the Hive and forest

[Bella Hella]

not the terraforming master....

but i'm doin' my best!!!

the only thing i do (and i'm still not sure what's really best) is to make farms on rainy squares, or moist/rolling squares if i have no rainy. once i have as many happy little farms as i need, i'll plant forests, with the hope that they'll expand. then it's time for roads so my dudes can cruise around more easily. after that, some mines. i have to remember to place sensors on my base sites, but sometimes i have to expand too quickly to do that for every base and it's not worth waiting.

i also do not quite have the hang of advanced terraforming, except for boreholes. i don't really know the right ways to use echelon mirrors and condensors. but that's ok, the AI doesn't either.

anyway, no automation for my formers!!! no way, no how. i agree with the people who autoimprove home base with sea formers - i totally do not have the hang of sea forming.

i used to automate every single former, but thanks to vel's guide i saw the light a wihle ago.

[Method]

ok does sombody want to explain to me the benefit of putting sensors on base sites? i have heard a lot of people talking about it lately, but have never heard of what it does.

[Flubber]

A sensor on a base site cannot be destroyed by artillery or other intruders so it acts as a permanent 25% uplift for your troops defending the base . Placing sensors outside your base will get you a better view of the outside world of course but I find they are often victim to a spore launcher ( and don't you hate the offshore variety that sits offshore and bombards your improvements)

I place sensors both ways. I put them on base sites when I can but I will also place them on the frontiers for early warning. You can think of the sensor as an additional combat bonus while fighting in range of the base. Its not crucial but it is often very very handy.

[Method]

ahhh, i see. basically just a sensor you can't kill. good idea. i always thought that improvements were uh destroyed or "rendered useless" when you built a base on them.

we need a "duh" smiley

[knowhow2]

I would have to say that EVEN auto-seaformers are bad news for the serious terraformer. Here's the reason: SEA-MINES, takes too long of a time to make and gives so little back, instead go ALL tidal harness (sea-energy), takes less time and gives more than land-dito (especially with Thermocline).

[Zakharov VII]

Sometimes, when I want to be lax with terraforming and want a challenge, I go all forest + no crawlers. If you give the AI factions some bonuses (by modifying the files - I'm talking about Smack's Super-Builder Factions with +2 industry and growth), you'll really miss having a 30+ mineral base when the AI can start and finish SPs in less than 10 years!

My only problem with condesors+mines is I want to crawl them rather than work them, and then it gets to the point where I have 100 crawlers, and the game moves really slowly...besides, it's unfair because the AI isn't "smart" enough to build lots of them.

****

About sea formers, I find they're the simplest - just farm and harness. In early/mid game (I usually don't build sea bases, but...if I do), playing no crawlers, it's almost a must to have sea bases close to land so you can get some minerals from forests (if I'm going all forests, that means no boreholes!). In the late game, you should have tons of Nessus Mining Stations, so sea bases should have great mineral output, especially once you rush-build (you should have cash coming out of your ears by then) Genejack/Robotic Assembly/Nanofactory/Quantum Converters there (Bulk Matter Transmitter + Singularity Inductor are GREAT for getting bases up and running - is it just me, or is Bulk Matter Transmitter +50% minerals at all bases instead of the +2 it says in the Datalinks?)

Anyway, that got a little off topic (sorry!), but it WAS about terraforming - in summary, I go manual all the way!!

Z