Expanding Atmosphere Types

[Fyron]

Let's say you wanted to expand the stock set of breathable atmospheres from 5 to 10. What would you add? All such types have to be feasible for energy production/storage use by large organisms. Noble gases like Argon are right out. None is an exception, naturally.

The stock list is;

None, O2, Methane, Hydrogen, CO2

My current list of candidates is:

Ammonia, SO2, Chlorine

Consideration of Nitrogen transformed into a more suitable (in my eyes) Ammonia. Fluorine was considered, but it is possibly too reactive. More importantly, it would end up with the same exact color planet as Chlorine (pale yellow-brown), which would make it visually indistinct in-game.

[Spoo]

H2O (water vapor or ocean planets)

Also, you could go to mixes of gases:
H/He (Jupiter and Saturn), H/He/CH4 (Uranus and Neptune), N2/O2 (Earth), N2/CH4 (Titan), etc.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

...Nitroglycerin?

Or how about a species that relies on a radioactive planet to absorb energy?

[Ed Kolis]

I like the water and radiation ideas... not technically "atmospheres" but neither is "none", and it never hurts to be creative!
Of course, dolphins would argue that Earth is a water planet, not an oxygen planet...

[Caduceus]

Of course, dolphins would argue that Earth is a water planet, not an oxygen planet...

So would Magellan.

Other atmospheres - Nitrous, Argon, Fluorine, Bromine

Add sodium as well.

From Google:
Three satellites of the outer planets possess atmospheres. Titan, a moon of Saturn, and Triton, a moon of Neptune, have nitrogen atmospheres. Another moon of Saturn, Enceladus, has an atmosphere composed primarily of water. Other bodies within the Solar System with extremely thin atmospheres are the Moon (sodium gas), Mercury (sodium gas), Europa (oxygen) and Io (sulfur). The dwarf planet Pluto also has an envelope of nitrogen and methane as it approaches close to the Sun, but these gases are frozen for most of its orbit.
Google Atmosphere

[Will]

Fyron said:
Let's say you wanted to expand the stock set of breathable atmospheres from 5 to 10. What would you add? All such types have to be feasible for energy production/storage use by large organisms. Noble gases like Argon are right out. None is an exception, naturally.

I don't quite see why noble gasses are necessarily ruled out. It doesn't quite fit into the current game mechanics, but it is conceivable to have lifeforms that depend on a non-reactive but pressurized atmosphere.

[AstralWanderer]

Unless there is intended to be some gameplay variation (e.g. cost/capacity of domed colonies varying by planet atmosphere), what purpose would be served in adding further types?

[Fyron]

I am wary of using combinations of gases without redoing the existing atmosphere types to match (eg: Oxygen/Nitrogen instead of just Oxygen). I'm not sure if people would generally prefer combinations or just single gases.

StarShadow said:
Also, generally speaking, as far as the atmosphere types go, wouldn't they just specify what the 'majority' gas is?

SE4/5 specify atmosphere as the gas respirated by the sentient race of the planet. SE3 was a bit different, with atmospheres like Oxygen/Nitrogen, Argon, Carbon Dioxide/Nitrogen, Hydrogen/Helium, Chlorine and None.

Will said:
I don't quite see why noble gasses are necessarily ruled out. It doesn't quite fit into the current game mechanics, but it is conceivable to have lifeforms that depend on a non-reactive but pressurized atmosphere.

If we can't think of anything (consistent) to fill the 10th slot, I would be willing to go with Argon for historical reasons.

AstralWanderer said:
Unless there is intended to be some gameplay variation (e.g. cost/capacity of domed colonies varying by planet atmosphere), what purpose would be served in adding further types?

What purpose was served by adding red giant systems? Neutron stars? 20 different kinds of nebulae systems stemming from 11 storm colors? Swirling WP graphics? Electrostorms?

[Spoo]

Fyron said:
AstralWanderer said:
Unless there is intended to be some gameplay variation (e.g. cost/capacity of domed colonies varying by planet atmosphere), what purpose would be served in adding further types?

What purpose was served by adding red giant systems? Neutron stars? 20 different kinds of nebulae systems stemming from 11 storm colors? Swirling WP graphics? Electrostorms?

More atmosphere types will decrease the percentage of breathable worlds.

[Fyron]

It would also decrease atmosphere contention with other races.

I could make domed colonies have more space like in FQM for SE4 to compensate. If I made domes impose a 70% reduction instead of 80%, it would more or less balance out. Assuming 100 medium planets, we have breathable facility space + domed space (reduced to facility count for stock 1000 kt all facility size):

20 x 10 + 80 x 2 = 360 stock 5 atm and 20% dome
10 x 10 + 90 x 3 = 370 proposed 10 atm and 30% dome