Planet type and Terraforming question

[Playforfun]

Just picked up the game, have some questions about Terraforming and planet type mechanics.

So far, I see that there are the following planet types:

Barren
Lava
Toxic
Desert
Icy
Swamp
Terran

I see that the Terraforming can transform planet types, but they seem to be limited to a parring?

Lava <-> Toxic
Desert <-> Icy
Swamp <-> Terran

Barren? can you do anything with these?

I don't see a way for example to terraform a Lava planet to Terran or am I missing something? Is this limited to only the pairing above?

It would be nice to be able to terraform into any of the planet types starting from any planet type.

If that's not possible currently, I might have to wait for modding to come out to mod the tech to allow for other types of terrraforming.

If anyone or the Devs have information regarding this topic, please share your Knowledge.

Thank you.

[aReclusiveMind]

You can indeed terraform a planet to any other type. There are two different terraforming techs and you need both in combination to terraform to some planet types. Check out this video for more details.

JAN 10 2021 NOTE -
This video is a bit older now, but the information present should still be accurate.

https://youtu.be/ShWS2TbPPsU

[Playforfun]

Thanks for the video, I see I need both techs to terraform to other planet types.

That bit about Barren worlds, if I'm understanding the video correctly it's saying you can change a Barren world to other planet types, but never able to increase it's eco level even after it's been terraformed, is that correct? Or is it say if it stays a Barren world you can not increase the Eco level?

[aReclusiveMind]

A barren world can never have its ecological level increased. You can terraform it to another planet type and then increase its ecological level though. There's just no ecological elements to improve on a Barren world I suppose.

[DiscoJer]

Another thing, sometimes you'll colonize a planet of a type you want to terraform, but you won't be able to because it has an eco level of 3 (which means it's really nice). I believe you need a certain cultural perk to do that.

[aReclusiveMind]

Originally posted by DiscoJer:

Another thing, sometimes you'll colonize a planet of a type you want to terraform, but you won't be able to because it has an eco level of 3 (which means it's really nice). I believe you need a certain cultural perk to do that.

You are correct on both. An eco level 3 planet can not be terraformed without a specific space culture perk being selected.

I believe an eco level of 2 is the max you can find naturally in the galaxy. To get an eco level of 3, you need to research one of the uplift techs, Tartarus, Chaos, or Gaia and then upgrade the planet manually. As long as you avoid uplifting before terraforming you should be okay.

[aReclusiveMind]

Just want to say thanks for bringing up a few very good points in this thread. I am going to clarify these items (barren ecological level can't be increased UNLESS terraformed to another planet type, and the inability to terraform uplifted worlds without the proper space culture ) in the video in a future update.

[ruppert29]

The steps to terraform a planet are not very clear, intuitive nor straightforward. Moreover the video showing how it is done, has been unlinked from this thread. I found your videos and saw it finally (these should be linked to your website and wiki). Still, I colonized an icy world, was going to make it into desert but the steps of clicking off habitat control then turning on terraforming did not work until several turns later (not even sure why it started working). If you cannot see the logic or steps clearly it leads to frustration, just saying.

[Xerxes86]

Originally posted by ruppert29:

The steps to terraform a planet are not very clear, intuitive nor straightforward. Moreover the video showing how it is done, has been unlinked from this thread. I found your videos and saw it finally (these should be linked to your website and wiki). Still, I colonized an icy world, was going to make it into desert but the steps of clicking off habitat control then turning on terraforming did not work until several turns later (not even sure why it started working). If you cannot see the logic or steps clearly it leads to frustration, just saying.

Talk about frustration, try the battle part of the game. It's an absolute disaster. I still don't know what makes a battle start. It sure isn't "click on the fleet BS" the game says. Total garbage.

[Adam Solo]

Originally posted by Xerxes86:

Talk about frustration, try the battle part of the game. It's an absolute disaster. I still don't know what makes a battle start. It sure isn't "click on the fleet BS" the game says. Total garbage.

Space battles start when two fleets meet in a system. A combat encounter pops up and you can decide to attack the rival fleet by clicking on it. However, if the rival fleet belongs to an empire which happens to have colonies or outposts in that system, then you need to click on one of these colonies or outposts to initiate the combat. If you decide not to attack, the rival fleet will have a say if it attacks your fleet or not. Hope this helps.

[Xerxes86]

Originally posted by Playforfun:

Just picked up the game, have some questions about Terraforming and planet type mechanics.

So far, I see that there are the following planet types:

Barren
Lava
Toxic
Desert
Icy
Swamp
Terran

I see that the Terraforming can transform planet types, but they seem to be limited to a parring?

Lava <-> Toxic
Desert <-> Icy
Swamp <-> Terran

Barren? can you do anything with these?

I don't see a way for example to terraform a Lava planet to Terran or am I missing something? Is this limited to only the pairing above?

It would be nice to be able to terraform into any of the planet types starting from any planet type.

If that's not possible currently, I might have to wait for modding to come out to mod the tech to allow for other types of terrraforming.

If anyone or the Devs have information regarding this topic, please share your Knowledge.

Thank you.

If I were you I would wait. Terra-forming is kinda useless. The game talks about "uplifting" without ever giving you a clue as to what that is supposed to be. I looked it up on the internet. It means if do anything to improve the planet, Terra-forming is out.

There was that so hard. I am talking you Adam Solo

[Xerxes86]

Originally posted by Adam Solo:

Originally posted by Xerxes86:

Talk about frustration, try the battle part of the game. It's an absolute disaster. I still don't know what makes a battle start. It sure isn't "click on the fleet BS" the game says. Total garbage.

Space battles start when two fleets meet in a system. A combat encounter pops up and you can decide to attack the rival fleet by clicking on it. However, if the rival fleet belongs to an empire which happens to have colonies or outposts in that system, then you need to click on one of these colonies or outposts to initiate the combat. If you decide not to attack, the rival fleet will have a say if it attacks your fleet or not. Hope this helps.

Pure fiction. That worked once, (clicking on the colony). Clicking on the fleet has never worked. I have sat there clicking on everything on the screen, and never got the battle to start. Sometimes I am just informed that a battle took place, in a sucks to be you information panel.

[Adam Solo]

Originally posted by Xerxes86:

The game talks about "uplifting" without ever giving you a clue as to what that is supposed to be. I looked it up on the internet. It means if do anything to improve the planet, Terra-forming is out.

The tooltip on the uplift technologies (e.g. Gaia World Uplift) explains that uplifted planets cannot be terraformed. The other place where uplift is mentioned is in the 'Master Geologists' culture perk, which allows terraforming uplifted worlds, and the tooltip there clarifies that an uplifted world is a planet with eco level 3.

However, there may be other places that mention the uplift concept that I'm not aware right now, and I understand the concept may not be easy to grasp at first. I'll see what I can do to clear that up. A mention in the manual in the planetary engineering section wouldn't hurt either.

[Xerxes86]

Originally posted by Adam Solo:

Originally posted by Xerxes86:

The game talks about "uplifting" without ever giving you a clue as to what that is supposed to be. I looked it up on the internet. It means if do anything to improve the planet, Terra-forming is out.

The tooltip on the uplift technologies (e.g. Gaia World Uplift) explains that uplifted planets cannot be terraformed. The other place where uplift is mentioned is in the 'Master Geologists' culture perk, which allows terraforming uplifted worlds, and the tooltip there clarifies that an uplifted world is a planet with eco level 3.

However, there may be other places that mention the uplift concept that I'm not aware right now, and I understand the concept may not be easy to grasp at first. I'll see what I can do to clear that up. A mention in the manual in the planetary engineering section wouldn't hurt either.

Yeah, it's mentioned way earlier than that in the Space Culture tech tree. I had no idea what it was referencing.

[Adam Solo]

Originally posted by Xerxes86:

Originally posted by Adam Solo:

Space battles start when two fleets meet in a system. A combat encounter pops up and you can decide to attack the rival fleet by clicking on it. However, if the rival fleet belongs to an empire which happens to have colonies or outposts in that system, then you need to click on one of these colonies or outposts to initiate the combat. If you decide not to attack, the rival fleet will have a say if it attacks your fleet or not. Hope this helps.

Pure fiction. That worked once, (clicking on the colony). Clicking on the fleet has never worked. I have sat there clicking on everything on the screen, and never got the battle to start. Sometimes I am just informed that a battle took place, in a sucks to be you information panel.

When you're just informed about a battle taking place it's because only civilian ships were involved, and since civilian ships don't fight you just get the report.

When the combat can only happen on a planet, the planets that can be attacked are highlighted, as can be seen in this image[www.interstellarspacegame.com]. If the encounter happens in a system the rival has no settlements on, then the fleet can be attacked directly by clicking on it (example seen in this image[www.interstellarspacegame.com]).

If you get the combat encounter pop up and you still cannot attack a planet or a rival fleet, then that would be a bug and if that happens please send me a save to [e-mail] and I can have a look at what may be the issue. Save files can be found here: C:\Users\<your_username>\AppData\LocalLow\Praxis Games\ISG\

Thanks!

[Xerxes86]

Originally posted by ruppert29:

The steps to terraform a planet are not very clear, intuitive nor straightforward. Moreover the video showing how it is done, has been unlinked from this thread. I found your videos and saw it finally (these should be linked to your website and wiki). Still, I colonized an icy world, was going to make it into desert but the steps of clicking off habitat control then turning on terraforming did not work until several turns later (not even sure why it started working). If you cannot see the logic or steps clearly it leads to frustration, just saying.

Exactly, that is why almost no one is playing is game. I really like these types of games. But this game is just way too obtuse, to be much fun. Add that to the fact, that the developer is clearly out to lunch (he thinks there is a manual which isn't true), and you have a situation that makes for a sad ending, for a game with so much promise. The terraforming situation is a great example of a feature that: doesn't work, is unnecessarily stupid to set up, and shouldn't be in the game, if that is the best you can do.