Is this how condensors work?

[jez9999]

After experimentation, I just wanted to confirm that I have got this right.

I think that what happens when you build a condensor is that the square it's built on and all the surrounding squares go up one level of moisture (arid to moist, moist to rainy), and then the square the condensor itself is built on effectively has a farm on it (adding another 1 nutrient to the square's output). However, when you then build, say, a solar panel there, it replaces the condenser, but despite that fact, all those tiles still remain (for the rest of the game) as having gone up one level of moisture?

Is that correct?

And a second question I have is, look at the screenie below:

WithCondensor-Base1.jpg

The square giving 4 nutrients has a condensor on it and is rainy; but if the condensor merely acts as a farm, shouldn't the square only give 3 nutrients? How come it's giving 4 nutrients? Is the condensor actually giving me a +2 nutrient bonus, instead of a farm's +1 bonus?

[waab]

After experimentation, I just wanted to confirm that I have got this right.
However, when you then build, say, a solar panel there, it replaces the condenser, but despite that fact, all those tiles still remain (for the rest of the game) as having gone up one level of moisture?

I think you have found a bug if you can replace the condensor with a solar cell and still get the extra nutrian.

Condensors gives you +1 Nutrian on the tile and the farm you have gives you another nutrian.

If I was you I would have terraformed that nutrian square you have with a condesor + farm (it will give you 7 nutrians) and build some forrest instead of those farms + mines. With that approach you could easily have the same nutrian and production income put produce more energy.

[jez9999]

How would it give me 7 nutrition??

[waab]

There is a number of special resource squares in the game:
* nutrient special resource (the green thing) which should give that square 2 in nutrian from start, ad a farm a condensor should push you to atleast 6. A forrest (just 4 turns) would give you 3 nutrian, 2 production and +1 energy, a great early game tile to hold on to.
* mineral, the blue thing you have, produces 2 extra minerals. Ad forrest on ordinary terrain and mine on rocky and you will have a hugh production bonus.
* Energy (looks like a small sun) gives you 2 extra energy resources.

These three is really important in the early game as it is the only way to produce more than 2 nutrian, 2 minerals or 2 energy on one square without have the correct tech.

EDIT:
AND send you former to build a forrest on that mineral resource. you should get a 1 nutrian, 4 mineral, 1 energy tile.

EDIT2:
Looking at you start base I must say that you have wasted a lot of turns, let us compare mine+farm with forrest (and place them on the right tile).
You:
Move the former and build farm+mine, took you 12 turns and you gained 1 mineral.
How I would play it:
Move the former to the mineral resource, plant forrest 4 turns later gained 2 minerals and 1 energy.
Turn 5 moved to the nutrian resource
Turn 6 plant forrest
Turn 10 forrest finished, gained a tile with 3 nutrian, 2 shields and 1 energy.

2 turns earlier than you have finished your first mine + farm it would be possible for me to have base of size 3 which produces 3 energy (compared to the 2 you produce NOW), 7 shields (against the 11 you have now), and large enough nutrian supply to gain another pop in that base. My production is large enough to produce a recycling tank giving me +1 Nutrian/mineral/energy. With a third forrest (another 4 turns) a base of only 4 would produce 5 energy, 10 minerals and stil have enough food to grow to size 5.

At this point I probarbly would move from more forrest to farm + solar cells.

[Hagen0]

Correct: Condensors raise the moisture level of the square they are build on and adjacent squares by 1. (There seem to be rare exceptions, though.) Moreover, moisture level difference of adjacent tiles can't exceed 1. So a condensor may affect more than only the surrounding tiles.

Condensors also increase the nutrients produced by the square they are build on by 50%, rounded down.

Example: Simple moist square. Once the condensor finishes the square gets rainy so it produces 2*1.5=3 nutrients. Second example: Nutrient bonus square on a rainy jugle tile with farm. Nutriets produced is (2(rainy)+1(jungle)+2(nutrient bonus)+1(farm))*1.5 = 9.

Lastly, condensors remove the nutrient limit imposed on squares prior to discovery of Gene splicing.

[jez9999]

Condensors also increase the nutrients produced by the square they are build on by 50%, rounded down.

Woah, really? That's not in the manual! So that's what's causing my 4 nutrition, then... square is rainy+farm = 3 nutrients, *1.5 = 4.5, rounded down to 4.

Why on Earth isn't that in the manual?

[jez9999]

In fact, my manual states:

Condensers collect atmospheric moisture for use in irrigation. A condenser acts as a
farm, but also increases the moisture level of every square within a two-square radius
by +1 (if the square already has a farm or soil enricher, the condenser replaces the farm
or enricher.)

That's just plain wrong. Maybe they changed their minds about what a condenser would do after writing the manual?

[Hagen0]

The manual is wrong in a lot of cases. Also there are a lot of details it doesn't mention at all.

[jez9999]

Aha, one other thing I've noticed: when you replace a condenser, it doesn't immediately reduce its square and surrounding squares down one level of moisture; it seems to take 2 turns for their moisture level to return to what it was previously. So, you do in fact need to keep the condenser there and not replace it for the squares to retain their increased level of moisture.