Optimal Temperature for Mars

[Elentiya]

Basically the title. Im at 30°C right now, yet somehow i still have polar oceans, so im confused as to how hot im supposed to make it.
Edit: The polar oceans are in Hellas Mare, which shouldnt be possible at such a high temperature, i think.

[hashishmaria]

30° C is actually too hot (mind that it's the average temperature). Earth's average is just shy of 14° C.

The problem with Mars at later stages of terraforming is, that unlike Earth, seas on Mars are not evenly distributed. There's way more water on the Northern hemisphere, than on the Southern. And seas keep temperature much better than land, so Hellas Mare (also being pretty far to the south) will always be a bit cooler, than Northern seas.

I'm at 13° average and I only have polar biome around the south pole and on some mountains. Hellas Mare is roughly half tropical, half temperate. (Note that the polar/temperate colors for the oceans are pretty hard to distinguish. So if you have temperate biomes all around the sea, than the sea itself is temperate as well. There's no way land would be warmer than the sea.)

[cswiger]

You'll probably get the most vegetation around 20 C. Too much warmer and you'll get deserts now, although prior to the recent update/DLC, you could raise the temperature much further without any obvious effects.

PS: You get polar oceans because the poles on Mars are below the average surface topographic depth. You get polar oceans on Earth too:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Ocean
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Ocean

About half of the south pole is a continental landmass similar to Australia, but the north pole is simply water under the ice cap.

[hashishmaria]

Originally posted by cswiger:

PS: You get polar oceans because the poles on Mars are below the average surface topographic depth. You get polar oceans on Earth too:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Ocean
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Ocean

About half of the south pole is a continental landmass similar to Australia, but the north pole is simply water under the ice cap.

Yes, but the difference is that while polar oceans on Earth are quite lush with life (unlike polar land masses), the description of polar seas in game says "Not able to support life"- which is pretty weird, as surface temperature doesn't really affect the waters more than low-tens meters deep...

[Elentiya]

Originally posted by hashishmaria:

30° C is actually too hot (mind that it's the average temperature). Earth's average is just shy of 14° C.

The problem with Mars at later stages of terraforming is, that unlike Earth, seas on Mars are not evenly distributed. There's way more water on the Northern hemisphere, than on the Southern. And seas keep temperature much better than land, so Hellas Mare (also being pretty far to the south) will always be a bit cooler, than Northern seas.

I'm at 13° average and I only have polar biome around the south pole and on some mountains. Hellas Mare is roughly half tropical, half temperate. (Note that the polar/temperate colors for the oceans are pretty hard to distinguish. So if you have temperate biomes all around the sea, than the sea itself is temperate as well. There's no way land would be warmer than the sea.)

Interesting, that makes a lot of sense. Is there a way to stop the cynobacteria from dying seasonally, since whenever winter hits they perish becouse its too cold. It messes with the oxygen generation quite a bit, which isnt great.

[Elentiya]

Originally posted by cswiger:

You'll probably get the most vegetation around 20 C. Too much warmer and you'll get deserts now, although prior to the recent update/DLC, you could raise the temperature much further without any obvious effects.

PS: You get polar oceans because the poles on Mars are below the average surface topographic depth. You get polar oceans on Earth too:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Ocean
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Ocean

About half of the south pole is a continental landmass similar to Australia, but the north pole is simply water under the ice cap.

Ah, i figured the update messed with something. I remember that before i would not have to worrry about such things. But knowing to stay around the 20°C area is very helpful, thank you!

[mikeydsc]

If you keep going up with the temps, eventually you will see random fires starting around the tropics.

[SpaceOtters]

After lenghty testing I've found 25 summer temps-23c winter temps to be optimal for plant growth in my 100% flora playthrough. 26 or higher stunts plant growth, lower than 23 pauses growth for winter.

[kevin]

Originally posted by SpaceOtters:

After lenghty testing I've found 25 summer temps-23c winter temps to be optimal for plant growth in my 100% flora playthrough. 26 or higher stunts plant growth, lower than 23 pauses growth for winter.

cool knowledge, thanks.

[[Liar] Lucky]

10-20c seems to work just fine. I've got my temps at 14c for earth like conditions. The main limiting factor is going to be humidity. Importing ice will help with this. Also the humidifier tech is very effective in a small area. It will create a tropical biome instantly.