help! i'm a terraforming ******!

[Gregurabi]

I disagree slightly with the "farms on rainy rolling". In the early game, pre-restriction-lifting, a farm on a rainy tile is just a waste of time because you still only get 2 nuts from it. You can build a solar collector if it's over 1000m, or to prevent the spread of forest onto it -- but otherwise, I'd leave the tile unimproved.

I'm generally not a huge fan of solar collectors on land outside of energy parks -- I'd rather have a forest, or a farm plus condensor, or a borehole. But I love them in the water. (Kelp plus tidal collector or whatever they call it = 3 nuts and 3 energy, plus map special feature bonuses, plus facility bonuses.)

I also tend to prefer my energy parks to be aquatic -- it may not be as efficient or as well-protected, but I find it easier. Against the AI you don't even need them anyway -- you can whup the AI regardless.

[Xian]

thank you all, i need this

[Blake]

I prefer specialists to energy parks, altough this eliminates the possibility of a SSC it does mean I dont have to smother my territory in crawlers (which adversly effects performance).

Anyway, a justification of specialists:
A farm + Condensor produces 4 nuts, which support 2 specialists (if crawled), these two specialists produce 6 labs (libarian) 10 energy (Engineer), try getting better than 6 labs out of a solar square, this is possible with an energy park, but you have to have a labs allocation higher than 50%.

Later, orbitals:
These 2 specialists produce +2 nuts from hydros, for another specialist, which produces another 1 leftover nut (good for an additional specialist with another condensor).
This is 9 labs (libarian) or 15 energy (engineer), the only way you'll beat libarians now is with a energy park + ME + +2 econ.
And if you have energy sats you get 3 additional energy. (blowing energy parks out the water)

With soil enricher & orbitals:
6 nuts support 3 specialists, which produce 3 nuts, which supports another specialist, which produces another nut, combined with the leftover nut this supports a fifth specialist and 1 leftover nut.
This is 15 labs (libarian) or 25 energy (engineer), you get an additional 5 energy from energy sats, and 5 minerals from mining sats. With transcends and a 50/50 split this is a total of:
22.5 Labs
12.5 Energy Credits
5 Minerals.
1 Nutrient (left over)

Comparison to Hybrid Forest + Orbitals (my preffered comprimise)
Each forest produces 3 nuts which support 1 specialist which produces another nut which combined with the first supports an additional specialist. For 1 worker and 2 specialists which produce 3 minerals and 3 energy from sats, in addition to the 2 minerals and 3 energy from forest, for a total of 6 energy and 5 minerals.
With transcends, +2 econ and a 50/50 split:
11 Labs
7 Energy Credits
5 Minerals
1 Nutrient (left over)
+Commerce

Which really is kinda cruddy in comparison, about half the energy output, and the same mineral output. However you do enjoy commerce income, and dont have the vunerability of crawlers. It's a LOT quicker to terraform, and is complete earlier in the game. It also looks a lot nicer.



Super-science-specialist base. Instead of building an energy park build a nutrient park and crawl food to your SSSB, then pod-boom this base to put more specialists to work. (a pod costs the same as a crawler, but does cost additional food), this does mean more work assigning specialists, but you dont have to worry about rehoming crawlers, and can have your SSSB at a base other than your HQ. Also nutrient parks are more effecint terraforming-wise than energy parks, tidals cost more than kelp and with a land park the echlons are basically wasted tiles.
In most of my OCC's I first create a SSSB, then only crawl energy once I've hit hab limits (I go for WP instead of ME).

[Jeem]

Originally posted by Gregurabi
I disagree slightly with the "farms on rainy rolling". In the early game, pre-restriction-lifting, a farm on a rainy tile is just a waste of time because you still only get 2 nuts from it. You can build a solar collector if it's over 1000m, or to prevent the spread of forest onto it -- but otherwise, I'd leave the tile unimproved.

The 2 nut restriction is very short lived usually though, and farming is fast enough to make rainy squares a good idea (if you've got them at the start of course!). 3 nuts per tile is almost a holy grail early on, and it's good to have an instant boost as soon as the tech becomes available.

I'm generally not a huge fan of solar collectors on land outside of energy parks -- I'd rather have a forest, or a farm plus condensor, or a borehole. But I love them in the water. (Kelp plus tidal collector or whatever they call it = 3 nuts and 3 energy, plus map special feature bonuses, plus facility bonuses.)

The thing is, if you keep to farming/energising rolling&rainy squares you get the perfect compliment to your forests. On average you get a high total overall for very little effort. Before any restrictions are lifted, you get 4 total resources from lowland farmed/solar collected rolling&rainy squares, and 4 from forests. All things considered, that's pretty good considering the effort put into it. You also won't suffer badly to bombardments (it's possible to lose a lot of nuts to a single bombardment that takes out a condenser, and rebuilding it will take a looong time) and pillaging. Tech advances improve the output throughout the game and social engineering get you the rapid growth boosts whenever you need them. Eventually, Sky hydro labs make you wish you had nothing but forests! I usually end up planting forests over my lovely terraformed land when I get this capability. It's not the optimal method by any means, but it's the safe and easy way IMO.

I also tend to prefer my energy parks to be aquatic -- it may not be as efficient or as well-protected, but I find it easier. Against the AI you don't even need them anyway -- you can whup the AI regardless.

Tranducers are another great way of boosting economy, and I often make the sea my energy booster also. Overall, I just tend to mosey along with average output and swap techs or whatever. The game is made to be balanced that way, unlike say Civ or Civ II where you would always win the game through being massively superior in tech advancement. That is why SMAC is so much better than both.

[vitamin j]

Thanks for that breakdown on specialists, Blake. I've become a specialist convert myself, but I've never seen quite a layout like that. I've had the most success with smaller specialist bases mid-game. I usually don't rush to get a hab complex built, as 4-7 specialists really cranks out the energy while I finish "basic" infrastructure. When fusion power hits, you just take off. I usually play the Gaians, so getting +1 energy per square takes some work. But who needs it? I agree that commerce is the deciding factor. If you've got the commerce techs and several pacts/treaties, you're probably better off working your squares. Mid- to late-game, golden age with half specialists, plus commerce, is about as much energy as you can get. I find that if you're really kicking along terraforming-wise, you won't need many orbital facilities. Better to get those tachyon fields and robotic assembly plants, etc. In fact, I usually wait until Industrial Nanorobotics to put up hybrid forests!

[Dimension]

I don't know why I said Rolling land produced +1 energy, but Fitz pointed that out and I fixed it.

[DilithiumDad]

Just a minor point --bases built on rivers get +1 energy in base square. Bases built on rivers also have a built-in road system, of course, which also has advantages. The best and fastest way to capture the energy bonus form a river is to found a base there.

[Googlie]

Re: WOW! everything i ever wanted to know about terraforming...

Originally posted by Bella Hella

and finally yet another question, somewhat unrelated. what would you guys do if you started out on a little crappy island while everyone else has nice continents?

As a tactic, if you are playing with, say, factions set to 'aggressive" the one land tile squares make great base sites. Enemies' navies can't attack you 'cos it's not a marine base (tho it looks like one) can't land troops, and you are immune until they get amphibious pods. (obviously, don't put the pirates in as one of the AI factions). After you put an aero complex on it it's a pretty foremidable base

Make sure you give a couple of units the Arty capability for the 50% bonus (land based versus marine bombardmment)

You can feed your population - minerals is usually the problem. If SMAX, then the subsea trunkline obviously helps mineral platforms, but if you can get some Nessus stations, as well as trawl minerals to the base, and give it a perim and Tachyon defense, it becomes an almost impregnable fortess.

G.

[vitamin j]

Googlie makes a good point about those "little crappy islands". I confess to restarting myself sometimes in such a situation, but it can still work. You do have to shift your focus though. Doc:Flex and boreholes become much more important. The upside of course, is that you don't have to worry about Miriram or Yang showing up on your doorstep right away! The exception is Svensgaard, for whom every sea square is rolling/rainy tile over 2000m! If I'm playing the pirates, I would rather have a nice little archipelago than a big continent anyway.