Lava, Barren, Desert, Arctic, Tundra, Arid, Terran, Ocean, Jungle. Also Asteroids and Gas Giants. This works okay, but I wanted to open up discussion on diversifying this more.



A model I'm thinking of here wouldn't simply have these fixed classes, but rather a set of environmental variables. The classes of course could still cover planets that fall within certain conditions of those variables.



Some potential variables include:

• Temperature
• Pressure
• Moisture
• Composition
  
  

Similarly, we could have additional classification:

• Martian: Low temperature, low pressure
• Venusian: High pressure, high temperature
• Other classifications for various combinations of environmental factors
  
  

For now, I'm mainly focusing this post on having Temperature and Pressure. This would change the fundamentals of terraforming, of course. Instead of simply selecting what kind of planet you want, you would need to build improvements that affect environmental factors such as something that decreases pressure by a certain amount/level or one that changes the temperature a certain amount in some direction. Utilizing these improvements to change the environmental conditions would then gradually change the planet classification and add a bit more spice to the game.



Moisture could be a good candidate for another environmental factor, though maybe in a secondary role to temperature and pressure. So suppose you get a planet to the right temperature and pressure to allow for liquid water, you can then start manipulating how much there is and thus range from Arid (or maybe even desert) to Terran to Jungle to Ocean.



Composition would be an interesting one to play around with... however would essentially add a whole slew of other environmental factors in the form of atmospheric chemicals. It would definitely add a bit more realism as I'm sure not every species in the galaxy is going to breathe the same kind of air, but I suspect it would be more trouble than it's worth.



If this kind of model is used, then each different species can have their own preferred environmental state, and thus a planet that seems like a sweet spot to one, might be totally undesirable to another.



Also, there could be specialized weapons designed to change a planet's climate during an assault. This would require planet specific assaults, but it's still a fun (and slightly evil) idea.



Now, I realize this wouldn't happen overnight, nor anytime soon. But I'd like to see it happen. What are your thoughts?

Hi Sargatanus,



I've just registered because I wanted to use the search option. And your suggestions are quite what I was looking for.



One of my first PC games ever was Stars! back at 1998 or so, which initially was a fan project and IMO did some things very good that were more or less ignored in the genre since then. AFAIK Endless Space is approaching those roots more than any competitor since then, and I think this is because of the input from fans of the genre which has never been allowed since Stars!



For scientists like me - and scientifically oriented gamers should not be rare here -, planetary conditions and terraforming options should be much more realistic. Or at least there should be an option at the beginning of each game: "I take it seriously, and I really want plausible SciFi" or "I just wanna have fun".



The serious version would have several parameters concerning the environmental conditions of the home world and possible colonies. Stars! had temperature and gravity and a third one that I don't remember at the moment. It also had the feature of different tolerances. So one race could be strictly dependable on high temperatures in a relatively small range, while another one could be very indifferent towards gravity. And of course, if you chose to create your own custom race, tolerance was expensive, while affinity to more extreme - and seldom met - conditions spared perks for other interesting abilities. This made creating your own race extremely exciting, and on the other hand diversified the aims of the concurring civilizations to a great extent.



So in this respect, I totally agree with you.



Your "composition" seems to refer to the atmosphere, and as a biologist, I consider this as a very important factor. It is conceivable that other sentient beings breathe other kinds of air, but it's a shame how this aspect is neglected in the genre and even in ES up to now.

Honestly, I like this idea. But, it would likely be a TON of work to switch the current model (constantly work towards the "best" planets) to a model where each race prefers a different planet type.



It was one of the things I thought was cool about Moo3, if I remember correctly. Too bad the rest of the game didn't work for me...

StriderV is right.

Great idea but too much work.

If the programmers ever have too much free time, they could work this out.

It could be done (and sold) as part of an optional addon. Or it could be considered for ES 2.



As for terraforming, I made a small mod which is now ready for download:



/#/endless-space/forum/37-modding/thread/15969-realistic-terraforming

I'm mostly skeptical about that. I think to support your idea, you might probably need more examples to what this more complicated planet model will lead and what the user experience would be. I suspect the overall impact would be not easy to balance and would affect program code almost everywhere, which leads to an high amount of work. The question is always, do you get enough fun & user experience out of the work.

I really like the part where you said that races should prefer terraformed planets like their own home world.



Definitely should be a +5 Bonus for terraforming planets to your home world type.

I really love this idea. It would add more character to the game and more complexity. I love it !