Seem's we have similar interests. I would also for one, say I would be massively excited, and happy if this were to happen in even half the detail you described, as I have also read into terraforming Mar's quite a bit.
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Seem's we have similar interests. I would also for one, say I would be massively excited, and happy if this were to happen in even half the detail you described, as I have also read into terraforming Mar's quite a bit.
Honestly I can see some people turning it into Dwarf Fortress levels of insanity if given the chance. Melt the core and pump molten metal into a crater or something, not actually prepare for when the pit they've been living in floods, that sort of thing.
Would be glorious. I have already started going through the code of the game with some decompiled Lua's I have to look at modding capabilities. First things I have made mods for is some simple values I found too fast, such as citizen ageing and scanning speed. Looking into doing a "Meteor Overhaul" mod at the moment also.
One of the things about Mars that people tend to forget is that its pretty flat. Compared to the Earth there's significantly less of the mountains and craggy terrain we have.
It's the reason why Mars is able to support some of the largest sweeping storm fronts in the solar system, there's just nothing meaningful in the way to provide a barrier and bleed energy out of the weather system, allowing storms to rage on for weeks and months where on Earth, they might only last hours or days.
Terraforming Mars is an awesome idea, and definitely one id like to see in game... But if they model the weather system realistically? Forget domes and wind turbine, you'll be wanting to find a cave and seal the entrances shut before the pressure differential fires you out one end, lol.
With regards to the magnetosphere - Mars is iron rich - run a strong enough current around it, and it'll probably induce a field of its own
It's the reason why Mars is able to support some of the largest sweeping storm fronts in the solar system, there's just nothing meaningful in the way to provide a barrier and bleed energy out of the weather system, allowing storms to rage on for weeks and months where on Earth, they might only last hours or days.
Terraforming Mars is an awesome idea, and definitely one id like to see in game... But if they model the weather system realistically? Forget domes and wind turbine, you'll be wanting to find a cave and seal the entrances shut before the pressure differential fires you out one end, lol.
With regards to the magnetosphere - Mars is iron rich - run a strong enough current around it, and it'll probably induce a field of its own
Hence why myself anyways, said "semi-realistic". If they do this, I would just like to see a lot of effort put it to balance game mechanics with science.
Gameplay wise if you terraformed mars then what is the point of the game?
Once terraformed all domes would be opened and then ...... what would be the gameplay element? Traffic simulations?
Once terraformed all domes would be opened and then ...... what would be the gameplay element? Traffic simulations?
As I stated, if you terraformed Mars it would have major gameplay changes as you have to suddenly adapt your technology (almost all of it) for a much more Earthlike world... unless your colony gets submerged, in which case you now have to also develop aquatic technologies in order to survive.
I like the way you think
Im all for heating up Mar's core, but one need to add extra mass to it before trying to make it permanent. Mars had one before and it went down because mass + rotation wasn't high enough or something happened like a dinosaur extinction sized meteor or something. Shielding domes might or might not be possible. Having an internal magnetic field imply crust movement, thus marsquakes.
Using deep water as a source may not work given water composition, or dormant organisms survinving into it. Think invasion of the body snatchers or warmed up proto-martians vying up for open space....Sounds like another fun end-game.
Bringing down asteroids from the belt sounds like a safer solution.
The problem is, you can't really increase a planet's mass without doing something drastic... Like, say, melting the entire thing and dropping a massive number of rocks on it drastic. From the things I've read, the scientists that wrote the papers seem at least partially confident that the mass issue won't have too much of an impact on the atmosphere once it forms.
I was more thinking focusing gravitons in a controlled manner into Mars' core. As you said one cannot add external mass without drastic consequences. Far out of the box here.
That could work... Although I'm thinking of every way this could backfire, like attempting to create the magnetic field frying every electronic device in the colony or something if you aren't prepared.
True, hence the reason it should be tried on one of Mars' moons first, or some nano planet in the belt (name escaping me now) on the way to collect water.
Just give me a bulldozer so that I can level the surface; I'm not ambitious enough for terraforming.
From everything I have read, smashing comets into Mars would be an absolute must, both to increase the water content on the surface and in the atmosphere and to thicken said atmosphere. There's just not enough extant water (as far as we're aware) on Mars any more to be able to create a viable, sustainable water cycle, and the water cycle is essential for (almost all) life.
Forget about the (im)practical aspects of terraforming Mars. When it comes to this game, the BIG issue is how long it takes. If you alerted the second you lasted, you'd be done after spending a whole day playing the same map.
True but.... Where is the fun in that?
Coming up with Terraforming Mars is way more engaging. WAndering sentinel made a great post that covered many points, we can work with it.
Oh no, it's not flat. You do not have 20km high volcano on earth or 10km deep canyons. But it's true there is no mountain chains like on earth because of the lack of tectonic plates move.
That certainly impact the climates, but the lack of ocean to provide some thermal inertia is maybe more relevant.
My suggestion for this thread:
After you build your space elevator, a new set of off-map orbital buildings and research will be avaible for construction. They will include solar panels, spaceports for colonist and tourists, a point defense system to protect your colony and station from new big asteroids, research facilities and a zero-G factories, and, the most important, an Orbital Ring. This new Wonder permits you to create a magneto-sphere, a process indicated by a timer, and to start terraforming.
After the Orbital Ring is built and the magnetosphere is working, you need to create a stable atmosphere with tolerable levels of pressure, using another new Wonder, an Atmospheric Accumulator, wich uses enormous amount of water and energy, it has a time and when the project is complete your colonies will no longer need oxygen.
After this you need to heat up the planet, and it could be done by building massive arrays of subsurface heaters or some other new building or Wonder. Once again you will have a timer to show your progress and, once completed, water will melt, Mars will be Blue and you finished the game.
After you build your space elevator, a new set of off-map orbital buildings and research will be avaible for construction. They will include solar panels, spaceports for colonist and tourists, a point defense system to protect your colony and station from new big asteroids, research facilities and a zero-G factories, and, the most important, an Orbital Ring. This new Wonder permits you to create a magneto-sphere, a process indicated by a timer, and to start terraforming.
After the Orbital Ring is built and the magnetosphere is working, you need to create a stable atmosphere with tolerable levels of pressure, using another new Wonder, an Atmospheric Accumulator, wich uses enormous amount of water and energy, it has a time and when the project is complete your colonies will no longer need oxygen.
After this you need to heat up the planet, and it could be done by building massive arrays of subsurface heaters or some other new building or Wonder. Once again you will have a timer to show your progress and, once completed, water will melt, Mars will be Blue and you finished the game.