Forest/Kelp Growth question

[igtenos]

This is something that i've wondered for a while & figured I might as well ask.

How is random forest/kelp growth calculated? Does having a high Planet rate increase the rate at which the forest/kelp square expand?

[Hydro]

I can’t say I know how it is calculated, but there do seem to be some factors:
* Length of time the forest has been there
* Number of contiguous tiles of forest (they seem to grow faster when there is more of them)
* Not blocked by rivers (qualitative observation – no concrete proof that forests don’t like to cross rivers)

I don’t have any qualitative observations on a correlation between Planet rating and forest growth. In general I seem to get as much forest with Morgan as Deirdre. This might be a good experiment, though!

Hydro

[Sarxis]

Every copy of SMAC comes with 1D6 rolling nano-bots which infect your hard drive upon installation.

They determine every random number!

But really: no clue.

[Sikander]

I believe (but do not know) that every tile of forest / kelp has a certain chance of growing into an appropriate random (AFAICT) adjacent tile. This is why a clear tile surrounded by forest will fill in quickly most of the time, as every tile around it has a chance of spreading into it.

[jtsisyoda]

What does AFAICT stand for?

[Mongoose]

As Far As I Can Tell

[Gufnork]

I am very convinced that your planet rating doesn't affect it one bit. Forest grows just as fast for FM factions as they do for a green Dee.

[gwillybj]

I, too, believe Planet rating is irrelevant. Any forest seeded by any pod popped by any faction expands the same as all others.

A forest can grow into an adjacent base square if the base is the only thing there (no farm, soil enricher, solar collector, bunker, air base, sensor, condenser, or echelon mirror). Roads and mag tubes are ignored.

[Mr. Harley]

Just catching up on forums - one quick correction to the last post. A forest CAN spread to a condensor square without a farm, I've had it happen. The resulting forest square gets an extra nutrient.

[gwillybj]

I don't use condensors, so I wouldn't know. Thank you for mentioning it, though. It's a good thing to keep in mind.
My point was just that in preparing a base site you don't have to forest it; just leave it blank, the forest will eventually expand into it. IIRC, the base doesn't get any resource bonuses for it. It does cost 3 movement points to enter cross-country.
Has anyone noticed if forest expands faster than kelp? It seems to in my games. Is that simply a matter of available ocean shelf squares usually being fewer than available land squares?