Terraforming: A bit of help needed.

[Mr.Killer]

Since terraforming was available, I had a hard head in this, there are no planets we can visit, was my thought at that point, so I left it out of my scope. Now after I purchased Timelines and Kingdoms End, I got kinda stuck so, I want to try Eighteen Billion terraforming mission, but I do not really know where to begin. I put my station there with minimal losses this time, and am stuck again. I have to build Sunrise Flower Fields, but where? I guess not on my station, because when I'm teleporting it out into another sector, it is gone, so, I guess a new plot, maybe close to my station? because I do not see a planet, or is there?
You see, questions I doubt myself making the right decision but maybe someone in the community has already tackeled this problem, please let me know, and the rest of the community.

(Or am I asking dumb things?)

Ps. after calculating, building housing for 100.000.000 people? that is 1 dome houses 1000, that means 100.000 L biomes, I don't think this is possible in the allotted space of a single plot....

[GCU Grey Area]

If I recall correctly the planet to be terraformed in Eighteen Billion is to the east of the sector. Due to it's position relative to the sector's sun it is however mostly in shadow & easy to miss unless your looking for it.

All terraforming projects (such as Sunrise Flower Fields) occur on the planet. They are built by sending resources (often in vast quantities) down to the planet in terraforming drones which are constructed & dispatched automatically while a terraforming project is active & resources are available. You will however be unlikely to be able to do the Sunrise Flower Fields project straight away.

Many projects have prerequisites or specific conditions that must be done first. If you select a project on the terraforming screen it'll let you know what they are - when all required projects & conditions are in green it's ready to go, if any are red there's something you need to do first. Broadly speaking (there are exceptions) the projects that should be done first are on the left & those which have greater requirements (e.g. atmospheric conditions) are to the right.

Don't worry about housing for 100 million - it's built on the planet & is distinct from the workforce habs you build on stations. There are also very high capacity housing options (up to 200 million per Arcology), although those are built quite late in the process since the planet needs to be made habitable first.

Hope that covers the basics, feel free to ask if there's anything else that puzzles you.

[Alan Phipps]

There are terraforming hint and guide threads on the spoilers forum such as this one. Only read it through if you don't mind not finding things out for yourself.

[Koizuki]

Um, yeah, don't actually build 100,000 L biomes on your HQ. It's not going to help.

Everything you need to "build" for terraforming exists within the singular Terraforming screen, which is next to the Research button. The only things you need to actually build on your HQ should be the Wharves to build the terraforming drones with (these build automatically during a terraforming project,) and the storage to actually hold the resources that the terraforming drones need to send to the planet.

[Mr.Killer]

Thanks so far people, I'll be at this next week, but any suggestions are so welcome which terraforming mission you would do first...

[GCU Grey Area]

If I recall correctly 1st project I did in Eighteen Billion was Import Helium. Raising atmospheric pressure to green (or higher) is a necessary condition for building Aerial Maze where I can train pilots, which is my main incentive for terraforming. Housing is also necessary for this. At this stage a Bubble City will suffice (all other housing options require a considerable increase on oxygen, which is a much more complex & time consuming process achieved by the Biosphere projects). Aerial Maze & Martial Arts School (trains marines) came next & after which it was onto the actual terraforming. Tend to start with the Power & Industry projects to reduce the cost of subsequent projects, then onto the Water projects to raise humidity, which is the necessary condition for starting the Biosphere projects.