Terraforming paths (6.0) (WIP)

this is a basic guide to help explain some items in the terraforming process, explaining the terraforming projects and giving a possible path to fallow when terraforming your planets

Terraforming Missions

There are 8 terraforming missions available. Some require securing Xenon space while other don't.
The missions are listed below(in order of difficulty ):
1-Memory of Profits.
2-Show of Support.
3-It's Eighteen Billion Credits.
4-Low Hanging Fruits.
5-On the Edge.
6-Rising from the Ashes
7-Homeworld.
8-Beyond the Frontier.

I recommend starting with Memory of Profits if you want to have a quick taste to what terraforming has to offer.

Terraforming basics

Here are some basics on Terraforming:

• Each terraforming mission contains some requirements for the planet to be deemed terraformed.
  
  
• The objectives can be achieved by completing terraforming projects.
  
• Not all the projects in the terraforming menu have to be completed.
  
• Some projects require previous projects or certain circumstances on the planet to unlock.
  
• Some projects have a chance of failure or resulting in a bad effect on the planet (usually they have alternatives that have no chance of failure but are more expensive).
  
• Some projects are repeatable.
  
  
• You can abandon a terraforming mission and go to another one then return to complete it later.
  
• Some projects reduces the costs of other projects in regard to specific wares.
  
  
• The player can complete what ever projects he wants in what ever order but this might increase the cost and time of terraforming.
  
• A S/M Fabrication bay is required to build transport drones to transport the materials to the planet.
  
• The more S/M Fabrication bays present on your HQ the faster you can build transport drones as long as you have the wares needed for delivery.

The Terraforming Menu

Once you Unlock the terraforming missions the terraforming menu becomes accessible.
it can be acessed in one of two ways:

• though accepting a mission, teleporting the HQ to the sector that contains the terraforming target and clicking on the terraforming newly appearing terraforming icon next to research.
  
• through the Encyclopedia entry for the sector and choseing (View terraforming options)
  

image of the terraforming menu:

The terraforming menu can be divided into 2 main parts:

• Environmental statistics and objectives : gives you information about the current enviroment of the planet and what needs to be improved, lists the objective of the current mission for the current planet.
  
• Terraforming projects, can be divided into 12 sections:
  
  • Events: Shows the current events effecting the planet can have a passive effect or an active effect that happens every X mins
    
  • Power: Required for building all types of building and gives a 50% discount on energy cells used for the terraforming can come in verity of costs.
    
    
  • Industry: Gives a 10% discount on a lot of wares for the rest of the terraforming project (Not required)
    
    
  • Cleanup: Used to clean up radiation, toxic and non toxic gases from the atmosphere.
    
    
  • Water: Used to introduce water and lower the temperature on the planet.
    
    
  • Biosphere: Used to introduce a Biosphere to the planet which will produce O2 and reduce CO2.
    
    
  • Staple food: required for building housing increases O2 and reduces CO2.
    
    
  • Luxury food: Not required for anything but increases O2
    
    
  • Housing: increases housing on the planet, the higher the housing is the higher the population bonus in the sector
    
    
  • Amenities: required by objectives serves no purpose
    
    
  • Economy: The only section of the terraforming that can return credits for spending wares, can be very useful drain of material for quick gain credits
    
    
  • Training: the most useful part of terraforming, say goodbye to waiting for captains to reach level 5 for 80 hours and say hello to quick recruitment of 5 stars pilots and marines
    

Mission: Memory of Profits

Starting with easiest and least costly mission: Memory of Profits, you are tasked with finding a new use for Nividium, So, your main objective is to construct a Nividium workshop on the planet (Memory of profits i 1).
The quickest and cheapest path is to build the following items:
With a final cost of 203 147 471 credits if bought at average price

Mission:Show of Support

The 2nd mission Takes us to Blackhole-Sun, where the Argon federation wants to show their support to that disconnected system by terraforming the planet. The Federal industry and Success Administration contacts the player by an AI using an unedited form hinting that the Argon federation is now a corrupt government or at least the FISA is. You will be terraforming planet Hades to house 100M argon.
The quickest, safest and cheapest path is to build the following items:
With a final cost of 593 812 810 credits if bought at average price

Mission:It's Eighteen Billion Credits.

In the 3rd mission "It's Eighteen Billion Credits" Gantelios Tranoris Wesibalis IV contacts the player and tasks the player with terraforming the planet :Eighteen Billion c.
The quickest, safest and cheapest path is to build the following items:

With a final cost of 830 033 598 credits if bought at average price

Mission:Low Hanging Fruits.

In Low Hanging Fruits you get a new report from GNN(galaxy news network) that the ANT counsel are cooperating with a 3rd part to terraform (Shiokaze in Sector Gutsu Fune) a planet which has a toxic atmosphere.
The quickest, safest and cheapest path is to build the following items:

With a final cost of 702 476 689 credits if bought at average price

Mission: On the Edge.

In mission "On the Edge" you are tasked with terraforming planet Messner in frontier edge for ANT. GNN again comments on the terraforming process. Frontier Edge borders the Xenon sector "Atiya's misfortune". I recommend to wipe out the Xenon in Atiya's misfortune in preparation for the last mission and to reduce the attacks on your hq while terraforming.
The quickest, safest and cheapest path is to build the following items:

With a final cost of 942 602 686 credits if bought at average price

Mission: Homeworld

In the mission "Homeworld" a Scale Plate representative contacts the player to terraform the planet "nature's profit" in Scale plate green sector to restore their homeword in order for them to settle down and stop their pirating ways.
The quickest, safest and cheapest path is to build the following items:

With a final cost of 2 516 795 135 credits if bought at average price

Mission: Beyond the Frontier

Beyond the Frontier is the hardest mission in the game atm. A number of items must be prepared before starting the first project:

• Secure the sector from the Xenon, you don't want the Xenon to contently attack you while terraforming
  
• prepare 5 or more S/M ship fabrication bays on your HQ
  
• have all the items required for completing the first Project *IMPORTANT*, the planet is seismically active and will remove progress from what ever project you start building especially the first project since it costs a very large amount of resources .

Yet again ANT request the player to terraform a planet. The planet is Atiya's misfortune e in sector Atiya's misfortune.
The quickest, safest and cheapest path is to build the following items:

With a final cost of 2 779 309 986 credits if bought at average price

(Kingdom End) Mission: Rising from the Ashes

In the mission Rising from the Ashes, there are 2 paths for lowering the surface temperature and removing the tectonic activities.
Path 1: 8 ice , 1 graphene - more miners, less refining and station modules, higher material value (last graphene can be replaced by another ice)
Path 2: 5 ice , 3 graphene - less miners , more refining and station modules, lower material value
Both paths lead to the same conclusion (planet surface cooled down and stabilized + ocean created )

many of the expensive projects are not required to complete the mission, meaning the mission is much cheaper than perceived at first glance.

Path 1:
Path 2:

With a final cost of 2 178 062 588 or 1 849 675 264 credits if bought at average price
Congratulation , you have now unlocked the unique welfare module "Pheromone Art Gallery". Enjoy a 75% boost in workforce growth.

You have also unlocked "A Trillion Drops in the Ocean" achievement.


With this mission, you have completed all terraforming missions until (6.0) Congratulation .
You have spent approximately 8.5 Billion credits in wares to finish all the terarforming missions.

[Abakus]

Wonderful guide, good job!

[krye5]

I thank you for this. This has been very helpful in understanding the terriforming screen. Your walkthrough of each project is MEGA helpful too!

[SigmaSquadron]

Can't wait for the Ocean of Fantasy terraforming project!

[error name]

@Thomas I posted the guide in beta 10 of 4.0 (before the release of COH) so my guide is missing the Terran alternative projects which are faster to construct compared to the Commonwealth alternative you can replace the project (Volcano caps) with the Terran project if you wish to do so.

[Thomas Anderson]

Does the chart for Beyond the Frontier include the quake event mitigation? I didn't see the massive amount of Microlattice needed for that here. Is that factored in?

[error name]

@Kalisa, in beta 10 of 4.0 you couldn't build any type of housing project without building a food project first, also the energy project is optional, it can save you a lot of energy cells but you can ignore it if you want, my final decision was based on the credit value of the whole terraforming mission

[Kalisa]

For memory of profits, you dont actually need power or hydroponics, just the bubble and nvidium workshop

[error name]

that is true, release version has new building alternatives and a fixed system which didn't work in beta 10, I can't just start the terraforming all over again else I would have updated the guide before.

[538]

big thx for your guide,
something has changed on the mission "On the Edge" as i am not able to build tailored microbes as the temperature is not high enough...
there is a seismic activity... with 3 special buildings which together raises the temp. by 3 points.
unfortunately you need a lot of resources...
that did not exist in BETA10?

[wildsoft]

My fantasy here would be a terraforming of Presidents End....{Not in the game} but consider that one of the very interesting posibilities of terraforming was that the khaak were not wiped out... They still appear in the game in sizable numbers. Reminding you that's a lot of eggs to lay... What if you had.. gulp unleashed the queen in your terraforming efforts... having to deal with the new threat...could be a rather complicated battle since khaak are in each sector and can swawn inside a fully protected gate. 2. another weird idea is a unique ship found while mining out a planet...in the process of terrforming you found a dead m0 mother ship of a sohen {Sohen, the ancient race of super beings} basically unearthing it and fixing it.