Re: what atmo?
 

My race is hydrogen breathing, and is on rock. Living on ice planets doesn't make sense for dinosaur-like races...

Re: what atmo?
 

I usually pick Methane/Ice - I don't know why; maybe something about frozen flatulence is humerous? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smirk.gif

Re: what atmo?
 

Lets hope that planet doesn't warm up anytime soon.

Re: what atmo?
 

I don't see how you can start on an irradiated planet... they are huge size, so they can not be homeworlds.

Use SJ's map stats analyzer, which makes pie charts: *link*

Re: what atmo?
 

I think this is one of those things where it doesn't matter that much except if you are really competitive. I prefer Rock/None myself. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

If you're playing against the AI, really, anything goes.

Re: what atmo?
 

I ussually go with Oxygen/Rock or Hydrogen/Rock, depending on what shipset I use. In teh end though, it doesn't really make a difference as atmospheric converter come into play mid-game. At that point I convert everything, including moons. Why moons? Well they have five facility slots once you convert them which means five monolith facilities or the likewise.

Re: what atmo?
 

I already get Irradiated homeworld though. And more generally with a 5-planet start and gas giant I have most of the time an Huge planet well suited to do colonizer without rushing.

Re: what atmo?
 

Converters take two YEARS at the very least, two years in which you will get NO production from those moons - though that's not a reason for me not to use them - so in large-scale warfare with smaller Empires your moons will have no production for at least two years, which could be bad. On the other hand, you could just do it one moon at a time, which is slower but less economically crippling.

Or you could just mod in a few extra facilities for Organic Manipulation races (like Algae Basins or Chlorophyl Plants (as in manufacturing plants, not the United Floral Empire)) that convert atmosperes more quickly...

Re: what atmo?
 

Or temporaly accelerated atm converter...
One more item for my "Omni powerful temporal mod".

Re: what atmo?
 

Are you disabling the "all player's planets the same size" setting? Or perhaps using the "bad homeworld start" option? These are the only possible ways I can think of that you could get a huge planet as a homeworld.