Wiz Twitter teaser January 24

[ZomgK3tchup]

I hope that orbitals have some advantages/disadvantages that make them distinct from planets; specifically, it'd make sense that they'd have less room but have more science-based bonuses and possibly some habitability bonuses.

It'd also be nice to see some ancient Citadel-style stations that an empire can come across.

That said, do you have any plans to replace the outliner icon with an image of an orbital and not just a planet?

 

[Bobylein]

Or the typical zero-G manufacture possibilities, would it mean more minerals or more energy credits? I am not sure as minerals are also used as consumer goods and created by factories..

 

[The Founder]

Something new on Habitats:
https://twitter.com/Martin_Anward/status/824299930898595840
"Humans and great and all, but Avians have some pretty swanky habitats too"

I strongly asume the Graphics are just a placeholder.
Size 12 is not that big, but also not too small if they count like a planet for reserach penalty.

 

[Tim_Ward]

The line about station borne facilities mining planetary resources is interesting - I wonder what tiles these things get. Empty but for the the single resource tile of the host planet?

Also, I hope we get a unique set of buildings for these things, or something to distinguish them a bit from planets.

All very cool, though.

 

[Wizzington]

Empty but for the the single resource tile of the host planet?

Yep. More details tomorrow.

 

[majber]

Something new on Habitats:
https://twitter.com/Martin_Anward/status/824299930898595840
"Humans and great and all, but Avians have some pretty swanky habitats too"
I strongly asume the Graphics are just a placeholder.
Size 12 is not that big, but also not too small if they count like a planet for reserach penalty.

If the count for reserach penalty then they just dont pay off for itself -> they will be not viable.

 

[schedim]

If the count for reserach penalty then they just dont pay off for itself -> they will be not viable.

Well just build them in system where you already got worlds, actually that is a good way to avoid spamming them...

 

[Mitchz95]

Guys, here's a thought. What if: Barren->dry, Frozen->cold, toxic->wet

Mars IRL is freezing cold and has a lot of ice baked into the soil. More like a Tundra world than a Desert.

Maybe just randomize it depending on how far it is from its sun?

 

[Subcomandante]

Well just build them in system where you already got worlds, actually that is a good way to avoid spamming them...

They are also good when you have no way to peacefully expand because you are surrounded by other empires, yet you don't want war...

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

Mars IRL is freezing cold and has a lot of ice baked into the soil. More like a Tundra world than a Desert.

Maybe just randomize it depending on how far it is from its sun?

Mars right now.

Terraforming theories for it largely involve restoring its large, shallow oceans. We'd also need to heat up its atmosphere somehow.

 

[Milten]

Mars right now.

Terraforming theories for it largely involve restoring its large, shallow oceans. We'd also need to heat up its atmosphere somehow.

It's all useless without magnetosphere restoration. At least underground cities would have some protection against solar radiation without much effort.

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

It's all useless without magnetosphere restoration. At least underground cities would have some protection against solar radiation without much effort.

Fair point.

Honestly, I ascribe a lot of space magic to terraforming and colonization in Stellaris; I mean, we have artificial gravity right from the start, so I don't see why colonists couldn't set up gravity pockets for their settlements if they needed to.

 

[The Founder]

It's all useless without magnetosphere restoration. At least underground cities would have some protection against solar radiation without much effort.

Building underground is not that easy either. Just look how long it takes to build some of the longer tunnels. Especially Switzerland/Germany and Britain/France took decades to complete.

Actually the difficulty of using mars for those reasons, is one reason people have sugested putting blimps on Venus instead:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Altitude_Venus_Operational_Concept

 

[Me_]

Might want to wait until the dev diary to jump to conclusions!

I'm confused. You said to wait for the DD, but the DD reveals that Habitats are exactly as spammable as first assumed. Not that I mind, but still.

 

[Mitchz95]

Mars right now.

Terraforming theories for it largely involve restoring its large, shallow oceans. We'd also need to heat up its atmosphere somehow.

Yes, but that means when it is terraformed it'll have to go through the tundra stage before it gets anywhere close to desert (that is, the "hot" desert planets of Stellaris).

 

[The Founder]

Yes, but that means when it is terraformed it'll have to go through the tundra stage before it gets anywhere close to desert (that is, the "hot" desert planets of Stellaris).

By definition of how terraforming in stellaris works, that simply means the terraforming is not yet completed.

 

[Mitchz95]

By definition of how terraforming in stellaris works, that simply means the terraforming is not yet completed.

I'm just saying there's no reason for Mars to go through the Desert stage (a hot climate) on its way to Continental. It's barren -> cold -> wet, not barren -> hot -> wet.

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

I'm just saying there's no reason for Mars to go through the Desert stage (a hot climate) on its way to Continental. It's barren -> cold -> wet, not barren -> hot -> wet.

I mean, that rather depends. IIRC at least one idea for terraforming Mars revolves around significant pockets of greenhouse gasses frozen at the poles- so you'd want to intentionally trigger a runaway greenhouse effect by releasing them, which would warm the planet. If you did that but didn't introduce additional water, you could wind up with a warmed but still dry world.