Colonization of Moon, Mars, etc.

[Geography Dan]

I don't think the First Hudnred would be their own civ, maybe its possible however to have units representing important members of the first hundred, not as military units but as characters to inspire locals for guerilla resistance, research, or the like. It might make an interesting role playing scenario too.


But back on topic, I think any colonization would start by groups sending preliminry unmanned craft which would dump supplies at certain sites. Then colonists would arrive, and use the equipment to construct the very basic colonies. Whether robots could completely build a complex colony beforehand depends on the timeframe of this scenario, ie does it start around 2030 or 2100? Later colonies would inevitably start out far more complex than earlier ones.

[PolarisGL]

Better to mix many things about Mars than feed off one source.

Case, barbarians can be used for impassible terrain.

Geography Dan, I know. I had an idea, like I said.
Technology called, "Sector 1 Terraforming." After research, the impassible terrain (barbarian) is destroyed, killed, and thus the resources under it you usually can't get to, you now can.

You do this gradually to all sectors. But stratigically. And maybe AI will not be able to do this?

That would mean that I would make events files for each civ. I would be willing, more than willing, to do so.

I plan to put an overwhelmingly large amount of time in this, so more ideas would help.

Change Terrain in events will, of course, be needed!

Yes, I've read segments from each book... not the whole trilogy. I love theories, not fiction, but the mixture of the two will make an excellent scenario!

Dan, exactly. There is no unit called "Terraformers." They are technologies.

To irrigate and what not, we will have an engineer unit, or something of the sort...

Thanks for the ideas, folks! Keep em coming.

[PolarisGL]

GeoDan, I have the plans right here on a possible way on how we would colonize Mars. They are copies from work.

First, we'd send unmaned spacecraft to the surface. The spacecraft would filter in oxygen from the hostile Martian climate, and put it into a building that would hold about 10 people and supplies for how ever long they will stay there.

The people arrive, after many of these are set up. On these buildings, the spacecraft that sent them there are retained... and, using gases from the Martian climate with the filterers, we make, basically, rocket fuel! We have a ship to get back home now! This cycle continues, then we melt Martian ice, get clouds to form, rain to fall, plants to grow, meaning oxygen, meaning living climates in the long run. It is a long process. Very long.

[Geography Dan]

I don't think that the colonies would be temporary. Perhaps the very first trip to Mars, or first few, might be of the temporary nature that you described. Those, however, would be expeditions more akin to the moon landings than to actual colonies. I think that, both in reality and for the sake of the scenario, colonies would be more permanent affairs. Also, they don't have to all live in little trailers in shifts until terraforming is complete. Terraforming of Mars, if at all possible, could well take 20,000 years! There could probably be thriving cities underground, built into cliffsides, in giant tents, or in domed-off craters, all without any terraforming neccesary. In fact, there would likely be groups opposed to terraforming, and thus it might never take place at all. If you think about it, there aren't many giant benefits from it, aside from the psychological, that wouldn't take thousands of years. (Even if it was terraformed, think how long it would take for a decent soil layer to develop.)


[This message has been edited by Geography Dan (edited January 10, 2001).]

[PolarisGL]

Exactly... very long as stated.

Actually, that is how the colonies begin. They are small settlements, I suppose, rather than colonies... expedition teams with camps you could say. Dan, these aren't temporary. The people come home, more arrive, and once there are several set up on the surface, more can come at the same time in larger spacecraft with more utilities and what not.

Anyway, I plan on putting the scenario into some parts, or maybe divisions, for the sake of gameplay.
--First, exploration. Explore the surface of Mars, find where some camps should be set up. Set up the small camps, filter oxygen, explore more of Mars.
--Settle more "inland" but on a planet, simply settle more. Just begin mass settlement, "irrigation" "roads" "mines" etc.
--This part would be spent developing settled land, sending more to explore the terrain on Mars, get more supplies to your settlements, etc.
--Terraforming begins as a research. It will take quite a long time... I'm thinking, for the sake of gameplay, a span of 5,000 years, in the scenario, 250 turns. The scenario will be huge anyway.
--During terraforming, we can have many things going on. We can either have some sort of disaster, making for a "quest" to do something about it. We can have some sort of Martian cold war, with competing colonies and nations back on Earth. The possibilities are endless for what to do during the terraforming process.
--And then, finally, a conclusion of maintaining a stable Martian colony. And possibly, try to take the rest of Mars. We'll see.

[Hendrik the Great]

It looks like you really have some great ideas for your scenario. Sounds almost like the perfect mars scenario I never made...

Perhaps you could even include a special unit that can only be built after a certain wonder has been constructed if you work a bit with the Manhatten wonder and the nuclear unit slot.

When I think about it a scenario that actually plays on a more untouched, unterraformed mars might be even more fun, especially if you could manage to find or make some amazing terrain graphics.

Also at a later stage at least you could include orbitals and satellits.

As a thought most colonies should be more or less close to the poles because it is far easier to gain access to water there.

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Mathias' Civ II Page
http://members.nbci.com/thalys

[PolarisGL]

Hendrick, thanks for your ideas as well. Much appreciated.

Colonies on poles... check.

Well, it will take a long time to terraform for the technology: 250 turns! So you'll have plenty of time to search Mars.

I am planning on putting Mars, yes, on a giga map.

Any objections, etc. welcomed, but this will make the time to make the scenario a little longer.

I have 20+ maps of Mars, and some pictures to make possible terrain. I'll make a lot of things and a lot of special terrain.

All: please see my Sci-Fi unit collection for some units that will be involved in the scenario.

More ideas will be appreciated, of course!

[Geography Dan]

Actually, colonies need not be at the pole at all. There are underground aquifers all over Mars. As long as pumps are built (there's a neccesary city improvement) to get water from the aquifers, water is no problem. Given that, cities might flourish more in the equatorial regions, since those are not as cold.


There could be some events dealing with an aquifer pump bursting and flooding large areas.

[Shadowstrike]

Idea: Make a terraformer unit that can kill off only the impassable terrain littered everywhere, but a small area around each base. Make sure the unit can't kill anything else though.

[PolarisGL]

How do I do that, though?

[Shadowstrike]

You place the impassable units everywhere. And give the tech allowing the terraformers when you want the civs to grow (or every once in a while).

The impassible units would have stats similar to the command post (in Part II) of Second Front, while the terraformer would be the combat engineer. The way Nemo set it up, you were more likely to win the battle then not. It would be a slow process, but it would represent the slow gradual growth of human habitation.

Ignore my atrocious spelling please.

[DarthVeda]

Why do it on one Giga map when you can do it on four in ToT?

[Geography Dan]

I think the first thing you need to do is decide who will be doing the colonizing, what their motives are for doing so, and what they will expect to get from the colonists.

[our_man]

This scenario has a lot of very interesting ideas bouncing around at he moment, but I was wondering Polaris, how are you going to address the problem of supplying water to allow irrigation to inland colonies? I remember that playing as either the Martians and the Ukrainians in the original Mars scenario was quite tricky because of this fact. Do you propose to have a map dotted with ocean squares; not just at the North and South poles to allow for easy irrigation, or do you have something else in mind?

Needless to say, this is more of a disadvantage for human players than the AI, as they 'cheat' when it comes to this fact.

Here's an idea. Don't have any actual rivers in the scenario. Simply plant a few single square rivers around the map at convinient places. Re-name 'river' to 'aquifier' and delete the graphic, creating a source of water for irrigation that the human player will only discover if he clicks (prospects) on the tile it is located on.

Like the others I can't recommend Kim Stanley Robinson's 'Mars' series enough. There should definitely be an event that changes the Hellas Planitia to ocean (maybe by researching a designated tech)...

[Geography Dan]

Great idea our_man about rivers as aquifers! Also, Polaris, you should rename the aqueduct to aquifer pump and make it required for expansion past size 1 or 2, as it was the pumps that would make it possible for cities to be far from the polar areas.