[SPACE] Terraforming Rules

[JediKnight83]

Well mechanics would be nice as well.

[Flyndaran]

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.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

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.

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

[JediKnight83]

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.

[lexington]

Originally Posted by JediKnight83

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.

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

[dataweaver]

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.

[Celjabba]

Originally Posted by JediKnight83

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.

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