. It's not planned at the moment to make it bi-directionnal, but I encourage you to create an Idea or upvote an existing one :)

Best,

jhell wrote:

Hi,

We made terraformation one-way with branches so that it would be more straight-forward for players, especially newer players. It's not planned at the moment to make it bi-directionnal, but I encourage you to create an Idea or upvote an existing one :)

Best,

Simplicity is almost always best.  I was planning on creating an idea for this (did not see one) but wanted to make sure it wasn't already decided against in some internal discussion prior to putting in my time and effort.  I also wanted to see if there was a certain direction to go with it based on previous reasons for not doing it.  As such, thanks jhell for the response!  I will keep simplicity for all, but especially the new players, in mind while crafting my idea.

jhell wrote:

Hi,

We made terraformation one-way with branches so that it would be more straight-forward for players, especially newer players. It's not planned at the moment to make it bi-directionnal, but I encourage you to create an Idea or upvote an existing one :)

Best,

How does it make it more straight-forward for new players when it's extremely convoluted to get to the right planet type (having to go through all the chain) while also having to memorize the entire terraformation tree (or look it up online, out of the game...) with no do-overs unless you reload a save ?

Yes, if the idea is for the terraforming process to be simple and clear, especially for new players, the current system really needs to have a chart displayed somewhere in-game, or some other method of letting the player know all the possible options for any given planet down the line, not just the immediate next step.

Kuma wrote:

How does it make it more straight-forward for new players when it's extremely convoluted to get to the right planet type (having to go through all the chain) while also having to memorize the entire terraformation tree (or look it up online, out of the game...) with no do-overs unless you reload a save ?

That's the thing, as an expert you already have in mind a "right planet type". Opening bi-directional terraforming would multiply all terraforming choices by 2, and it wouldn't be clear at a glance which choice goes "up" and which goes "down".

The current system guarantees that players will make an acceptable choice in any case that will eventually lead them to a tier 0 planet.

We know it's not ideal for a true optimization of your economy, but we decided to favor simplicity in this area.

jhell wrote:

Kuma wrote:

How does it make it more straight-forward for new players when it's extremely convoluted to get to the right planet type (having to go through all the chain) while also having to memorize the entire terraformation tree (or look it up online, out of the game...) with no do-overs unless you reload a save ?

That's the thing, as an expert you already have in mind a "right planet type". Opening bi-directional terraforming would multiply all terraforming choices by 2, and it wouldn't be clear at a glance which choice goes "up" and which goes "down".

The current system guarantees that players will make an acceptable choice in any case that will eventually lead them to a tier 0 planet.

We know it's not ideal for a true optimization of your economy, but we decided to favor simplicity in this area.

I wonder if there could be a renewed Framework for how Terraforming could then be presented? I mean with certain type of presentation, it could still be simple, while providing a lot of possible options in the process.

I can visualize in my head having a new UI menu that appears when we click on the Terraforming button that would show a new UI Window, or popup instead, with all of the different Planet types on an sortable Column structure, as to what an Empire could do with such a planet, and compare the differences between the types, with popup information on the differences between the planetary types (then players can see what is available and what is locked out, and have the popup tell which Technology needs to researched and how long it would take to change, to add choices in making such a significant change to a planet), as the mouse hovers over them. 

And so the spectrum could begin with something like this, and allow a player to click on a column to sort by that metric:

I was wondering if the the existing UI elements can be applied here, so that Food has the Green Symbol, Industry has the Orange Gears, Dust the yellow button and so on with the bars to give a simple point of comparison, with a minature world representation on the far left side of the rows, behind naming the planet type.

A degree of complexity would be welcome, if such an idea is possible. I hope what I'm imagining here makes sense, and might fit with what you guys would like to do with Terraforming.

^This.  While recognizing that it might seem inelegant, I think most would agree that the choice would be preferable to navigating an unknown tree in one direction.  For a new player terraforming is a massive crapshoot, for an experienced one it's an irritating inconvenience.  Very unsatisfactory, especially compared to ES1.