Stars
Stars can be divided into several class marked B, A, F, G, K, and M. The class of the stars affects type of the planets which can orbit the star. Every star has its own, unique, name, which allows you to easily distinguish between them.
There are two special classes of stars:
- Black Hole: Located at the center of the galaxy, this star has no planets
- Worm Hole: Not in any current galaxies, this star will link you to another system (usually another wormhole).
During initial exploration, three classes of stars have the best chance of desirable planets: F, G, and K. These systems tend to have more planets, and also tend to have a higher chance of a terrestrial or marginal world (if you care about building farms or plan to go the Bio race, these are needed).
Planets
Planet are very interesting objects and thus they are described by number of attributes. The following table describes planetary attributes and their meaning.
| Attribute Name | Possible Values | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Planet Type | Rock, Cold, Desert, Hostile, Marginal, Terrestrial, Gaia | Affects maximal value of the Environment attribute. |
| Diameter | 1000 – 200 000 | Diameter of the planet. Diameter affects usable space of the planet. |
| Environment | 0 – 200 | Indicates level of the environment on the planet. 0 means lifeless planet, 100 is earth like planet and 200 is botanists dream. Affects effectivity of farms. |
| Environment Status | 0 – 1000 | Environment Status is affected by structures built on the planet's surface. When it drops below the zero, planet's environment will be decreased by one and Environment Status will be set 1000. When it raises above 1000, planet's environment will be raised by one and Environment Status will be set to 0. |
| Energy Abundance | 0 – 200 | Indicates level of the star's energy. This attribute determines how effective are solar power plants and also determines possible planet types. |
| Mineral Abundance | 0 – 200 | Indicates level of the planet's mineral resources. This attribute affects effectivity of factories and some types of power plants. |
| Available Space | 0 – 30 | Indicates number of free slots available for structures. Not all slots are available from the very beginning – you will need a special technology to access them. |
| Strategy Resource | None, Uranium, Titanium, ... | The name of the strategy resource the planet provides. |
Terraforming
All species are able to terraform their planets. However, only Bio really needs to care about this. The other species can survive on all rock planets.
What is terraforming? The art of changing a planet into a better planet class. Planets can only terraform if they meet certain conditions. For instance, you cannot terraform a near-star planet into a terrestrial world: there is just too much solar radiation. Similarly an outer system planet has the reverse issue: too little solar radiation. Additionally there are minimum environmental standards to terraform. For instance, you must have 75 Environmental level before you can terraform into a terrestrial world.
The following table describes all requirements:
| Type | Environment | Energy | Terraforms to | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asteroid | None | None | N/A | Can be converted to a Rock type planet |
| Gas Giant | None | None | N/A | Can be converted to a Rock type planet |
| Cold | 0 – 6 | None | Desert | |
| Rock | 0 – 6 | None | Desert | |
| Desert | 6 – 12 | 5 – 180 | Hostile | |
| Hostile | 12 – 25 | 25 – 150 | Marginal | |
| Marginal | 25 – 75 | 50 – 100 | Terrestrial | |
| Terrestrial | 75 – 125 | 50 – 100 | Gaia | |
| Gaia | 125 – 200 | 50 – 100 | N/A |
There exist a few technologies to aid you with terraforming:
- Solar Shield, available to Bio, allows you to terraform planets closer to a star than normal.
- Thermal Generator, available to Bio, allows you to terraform planets further from the star than normal.
- Terraforming Project, available to Bio and Human, allows you to instantly terraform a planet (if it is in terraform range).
- Orbital Shift Projects, available to all species, allow you to shift the orbit of a planet to bring it into terraform range.
- Planetary Alignment Pod, available to Bio, shifts a planet toward optimal, improves a planet's environment, and automatically terraforms it if it is now in terraform range.
