Are gas giants really an advantage?

[Lisif Deoral]

I joined an ongoing PBW game as a replacement player and... well, most other races hail from gas giants. Is there an advantage in being able to colonize large planets only, or is this offset by the fact that large planets are rarer than small ones?
I suspect that in multiplayer games there could be a small drawback: in this particular game I happen to have an ice-based race and I'm happily colonizing the galaxy while the gas empires fight over colonization rights...

[Suicide Junkie]

It may have been that everybody thought
"Hey, I'll take gas giants, and be able to colonize freely while the rest of those fools compete for puny rocks. BwaHaHA."

[Wardad]

Gas giants have more facility and cargo spaces.

1. Facilites: An expensive Robotoid factory could bonus more facilities on a gas giant. Same for Value Improvement Plant and other planetary bonus facilities.

2. Cargo: More space Weapon Platforms, units, and the new DRONES. I suspect the drones would require lots of room.

3. Preference: Since the AI seems to like the rocks, I pick the gas.


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Upgrades Happen!!!

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[Quikngruvn]

Gas giants have more room, but the advantage is offest by the fact that there tend to be fewer gas giants than rocks.

I'm in a PBW game (Diplowar 2) where all eight players chose gas giant races. It certainly made things interesting.... There were two distinct land grabs: one at the start (when borders were pretty well defined), and the other when everyone developed/traded for Rock and Ice about at the same time.

Quikngruvn

[ 26 March 2002: Message edited by: Quikngruvn ]

[PsychoTechFreak]

The rock riders have got a sometimes decisive advantage: RUINS, RUINS , RUINS !

Try the following: start a test game with omnipresent view of all systems, or setup a race with ancient race trait. Then count the SPECIAL planets for Gas, Ice and Rock, you will find about double as many ruins on Rocks than on Gas or Ice.

Oftentimes you will find another Colonization Tech in one of the ruins, and if you find them early in the game, you will rule it.

But it is a matter of taste, as everything in SE4.

[Lisif Deoral]

Has anyone a clue about how the game generates planets?
For example, it might:

• First determine size, then atmosphere, then composition (ice, rock or gas): in this case small and tiny planets can "get" only rock or ice compositions, or
• First determine composition, then atmosphere, then size: in this case we have a minor number of planets without atmosphere since gas giants must have one, or
• Determine all stats of a planet according to a single "table" (e.g., 1% of all planets are huge methane gas, 0.5% are huge methane ice, 1% are huge methane rock, 1% are large methane gas, etc.)

Can the planet atmosphere and composition types be modded, by the way? (I seem to remember that the size classes may be altered...)