Planet class improvements on OS2 - how did the work again?

I don't have OS/2 installed. If I recall correctly, soil enhancement increased the planet class by one (1) not any percent. And I don't think that GC OS/2 even had a terraforming social improvement.

Frank

Frank,

I remember the GC OS/2 having terraforming, but I don't remember what the class improvement was. I do remember that it was a much larger jump than soil enhancement.

I really think the soil inhancement should work on planet classes less than 10.

Cheers,
Jack

There was a terraforming (might have had a different name) galactic wonder you could build. It increased the planet's class to maximum, but you could only do it to one planet.

The Soil Improvment bonus is only a 10%, right? Then a class 9 will only go to a 9.9.

And if the math is integer it will get lost in the rounding....

The galactic wonder in question was the Crystalai and improved all the planets by one class, i.e. all planets with class 15 would be terraformed to class 16 and so on. Only one race could research this wonder to completion, so I remember I used to hurry to be the one to get that extremely useful bonus LOL

What I remember is we used to be able to increase a class 26 planet to class 32, soil enhancement was in increase of 1, crystalai was an increase of 1, where did the other 5 come from?

Cheers,
Jack

Dysan Sphere?

No, I don't think the Dysan Spere gave a boost in planet class. I think it may have increased income (like in a tourist attraction). I think there really was a terraforming social improvement that could be built once you researched the terraforming tech and I think it increased the planet class by 5. But I am not sure. I don't have a working copy of GC-OS/2.

Cheers,
Jack

Wasn't there a tech tree available on the net made by someone at one stage?
In any case, I might have to power up the old pc and play a little GC/2 this weekend, maybe I find the tech tree among the files on that computer. I never got around to seeing a class 32 planet anyway. I never got higher than 27, even when I researched my way to omnipotence.

I have an OS/2-GCGold working machine (P100-32MB)and also bought the GC encyclopedia (INF file).
The most you could improve was 2 classes, but my memory could fail.
I never saw a planet bigger than 27-28 perhaps after 2 improvements.
(:( old memories....

I seem to remember it was an "achievement" (Crystal something?) that only one planet could get, but it would upgrade all your inhabited planets by one class. Since it was an achievement, no other planet could chose to work on it after completion.
But if you conquered another race's planet that happened to be working on this achievement you could let it run to completion and all your planets would be upgraded an additional class. If you did this for all the races (your's plus the other 5), you could go from a class 26 to class 32 planet.

After this game I'm playing now, I have to wonder if that's not a better solution, although perhaps with more terraforming improvements than just three or four.

If I don't win (or lose, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen) soon, I'm going to have a class 39 Earth. And I captured a class 31 planet that hasn't built terraforming, which means that could go up to class 46 if there's no hardcoded maximum.

Speaking of records...
Does anyone have any gunship better that my Survey ship at 171 attack with 73 hit points...
defense is only 7 (:(

U.S.S. Hero in my current game has 172 attack, 62 HP and 11 defense, IIRC. Mostly from anomolies, but the Altarians decided to attack some of my transports, to which I responded by destroying every ship they had in within five turns rande with the Hero, taking twelve systems in three turns, the suing for peace, so it's somewhere in the area of level 5 now.

Incidentally, in this same game, I hadn't built a single combat ship until about 2195. All of the ones I'm using now except for a starfighter and a few balleships that were being built on the Altarian systems I conquered, came from anomolies.

There a wonder that did this. But we felt that it was too much of a one time thing and wanted to let you have lots of improvements that made these kinds of improvements.

Which I don't have any complaint with, but the current setup seems both extreme and limited at the same time.

I'm presuming from the mention that planets are rated on a scale of 1-30 on one of the Encyclopedia articles that planets can start class 30 (I know they can start at at least class 27 from those two class 31 planets I have now).

A planet that does start at class 30, just with the three terraforming improvements that are in place now, can reach class 54 (30+3+3+18), and this is without considering any of the techs/improvements that haven't been implemented, or any wonders that will eventually be appearing.

A planet that starts at class 6 (which I have colonized before to get more research points) cannot improve past class 9 though, barring any wonders in the vein of the Crystalai, because only terraforming can raise it a full class, and the game appears to drop partial class improvements.

Class 1 planets, not that anyone would be colonizing them often, cannot be improved at all as it stands now, and anything that uses the current % improvement system that could do so would have to be at least a 100% increase, which would just make high class planets more extreme.

I wonder if you could actually roll over the population on a class 108 planet.

Arturus,

In watching the progression of the effects of the class improvement projects I suspect that the algorithm is (original planet class) * (1 + 10% + 10% + 50%), that is, a class 30 planet could be increased only to a class 51. Since the highest class seen so far is 26 then the highest class I would expect is 44.

Cheers,
Jack

From what I can tell, it's cumulative. Soldering definatly is or I wouldn't have the +1740-something% I do now, and from what I can tell, most of the formulas follow a similar patern.

I can't say I've looked too closely at it, but I will be able to tell you for certain as soon as one of these class 31 planets I have now finish building terraforming. If they come out 46, the math in that earlier post is correct.

Arturus,

You said you have a class 31 working on terraforming? It had to be a class 26 to start. If the algorithm is new class = ((current class) * (1.5)) for terraforming then it should become 46. But the class 26 planets I have terraformed (after soil enhancement and habitat improvement) have not gotten above class 44. The next best class planet at the start of the game is a class 20, which I can only get to a class 34 with improvements. All of this indicates to me that the percent improvements are added and then applied to the original class of the planet. If you ever see a class 46 planet (or any class from 35 to 43) let me know.

Interestingly, if the improvements are compound then a planet that started out as a 26 would go to class 28 with soil enhancement, then to class 30 (not 31) with habitat improvement (they are not saving any decimal values and are always rounding down, so 26*1.1=28.5, then 28*1.1=30.8). But with the calculation done on the original class for both improvements gives (26) * 1.2 = 31.2.

Cheers,
Jack

Class 44 is the highest I have seen, followed by class 34.

Paul.

Hmm.... Definatly something we need to look closely at then.

The question now is whether I'll be able to keep this game running long enough to find out. I'm now at war with everybody, and may have to bring things to a close.

A quick way to check, in any case, would be to add more terraforming improvements with large bonuses and low building costs, build them on Earth, and check it against both formulas. (Then restore the old techs and start a new game without finishing the test game so it doesn't mess up anything non-local.)

Yeah, class 44 is the highest that I've been able to get, after Soil Enhancement, Habitat Improvement, and Terraforming a class 26 planet. It also happened to be in a corner of the map, and the Altarians had a pretty good planet in the opposite corner, so my traders were making out like bandits, until the nasty Arceans came and destroyed my ships. They're extinct now.

Cari,

Revenge can be sweet, right? LOL

Cheers,
Jack