Terraforming in the OTU

[Malenfant]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

'Rational' is a relative thing. An action is rational or irrational depending on the underlying motive, and motives can be nearly infinitely various.

Yes, but they're not really that "infinitely various" here at all. When faced with a borderline-habitable planet, one can either:

1) Skip it and find a more habitable one further away.
2) Colonise it with environmentally sealed habitats.
3) Terraform it.

The first option is generally a viable option (especially in the OTU, with its high number of habitable worlds). We're talking about founding colonies here, so this is in a time/region where the Imperium is expanding, so there almost certainly will be a habitable world further along the exploration path.

The second option is eminently sensible. It requires minimum effort, it uses immediately available technology, can be set up very rapidly, and works to provide a habitable (if not sealed) environment for the populace. Built the enclosures large enough and you can have large parks and forests growing inside too!

The third option (given the other two) is completely crazy. It requires a lot of effort, a lot of planning, huge amounts of investment, a guaranteed long-term commitment, and very little (if any) short term results. Such a project may be started, but unless you have an instant Genesis Device (a la star trek), given all the possible things that can happen over the decades/centuries that could derail such a vast project (be they social, political, or physical), it's pretty much a certainty that it will not be finished.


And when faced with a completely uninhabitable world, the options become:

1) Skip it and settle elsewhere
2) Colonise it with environmentally sealed habitats.

Terraforming simply isn't worth even considering at all for such worlds.