Do I need to bother terraforming to Gaia?

[LordBlade]

So I have the tech to do so, but, is there really any benefit to it?

My species world is Continental, and I've been terraforming everything I can up to that. I have the option of doing Gaia, but that takes a lot longer.

What exactly is the benefit of Gaia worlds beyond just being 100% for any homeworld type? My empire is only my race, so I don't really need to worry about any planet type beyond Continental.

[Knight.R]

If you're playing in ironman mode with no (game changing) mods you can go for the achivement.
And (in my opinion) gaia worlds are "worth" more if you are running a federation and want to have as many different pops as possible in your empire. Otherwise its just a glorifed terraformed planet so to say.

[cooltv27]

if you have nothing to spend your energy on then I guess bragging rights saying you turned the entire galaxy into gaia worlds. but there really isnt much point

[Breadsmith]

It gives you more worlds to covet when you become a Spiritualist Fallen Empire.

[Honestly Sassy]

converting worlds into Gaia would be a general boon to species happiness, especially if you do it to a inhabitated world you own. The happier a population is, the harder they work

[cooltv27]

Originally posted by SilverTalismen:

converting worlds into Gaia would be a general boon to species happiness, especially if you do it to a inhabitated world you own. The happier a population is, the harder they work

all the habitbality upgrades and terraforming all worlds to your main type will give you 100% max happiness anyways
or does being on a gaia world give a happiness bonus? cause ive never seen that happen before (though havnt gotten any in 1.6 yet)

[Cuendillar]

No inherent boost to gaia worlds you can find, so i would assume no bonus on ones you make.
That could be an interesting feature though. Give us a reason to do it.

I've actually never terraformed in all my play time lol
never needed it

[Cellar_Cat]

I think there's a faction that enjoys settling on them, but otherwise if you don't need habitability for multiple species I wouldn't bother.

[Terijian]

I think the point is that they are 100% habitable for all species.
If you only have one species, especially a robotic or adaptive one, theres not much point.
But if you had like 5 or 10 or more species in your empire it would be amazing because all species could live there.
Also if you are a spiritualist, the faction will get a large happiness bonus for having pops that live on a gaia world. you onyl need one for that though and I dont think it stacks the more you get.

[LordBlade]

Yeah, my current race has moved beyond frail physical bodies. :p

But I'll keep that in mind for when I play a more spiritual one.

[GuNNuP]

Originally posted by LordBlade:

Yeah, my current race has moved beyond frail physical bodies. :p

But I'll keep that in mind for when I play a more spiritual one.

Fallen empires isn't an end game state man lol. he was joking. There is a point is if you have the time, or a faction role. That gaia planets that you have access to are by other fallen empires.

[LordBlade]

Um, I'm not quite sure what you're saying.

[Terrkas]

Originally posted by LordBlade:

Um, I'm not quite sure what you're saying.

He meant the part about fallen empire of the other guy was a joke. Maybe you noticed some fallen empires, forbidding you, to settle on gaia worlds, becasue they see them as holy ground.

[HeLLfire]

Originally posted by LordBlade:

So I have the tech to do so, but, is there really any benefit to it?

My species world is Continental, and I've been terraforming everything I can up to that. I have the option of doing Gaia, but that takes a lot longer.

What exactly is the benefit of Gaia worlds beyond just being 100% for any homeworld type? My empire is only my race, so I don't really need to worry about any planet type beyond Continental.

Assuming you already have 100% continental preference and not the default 80% - terraforming to gaia for a single race isn't worth it.

If you're below 100% on continental then it's worth it, since you get a growth malus % equal to the habitability difference from 100% (So a 80% world would have 20% reduced pop growth rate)

[Arcos]

As far as i know, Gaia worlds give extra happyness, so for best production, probably yes, if you are not a hivemind.

[Gibbles]

Terraforming to gaia planets is only a good idea if you grabbed the terraforming based ascension perk. Takes too long to be useful otherwise, and terraforming an inhabited planet gives a -20% happiness modifier for the duration.