Why only good planets?

I don't think that having a race that likes the lower class planets will really work. What happens when you invade that planet? A low class planet will only hurt you causing you to need to abadon it. As long as this race could avoid being exterminated they'd never have any world problems.

Plus the sheer amount of lower class planets would make this race unbalanced unless the planet generation formulas were changed to take account of this.

~SDC~

Well I see your point but that is why you have tech's that let you build biospheres on these planets and also at higher tech levels you can have better teraforming. So when you invade these planets you can invest money into teraforming them. It seemed to work in MOO and MOO2 I won't even talk about that travisty MOO3! Thanks for your input!

Cheers,

Bilas

Even with the terraforming techs its still not practical to colonize any planets below class 13.

Theres also the fact that the terraforming techs would have to be revamped for any race that needs lower class ones. Any improvement giving them a + % to planet quality will hurt them.

~SDC~

Actually, I've wondered if one of the things we will see in the expansion is something along your idea (but not the reverse terraforming you describe).

For instance, a race of hydrogen breathers would be going gaga for those number 8 gas giant planets, or a race of silicon based lifeforms would eat up the 3 & 4 class planets.

As it is, I've scratched my head wondering why the Yor also need Earth-type planets.

Maybe the Yor have mechanical outsides, but organic insides...

"Crunchy on the outside, and gooey on the inside!"

...'course if you're gonna wonder about why the Yor need Earth-type planets, you might wonder what a mechanical race will do with enhanced soil? Better crops?

Come to think of it, shouldn't the Tidal Wave Invasion option be more effect against robots? It'd short-circuit all of them!


~SDC~

Only if they aren't water proof! LOL

I think lower PQ also represents bad weather, harsh temperatures, unstable tectonics, etc. so it's really not good for ANYONE to try and work from.

(PS - spend enough espionage and you will find out that Soil Enrichment is a Yor necessity because Yor secretly love flowers and floral design. We won't even talk about their fascination with interior decorating and "habitat improvements"...)

Code Monkey,

while it would certainly be more "realistic" if the races had different planet preferences, you'd need to work up six different PQ scales (for each race) and you'd also lose some of the competition for planets, since your rivals want different planets.

Just not sure why it's a problem that everyone is assumed to prefer the same kinds of planets.

~SDC~

It's not a problem, it's just that what you just proposed as a issue with the idea is exactly why I would see it as a potentially fun feature...

You nab the yellow stars in some sector and think you're sitting pretty - then along comes some hydrogen breathers that can't even get along with the Drengin and they plop themselves down like a bunch of unwelcome hillbillies on those red giants with the Jupiter class planets orbiting them.

It's one of the things I thought was neat in David Brin's Startide rising universe.

It was well applied in Space Empires IV.
I liked to take gas giants dwellers: less planets but bigger.
So, there was the % equaling PQ, and the 3 sorts of planets: rocky, ice and gas giants.

It could make very in-depth diplomacy and alliances but would requires possibility of multi-racial systems (one colonizing rockies, another gas.).

Some really good points have been made about the water resistance of Yor farmers.

Personally though, I favor playability over believability in my games.
I love the intense competition for planets – well, I love it when I’m winning anyway.

After all, how believable is it that any one person (particularly *me*) would have near total control over an entire empire.


~SDC~

And it would be kind of imbalanced. Any race that needs low class planets could just use mass drivers or whatever to knock down any planet to an eden-style place for them...it's much harder to increase planet quality.

Just wondering... I found myself colonising quite a lot C13 or lower planets. Why do you all think that is so unpracticable? Even without terraforming: A bad planet is better than no planet, isn't it?

Cheers

~SDC~

The problem with class 14 and lower planets is that you get penalized in taxes because its harder to survive on those worlds. Also, the planet class factors into how much production you can do on a given world before you get penalized with increased costs. It's all in the Economics guide in the GalCiv Encyclopedia. And changes in 1.03 are going to be even more discouraging about owning these types of planets.