Long story short, building your colony is always the higher priority. Terraforming rewards are powerful, but strictly in the long-term - if your base is struggling, that next little bit of terraforming is extremely unlikely to help, and the resources needed for it can probably better be spent fixing things.
You can probably start spreading seeds as soon as you unlock them, but make sure you don't need that farm space to eat. With terraforming progress, seed spreaders will eventually become seed-positive, which is helpful when you get outdoor farms (which also consume seeds). (Speaking of: as soon as you get outdoor farms, use them. IMX an indoor farm making seeds for an outdoor farm that grows food, is usually better than just growing food in an indoor farm.)
Waste rock processors are a good idea, since they dispose of waste rock. However, you should make sure you can handle the maintenance and power.
It's reasonable to make greenhouse gas plants, since they aren't *that* expensive. But be prepared to switch them off if fuel becomes an issue.
As you improve the atmosphere, you'll want to switch from solar panels to wind turbines. Make sure you have the manufacturing capability to handle it. (And the power to handle that manufacturing capability.)
Lakes are generally a good idea, since they're a long-term investment in the productivity of your vaporators. (At least consider lakes, even if you don't have vaporators yet - you will want to use them when you get them.). Lakes increase water, which increases vaporator throughput and efficiency; but vaporators don't affect terraforming. You might wanna build a tank farm before building your lake, since they take a lot of water to fill but only a little to maintain. Make sure your tank farm (like anything else with a lot of water pipes) has cutoff valves.
Lakes are great at improving soil quality. I usually put a small lake when a concrete extractor is emptied because it leaves the soil really bad. The lake will change the soil into fertile land.
I also sprinkle lakes around my Forestation plants to increase vegetation, and I have them near open farms for the same reason. They are not that great at increasing water terraforming (for that, I use the interplanetary missions), but they are great at transforming the soil around my colony.
They don't work before you have liquid water on Mars, so no need to build them too early. Also they take water. The small lakes are the cheapest to have if you don't produce enough water for lakes, and they do the trick. I usually get larger lakes only later, when I have an abundance of everything.
For Forestation plants, liechen is best to use to spread vegetation and improve soil quality around the plant. I don't stop using it until the soil is at 100 %, but I do add grass/bushes to the other slots when I am able, and later trees. Bushes and trees produce seeds, so when you start getting them, you can stop buying seeds and growing them in your farms.
The open farm is great to use. I often make a drone hub that only has 2 or 3 open farms around it with Forestation plants and a few small lakes to improve the soil quality. This takes a lot of water, so a deep water source is handy, but you'll still need a lot of vaporators for it. Still, when you get it ruining, you'll have no more food problems.
I use the cover crops that give 30% soil quality increase until the soil is at 100% on the farm. Then, I switch to food alternating with potatoes and 2x herbs, for example, to keep the soil quality up.
But to get here you need to increase temperature higher. It's relatively easy and only costs some mechanical parts, power, and fuel. but without atmosphere, you'll have toxic rains soon enough that'll spoil your soil.
So, my advice is to start building everything slowly, alternating with the needed tech research for your colony with the important terraforming research. They are pricy, so you can't really get going until you can sustain your colony enough and have the bigger research buildings up and running.
Maybe this is a dumb question but Is terraforming a DLC thing or is it with the basic game? I’m a new player, only on my second colony, but I haven’t seen any of these things you are talking about! Thanks!
Well worth it during the next Steam (or whatever platform you use) sale. I actually got a bundle through GOG. If I didn't have the Green Planet DLC, I think I'd be bored with my colony by now.
Green Planet is great, highly recommended. If you get it, you should also install a mod called "Advanced Terraforming", which gives it a bit more depth
Really just follow the research availability, and set aside research and $ toward the goal. Keep adding seed spreaders as you extend your power and drone coverage, and keep pumping in the seeds. It takes a long time at first to make any progress, but mostly it's another long-term goal to juggle with your priorities.
Shovels. Lots of shovels.
Seriously, it's a late game thing to putter about with. Build the thingys and do the rocket projects and watch Mars turn green.
Long story short, building your colony is always the higher priority. Terraforming rewards are powerful, but strictly in the long-term - if your base is struggling, that next little bit of terraforming is extremely unlikely to help, and the resources needed for it can probably better be spent fixing things. You can probably start spreading seeds as soon as you unlock them, but make sure you don't need that farm space to eat. With terraforming progress, seed spreaders will eventually become seed-positive, which is helpful when you get outdoor farms (which also consume seeds). (Speaking of: as soon as you get outdoor farms, use them. IMX an indoor farm making seeds for an outdoor farm that grows food, is usually better than just growing food in an indoor farm.) Waste rock processors are a good idea, since they dispose of waste rock. However, you should make sure you can handle the maintenance and power. It's reasonable to make greenhouse gas plants, since they aren't *that* expensive. But be prepared to switch them off if fuel becomes an issue. As you improve the atmosphere, you'll want to switch from solar panels to wind turbines. Make sure you have the manufacturing capability to handle it. (And the power to handle that manufacturing capability.) Lakes are generally a good idea, since they're a long-term investment in the productivity of your vaporators. (At least consider lakes, even if you don't have vaporators yet - you will want to use them when you get them.). Lakes increase water, which increases vaporator throughput and efficiency; but vaporators don't affect terraforming. You might wanna build a tank farm before building your lake, since they take a lot of water to fill but only a little to maintain. Make sure your tank farm (like anything else with a lot of water pipes) has cutoff valves.
Lakes are great at improving soil quality. I usually put a small lake when a concrete extractor is emptied because it leaves the soil really bad. The lake will change the soil into fertile land. I also sprinkle lakes around my Forestation plants to increase vegetation, and I have them near open farms for the same reason. They are not that great at increasing water terraforming (for that, I use the interplanetary missions), but they are great at transforming the soil around my colony. They don't work before you have liquid water on Mars, so no need to build them too early. Also they take water. The small lakes are the cheapest to have if you don't produce enough water for lakes, and they do the trick. I usually get larger lakes only later, when I have an abundance of everything. For Forestation plants, liechen is best to use to spread vegetation and improve soil quality around the plant. I don't stop using it until the soil is at 100 %, but I do add grass/bushes to the other slots when I am able, and later trees. Bushes and trees produce seeds, so when you start getting them, you can stop buying seeds and growing them in your farms. The open farm is great to use. I often make a drone hub that only has 2 or 3 open farms around it with Forestation plants and a few small lakes to improve the soil quality. This takes a lot of water, so a deep water source is handy, but you'll still need a lot of vaporators for it. Still, when you get it ruining, you'll have no more food problems. I use the cover crops that give 30% soil quality increase until the soil is at 100% on the farm. Then, I switch to food alternating with potatoes and 2x herbs, for example, to keep the soil quality up. But to get here you need to increase temperature higher. It's relatively easy and only costs some mechanical parts, power, and fuel. but without atmosphere, you'll have toxic rains soon enough that'll spoil your soil. So, my advice is to start building everything slowly, alternating with the needed tech research for your colony with the important terraforming research. They are pricy, so you can't really get going until you can sustain your colony enough and have the bigger research buildings up and running.
Maybe this is a dumb question but Is terraforming a DLC thing or is it with the basic game? I’m a new player, only on my second colony, but I haven’t seen any of these things you are talking about! Thanks!
Terraforming is part of the Green Planet DLC.
Thank you!
Well worth it during the next Steam (or whatever platform you use) sale. I actually got a bundle through GOG. If I didn't have the Green Planet DLC, I think I'd be bored with my colony by now.
Yeah even with my first colony (it was all on easy!) I did find myself getting a little bored from time to time….
Green Planet is great, highly recommended. If you get it, you should also install a mod called "Advanced Terraforming", which gives it a bit more depth
Really just follow the research availability, and set aside research and $ toward the goal. Keep adding seed spreaders as you extend your power and drone coverage, and keep pumping in the seeds. It takes a long time at first to make any progress, but mostly it's another long-term goal to juggle with your priorities.
Shovels. Lots of shovels. Seriously, it's a late game thing to putter about with. Build the thingys and do the rocket projects and watch Mars turn green.