[SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

I want to be able to terraform some of my worlds. However, there are not any actual rules or steps to do this. Has anyone found or come up with any?

Re: [SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

General advice for terraforming is on Ultra-Tech page 78. However they're all semi-realistic, requiring a century or more to work.

What are the technological assumptions of your setting?

Re: [SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

The setting is TL 14. As far as other technologies: FTL travel, starships, nanite tech, etc.

And really, the terraformed worlds are already there. I just need the rules to create them. Pretty much, I am looking at terraforming Ocean, Greenhouse, and Ice type worlds.

Re: [SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

TL 14? Really?

All you really do with terraformed Ocean worlds is plug in new values for temperature and habitability. With Ice and Greenhouse worlds you'll need to roll for water coverage.

Re: [SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

Oh, my typical way of treating a world that has already been terraformed is to say "the environment doesn't kill you". But then, in my setting, terraforming is ridiculously decadent and rarely comes up.

A greenhouse will get cooler, an ice world warmer (and possibly closer to the sun), an ocean world will get more land (or just lots of boats). Honestly, at TL14 you could probably just pick the type of world you want and roll it up as that normally. I mean, canonically at TL12^ you can transmute an entire planet into a new one all at once.

Re: [SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

I'm wondering if he's using the 3e TL scheme. Went up to 16, though it became increasingly focused on superscience as it passed 10.

Re: [SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

I never read the 3e TL scheme. It is just that the TLs listed in 4e never seemed to cover what I needed so I added numbers. I never really knew about the 3e version.

Re: [SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

What did you need?

Re: [SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

Jedi, 4e does have TL above 12: superscience TLx^. I can just guesstimate that you'll find what you "need" in there. You should carefully choose a TL up to 12, and then add all the superscience you need. Another way to notate it is: TL11+1^. That would be a base TL of 11, with superscience replacing enough of the common tech, to efficently make it a TL12 setting.

So the max that you could have following RAW would be TL12^where you'd have to define for us, which supersciences you added, and which you skipped. Anything "above" that would be an houserule, and would make it very hard if not impossible to give an answer that is "based on RAW".

Re: [SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

As TL 14 is basically complete matter/energy conversion on massive scales, I'm assuming you don't care so much about the mechanics, but logical explanation.

Ocean: add photosynthetic organisms to keep oxygen levels up.
Greenhouse: remove atmosphere to reduce greenhouse effect; add water (if needed); add photosynthetic organisms
Iceball: add atmosphere to increase greenhouse effect; add photosynthetic organisms (no need to add water as melted ice will take care of that)

Hope this helps.

Re: [SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

Well mechanics would be nice as well.

Re: [SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

At your near god-like level of technology, you might have Genesis devices like Star Trek. Just make a small probe for each type of inhospitable world and shoot it at the planet. Voila! Instant garden world.

Re: [SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

If that, is, you've gotten the temperature right.

Re: [SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

I guess when I say mechanics, I am talking about things that I can do outside of the actual game universe. Inside the game universe, planets are already terraformed. Though a Genesis missile might not be a bad agent in game.

Re: [SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

Those mechanics already exist in GURPS: Space. Rather than rolling up a planet randomly, pick the qualities that you think the terraformer wanted.

Re: [SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

The only caveat that I'd add is that some terraforms are unstable in nature, and require constant maintenance to maintain. Assuming that you're not moving planets around (that is, if you're allowing for terraformed planets that aren't in the "green zone" - definitely something to consider if you want more than one or two habitable planets in the same system), a change that radically alters a planet's temperature is probably going to require some sort of ongoing technology fix to maintain the desired climate: for instance, solar shades can cool a planet down; but only for as long as the shades are in place.

TL12+ can provide some pretty exotic "climate fixes"; but even there, if you have an Earth-like world in a Murcury-like orbit, the only way that you'll maintain a habitable climate will be if the terraforming technology is constantly shunting away the excess heat from the sun. And vice-versa for an Earth-like world in a Jupiter-like orbit.

Re: [SPACE] Terraforming Rules
 

If i understand correctly, you want to know, for a given TL, how far you can modify a given planet data from its original state.

The answer is :
it depend a lot of the TL and of wich ^superscience are available.
I don't think there is any fixed rules for this.

At lower TL, i you can mostly assume that a planet can be shifted to any state possible for her mass, size and orbit, the TL will only decide how much time and work is needed.

At tl12+, you can change mass, size and orbit, so you just decide what result you want. Nearly anything is possible, although some result will be unstable and require maintenance as dataweaver pointed out.

Hoep this help

Celjabba