Terrascapes - Discussion with a sample game

[Olodune]

Ever since the dome discussion thread I've been waiting to roll a start that looked interesting enough to try a Terrascape spam. I don't expect it to be as good as domes since the required technology is even more awkwardly placed.

Terrascape Civilopedia

Spoiler :

I'm going to be playing out this game if anyone wants to join in. It is a little more challenging than some maps so finishing times should be a little slower than normal.

A terrascape landing?

Spoiler :

Settings: Apollo/Standard/Arid/Protean with Kozlov/Tectonic Scanner/Engineers/Machinery

 

[ShaggyCan]

It just takes SO long to build. They don't seem to remember that not only does it take like 20ish turns to build, AND a 5 energy maintenance, during those 20 turns you're missing out on all the energy you would have earned just doing a 5 turn generator. Its too much of a penalty.

 

[Galgus]

When building Terrascapes en masse you want to have surplus workers dedicated specifically to them, but if you don't mind the steep energy cost the yields are hard to complain about.

 

[Olodune]

It just takes SO long to build.

Yes. Worker speed boosts are very important to make this work. S-S Extract from artifacts is a goal. Hitting Purity 8 should make the maintenance more manageable. That's the theory

 

[oneproduct]

I also question how relevant culture becomes by the point you're building these. It seems to me that culture has the biggest impact early in the game (realistically I find there's one or two virtues in a specific tree which determine your "virtue game plan") and sort of becomes less important as you get towards the bottom of one tree. By the time you get towards the middle of a second tree where the goodies start to appear, the virtue probably doesn't have enough time to make a huge effect.

It seems that farms or academies with the tech upgrades are still a much easier and better choice. Unless perhaps those tech upgrades are completely out of the way and/or the terrascape tech is on your intended tech path anyways.

 

[bite]

Honestly when playing Purity I like to replace all the forests on the map with Terrascapes just cause I can

 

[Olodune]

farms or academies with the tech upgrades are still a much easier and better choice.

Hard to argue with that I usually learn something useful by playing what appears to be a suboptimal game. I hope that is the case here.

Honestly when playing Purity I like to replace all the forests on the map with Terrascapes just cause I can

I think that's part of the goal here - terraforming an inhospitable corner of an arid world into a terran paradise. (Some of my favourite SMAC games were covering the map in green forests. With Tree Farms and Hybrid Forests that actually works very well.)

 

[Olodune]

I've played this up to t100. The pieces are in place for some terrascaping fun.

Spoiler :

The overall goal for this game is to win a Promised Land victory while utilizing a large number of terrascapes.

I want Terraforming relatively early, but getting the usual starting technologies and Computing first should help to make sure this game doesn’t fall apart. Going deep into Prosperity to get Ecoscaping seems solid (+1 Food/Hammer/Culture from terrascapes).

Turn 70. Cities are in place. After Computing Terraforming will be next on my scienstist's agenda

Spoiler :

I did collect artifacts until I was able to get Slumber-Slaughter Extract for the +50% worker speed. Since this is a hybrid combo it seems reliable to obtain. I also chose Cooperative (Internal Trade Yield) and Subtle (Better Spies).

By turn 100 I have many Terrascapes under construction but they will be several more turns before completion. Even with +60% worker speed they still take 15 turns.

Spoiler :

I have a key virtue choice in 5 turns: Ecospacing or Eudaimonia. I am not sure which is better first. My corner of this arid world will soon turn green.

 

[CountAccountant]

I use terrascapes as part of my regular strategy, and I think they are a legitimately fantastic improvement. The key is to have some workers build farms, etc. on good land while other workers build terrascapes on the less desirable tiles that the city isn't using yet. Your terrascapes will be finished long before the city is large enough to actually need all of the tiles in its area, and the payoff is excellent.

There is more of a trade off for cities that are already large by the time you can build terrascapes, of course, but I think it's still worth it for tiles that otherwise have very low yields.

 

[Ishea]

I use them the same way as accountant, turning tundra's, deserts and snow into terrascapes, while putting farms on graslands and usually plains ( unless I got a spare worker to upgrade the farm to a terrascape on plains )

SS and prosperity worker speed are definitely a must have for this, but the eventual payout is huge, as it will keep your culture advancing quickly even in later part of the game, securing you not only your 2nd tree but your third and 4th.

Also, using them only for less useful tiles, the cost of maintaining them is relatively low, so you don't need to build generators, especially not if you have a couple of stations and the industry trait of +6 energy per tier etc.

 

[Aldor]

If you're going for supremacy, the Master Control wonder combined with the "Workers are free" agreement should work quite well too (free purchase and maintenance). Drone Control should help too, but it requires floatstone and a harmony tech, so it will require some effort to get. Of course you could set a covert agent as black market dealer

 

[Olodune]

With Ecoscaping and Purity 8, terrascapes certainly are monster tiles. Desert terrascapes get the vivarium bonus to become 4 food tiles.

t121

Spoiler :

This will work. Considering all the tundra and flat desert by the start this is not a bad building plan.

 

[Roxlimn]

Haha! That's excellent. Now I want to play one!

 

[juicegecko]

Thank you for the idea and the save. I'm gonna give it a spin as a GOTM of sorts.

 

[GeoModder]

Oh, hadn't expected Terrascapes to pick up the Vivarium bonus.

 

[Makenshi]

Best way to do that if on arid Ringil Khantoris, there are a lot of flood plains and deserts. Super farms can yield 4 3, which is exactly the amount of needed to support Purity 8 Terrascapes. So much food, culture, production AND energy

 

[Olodune]

Desert with a mix of floodplains is probably the best terrain. However, mass terrascapes are closest to academy or farm strategies for tundra/snow starts, I think.

 

[Olodune]

We will melt the snows and make the desert bloom. t170 PL.

Spoiler :

Serik was a city forced to be placed in flatland desert because of a station spawn. It worked out fine in the end:

Spoiler :

Overall this starts out more slowly than a dome game, but is more powerful in the late game. Interesting.

 

[Makenshi]

only 5 energy/turn? gotta work on that, how about a solar collector spam?

 

[stormtrooper412]

Sweet