User Guide

PLANET
CHAPTER 3
37
There are three levels of rainfall on Planet—arid, moist and rainy. Rainy
squares show as green on the map, and are usually the best places to estab-
lish new bases. Arid squares show up as brown, and moist squares combine
green and brown. When scouting for new settlements, always remember,
“Green is good.”
Without any modifiers (such as special resources, enhancements, xenofungus,
monoliths and others, all detailed below), an arid square produces no nutri-
ents, a moist square produces 1 nutrient per turn, and a rainy square produces
2 nutrients. Rocky squares (see Minerals, p. 37) do not produce nutrients
regardless of rainfall.
Moist and rainy squares are excellent places to build farms to enhance nutri-
ent production. The amount of nutrients any given square can produce is lim-
ited until the discovery of Gene Splicing.
MINERALS (ROCKINESS)
Mineral production controls the rate at which your bases improve, as well as
your ability to produce military, transport and terraforming units. Existing
units may also require a certain amount of mineral raw materials for support.
The rockier a square, the more minerals it produces. There are three levels of
rockiness—flat, rolling and rocky. Without any modifiers (such as special
resources, enhancements, xenofungus, monoliths and others, all detailed
below), a flat square produces no minerals, while a rolling or rocky square pro-
duces 1 mineral per turn.
Bases cannot be established in rocky squares, nor can farms be started there.
They are, however, excellent places for mines. For more details, see Terraform
Menu, p. 46.
The amount of minerals any given square can produce is limited until the dis-
covery of Ecological Engineering.